I’m a fan of pocket-sized pistols, and it’s a rather recent fandom. I used to hate pocket pistols, and that’s because I didn’t shoot very well. As my skills progressed, I realized that most handguns are easy to shoot. Pocket pistols still provide a challenge, plus they tend to be very convenient for daily carry. A love of pocket pistols meant a love of the Beretta tip-up guns. I own several of them, and my favorite remains the Beretta Minx, aka the Beretta 950B.
The difference between the 950 and 950B is the presence of a safety. The manual frame-mounted safety replaces the former method of carrying with the hammer down. There are two guns in the 950B series, and they are nearly identical. You have the 950 Jetfire and the 950 Minx. The Minx is the .22 Short model, which takes up Beretta’s condition of naming their guns after different feline species.
The Minx is my favorite tip-up model, but I’m willing to be lured away by the 30X. The Minx is my favorite because it’s a .22 short semi-auto pistol, and we don’t have a ton of reliable 22 short semi-auto handguns. It’s superbly small, even compared to the other Beretta tip-up guns. This micro-sized pocket pistol began production in 1952, and the 950B series continued to be produced until 2003, although I’m not sure if the Minx was dropped before the Jetfire.
Taming the Minx
The Minx is an all-metal, single-action only pistol. It features the Beretta tip-up barrel system. When the user pushes a small lever, the barrel pops upward. This allows the user to load a round directly into the chamber. It avoids the need to rack the chamber, which can be a challenge for some shooters with weaker hands.
The gun is a straight blowback-operated pistol, and it lacks an extractor and ejector. It relies on the blowback action to send the case flying from the chamber after the gun’s fired. This also means fixing malfunctions isn’t easy.
There is no tap rack bang with the Minx. You have to pop the barrel open and use a thumbnail to pry the cartridge out or use a punch rod or something down the barrel. Then, you have to reload the chamber. It’s a slow process and not one I’d want to do under fire. Even a simple failure to fire means you’ll quench harder than a glass of ice water in the desert.
The Minx is a super small gun. It’s downright cute. The overall length is 4.7 inches, and the gun is .9 inches wide. It also weighs 9.9 ounces and is an all-metal gun. It’s downright adorable and dwarfed even by other “compact” pistols. The little gun fits perfectly in your palm, and its one of the smallest semi-autos ever, second only to the Seecamp.
Handling the Little Fella
Ergonomically, it’s got a short grip, but with the lower-powered calibers, this isn’t a major concern. The safety is tiny but sweeps downward easily. The lever is small but doesn’t require much strength to press and activate. The hammer is textured and easy to cock to single action. You can safely decock the gun by tipping up the barrel and then lowering the hammer.
The Minx is certainly not inspiring for self-defense, but neither is the .22 Short round. It’s not exactly a deep penetrating round, and I wouldn’t advise it for concealed carry. However, for a fun gun, an obscure object of desire? Sure, why the heck not?
I was a bit surprised at how long it took me to find a locally sourced box of .22 Short that wasn’t CB cap. CB Cap won’t cycle the gun, but luckily, I landed on some CCI ammo on a dusty shelf in the back of the third gun store I checked. Yeah, yeah, order it online, but I wanted it that day. Who wants to wait to shoot their new gun?
Shooting the Minx
I love the Minx because it’s so fun to shoot. I have this P365 BB gun I use for training purposes, and believe it or not, that BB gun might have more recoil than the Minx with .22 Shorts. The gun is so loud but has such little recoil that it’s really adorable.
That’s why it is so much fun. Not only is it low recoil and fun to shoot, but it’s seemingly reliable. A hundred rounds isn’t a ton, but in that 100 rounds, it hasn’t had a single failure to fire, feed or eject. For fun, I tried a magazine of .22 CB Cap, and it actually cycled the first two rounds.
The gun has super small sights, but the rear sight is cut enough to make it easy to find the thin front sight. It’s easy, but I wouldn’t call it fast. From a pocket draw, the sight proved a little tough to find. For off-hand plinking it was fine. In fact, I hit a steel IPSC target at 25 yards with it three out of six times and felt quite accomplished. Another amusing aspect is that the steel target dings but barely sways.
I can hit soda cans at 10 yards with the regularity of a healthy senior citizen on Metamucil. It will bite you if you ride your hand too high. I’m so used to getting as high as possible on the gun that it got me every now and then. However, even when it bit me, it continued to run.
