This has been laying in a drawer in my reloading shop for 20+ years and I decided to "make her go" - cleaned it all up and have a new barrel and black grips (I hate ivory on chrome or nickel pistols) coming from Numrich Arms.


Mechanically is seems good but the proof will be in the shooting so I have 2 boxes of .25 caliber being shipped today. Never shot a .25 so we'll see how this goes. The Plan is it runs OK is to strip the chrome and either rust blue it or have it Cerakoted. More looking for a conversation pistol - not really for SD and no intention or carry it.


Anyone have experience with .25 or the FIE Titans? I always wanted one of those vest pocket Baby Browning pistols but decent ones are serious money.

VooDoo

Not familiar with the name, but according to the Genitron

Firearms Import & Export - This company was not a manufacturer but a private label importer of inexpensive and average quality firearms. Many of it's products came from small shops in Spain and Italy, Pakistan and the Philippines. FIE filed bankruptcy in November of 1990 and all models were discontinued.

https://www.genitron.com/Handgun-Manufacturer/FIE

TTAG says they were made by Tanfoglio. Tanfoglio makes a lot of competition pistols. Reminds me a little of the Beretta 1934-1935 models with the open barrel.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-r ... an-pistol/

Not that many 25 ACP pistols out there, the Beretta 21A is probably the best of the bunch but pricey at MSRP $649.00.

Have fun with your new project !

Wow, that is like an *official* Saturday Night Special!

I was the custodian for a while of a Beretta Model 20, .25 acp. DA/SA with a tip-up barrel. Ancestor of the 21A. Inherited from an in-law who passed until other family member of said in-law indicated they would like it. However, I did get a chance to run a few boxes of practice and carry ammo through it.

It was a great little gun for what it is designed to be - something for close range. It was very accurate with the small notch and blade sights out to 15 yards, which is as far as I shot it. Decent groups well within center of mass of a standard "Q" silhouette. Enough recoil with SD rounds to let you know it meant business, but nothing particularly problematic.

At 7 yards one-handed everything grouped up fine. Kinda hated to see it go but it was a family heirloom and some day the original owner's great grandkids will have that to remember her by.

I'm gonna have some fun with this one....and if I ruin it? Who cares, nothing lost. I learned a technique of blackening steel using hydrogen peroxide and salt back in the knife making days and it results in a lustrous, deep black and durable surface on iron or steel. Been wondering about doing it to a firearm for years. Gotta shoot it first and see if it's even worth fooling with.

VooDoo

My granpa had a .25 not sure the brand, saturday night special absolutely. Couldn't hit the side of a car door 7 yards out. It was more like a five footer.

"Saturday Night Special", a term created by the media for those small mainly semi-autos made primarily in Southern California by Raven Arms, Jennings Firearms, Phoenix Arms, Lorcin, Davis and Sundance. Phoenix Arms still exists and makes 22LR and 25 ACP pistols. For many people in minority communities, that was all they could afford for protection, like Hi-Points are now. The media really did a number on them.

highdesert wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:16 pm "Saturday Night Special", a term created by the media for those small mainly semi-autos made primarily in Southern California by Raven Arms, Jennings Firearms, Phoenix Arms, Lorcin, Davis and Sundance. Phoenix Arms still exists and makes 22LR and 25 ACP pistols. For many people in minority communities, that was all they could afford for protection, like Hi-Points are now. The media really did a number on them.

I thought mostly due to the low cost and poor construction. Unlike your higher end model guns like Colt, Walther, Stuccato Sig etc.

I kinda like Sootch's video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpoiiDv8jDU

VooDoo

My mother bought one of those in 1980 or so. In 2021, her neighborhood chat group was talking about some break-ins (car windows broken, strangers knocking on doors at odd hours, etc.), and she brought it out of storage (it had been sitting in its original box in her cedar closet for almost thirty years).

I found a couple boxes of ammo for it (she had eight or ten rounds in the box), and asked to try it out. There's a thread on this forum about my experiences with it here: viewtopic.php?p=839370&hilit=FIE+Titan#p839370

The last time I shot it, the darned thing stove-piped on me twice in about thirty rounds. I cleaned the heck out of it, and found that it took a lot of dexterity to do the administrative handling--hand strength that my mom doesn't have these days. I talked with her about it, and we decided that it was more of a danger to her than it would be to any intruder. I didn't even want it as a back up gun for an ankle holster. Sold the thing through GunJoker.

Thanks for the input, BP. Yeah, I don't see this pistol as a viable self defense pistol for anyone I know. Maybe an expert who runs it