I’ve got more .22 Short on order because I can’t get enough of the Minx. It wouldn’t be my first, second, third, fourth or fifth choice for self-defense or even my 20th, but it’s a fun gun to shoot and is quite enjoyable. Plus, they tend to be cheap since people seem to dislike .22 Short and .25 ACP. It’s a real sweetheart of a gun and one that gets me excited to go shooting.
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Not every gun has to be for fighting. Having fun with guns is still a thing. My problem with .22 short is the same problem I have with .410. It’s hard to find and spendy when found.
Here in CA we cannot mail order ammo.
“Here in CA we cannot mail order ammo.”
That’s being worked on…
Didn’t even know they made a 22 shirt version!
“Didn’t even know they made a 22 shirt version!”
If you like ’em small, you can get a tiny, sub-miniature NAA Mini-Revolver in .22 short :
https://www.northamericanarms.com/shop/naa-22s/
geoff…Allow me to help you…Remove the “getting too old for this PR” and keep the rest. Bingo the shoe fits so wear it.
Debbie, if you dislike Geoff so much, why don’t you just skip his comments? After all, we all know your full of shit, we just read your comments because they’re so funny.
She’s got a crush on him. Probably wants to have his kids and all that.
Sorry Geoff just had to say it
“She’s got a crush on him. Probably wants to have his kids and all that.”
It’s true, 1,000 percent, no need to apoligize. I know she dreams of one day feeling my touch, but it will never happen.
So, she’s angry and lashes out. What’s hilarious is, she’s spitting nails angry, and I’m laughing my ass off… 😉
I would not say pocket pistols are a recent fandom. Anything but. Derringers have been around for quite some time with considerable popularity.
No I wouldn’t carry a .22 short or long. I shot a carnival rifle long ago in presumably 22short. Had a 380 not much bigger & no heavier. Really EZ to carry. I do remember seeing 22short at Cabelas at least 12 years ago but that’s the problem with “boutique” calibers. Fun is good too🙄
In my youth the .22 short was common. We hunted with it and plinked. In Boy Scout camp we could buy 2 rounds for a penny at the camp range. They supplied single shot bolt action rifles, Marlins I think, for us.
Most of it was used in rifles. I don’t think anybody thought of it as a self defense round. Still. better than foul language. Just.
jwm, long years ago my friends and I liked the .22 long. The ammunition was hard to find even then. We bought all we could find. .22 short bullet at sub-sonic velocity. Deadly on a squirrel and didn’t disturb the woods. Of course, when we were ten we didn’t talk about sub-sonic. We just knew what worked.
Same experience. For some reason the long was hardest to find.
The .22 rimfire cartridge is notorious for misfires even with some high end ammo although they usually happen much less frequently but not always as Eley high end Rifle Match ammo (black box) last year had a bad run that had numerous misfires and that was outrageous when you were paying $13.00 a box for this stuff. I would never recommend any .22 rimfire for defense because of this. The Beretta 950 in .25 acp is the better choice.
The pistol in both calibers has no extractor which is enough to get you killed if the gun jams when you need it most as cycling the slide will not clear a jam. The plus side of this tip up barrel system is that you will never loosen up the bullet within the case mouth which happens when you constantly are cycling the same round in and out of the gun when loading and unloading it as when a pistol has the traditional extractor. If the pistol has a pivoting extractor it’s better to drop the chambered round by hand directly into the chamber and then run the slide forward, this eliminates bullet looseness and eventually bullet set back that can blow a pistol sky high right in your face.
This gun is known for its reliability at least in the .25 acp caliber as jams are rare if quality ammo is used.
As I have stated before Beretta had its head up its ass when it discontinued this fine pocket pistol as it was very popular.
Now this is going to sound strange coming from me since I like manual safeties and recommend using them but the American made model had a defectively designed safety detent which wore out quickly. When this happened the safety would go on with the first shot which again would get you killed in a gunfight. Its better never to use this safety so it will not wear out and if it already has have it pinned in the off position. Even Loctite if used sparingly is a stop gap solution. I might add Locktite is also available in a lipstick heavy past which does not run off like the liquid Locktite and end up getting into everything in the firearm.
The Beretta 950 was one of the better pocket pistols and if it were not for the idiotic 1968 Gun Control Act I am sure Tisa or other Turk manufactures would have long ago already been making it and importing it into the U.S. after Beretta’s idiotic decision to quick making it.
I might add Beretta has junkified even the M92 pistol with cast locking blocks, and plasticky junk safety’s and triggers. Beretta’s plasticky pistols are also known for their unreliability. In recent years this company has really gone to the dogs.
There is a dearth of .25 acp pistols left on the market these days and this is a shame as carrying one was so convenient and comfortable to carry that you had to remind yourself that you even had a gun on you. Of course not stiff arming these micro pistols when shooting them often resulted in a jam as a relaxed arm acted as a shock absorber and often retarded the slides rearward movement resulting in a jam when the slide then moved forward to chamber a round.
I sent my 950 in and had it nickle plated both inside and out for rust prevention because the aluminum frame will rust on this pistol if exposed to sweat and ditto for the steel slide. I also used a pocket holster to keep the little gun upright in the pocket and it protects it not only from sweat but pocket lint. The average American Hillbilly is too stupid and too cheap and shiftless to ever consider doing any of this so this advice is better given to a brass monkey who would I am sure understand it much better.
Mom late with your meds this morning?
Another neat little fun firearm like the author describes. However in the demented mind of a Gun Control zealot it is small, concealable and that attribute can be its demise as well as it being Black. Being Black like most firearms must trigger a slave master gene passed down through generations of Gun Control control freaks. The latest example of the aforementioned slave master gene can be seen in TN…
“The latest example of the aforementioned slave master gene can be seen in TN…”
No, it isn’t, as noted here :
geoff you mealy mouth perverted pos…Do you actually believe a democRat Party lint licker like you has standing? Where did your democRat level slander and libel for POTUS DJT go? Where did your support for nikki haley go? Take my advice democRat lint licker and take up knitting or gfy.
“geoff you mealy mouth perverted pos…”
I am perverted, in a way ladies have swooned over.
Maybe one day I can give you a very special kiss… 🙂
Responding to a bad guy by stitching a line of .22 caliber bullet holes from crotch to sternum will be effective.
If you like this, try the 21A Bobcat with CCI Stingers, or Federal Punch 22lr ammo. Much easier to find 22lr, in the same size package.
I have never had a failure in my Bobcat, although I have purposely fed it the Aguilla no gunpowder ammo for first time shooters. Sounds like a cap gun, but still hits the targets pretty solid.
Originally bought it for teaching in class to show other types of handgun, but I really like it.
Small enough to be carried in the smallest pockets and super lightweight.
And now Girsan is making a copy of a Beretta in .380 with a tip up barrel for those that love the action type.
I have shot several of these pistols and wish I had one now.
Fun is plenty of reason to win one.
My father in law had one with a four inch barrel that was a great trail gun and plinker.
The model 20 and then 21 slowed their sales a good bit.
I really liked the 25 version as a mouse gun as it held 9 rounds.
I still want a stainless Bobcat for a pocket kit gun.
Really accurate if your eyes can see those tiny sights.
Real world carry is pocket carry. Not outside the waistband. That’s for cops private security and folks in free states.
And even in a free state, many businesses may not want your business. But in my experience, Outdoor Rec stores are happy to have customers who open carry.
A shoulder holster also works. With a cover garment. And you can get a shoulder holster for small pockets guns too.
I pocket carry my Beretta 21A or my KelTec P32 all the time.
I pocket carry my Sig P365 in a Sticky holster.
It would be a neat little way to punish some coke cans or show the nearest water moccasin who’s boss (self-defense is out of the question for the same reason a pellet gun would be), but .22 short isn’t an easy caliber to hunt down these days.
A Minx is not a feline, it’s a mustelid (same as stoats, weasels, some badgers, etc.)
A Manx is a breed of cat, though.
Nice catch.
I once read somewhere in the “gunosphere” that the Israeli Mossad used .22 short Beretta pistols for assassinations.
Yup fitted with actual silencers not suppressors, they make nary a sound, perfect for night-time operations in European cities as targets leave restaurants and clubs. They’ve been quite successful save for one op in either Denmark or Sweden they’ve never been caught and in the one they were they had accidentally misidentified and “offed” a deadringer for their intended target.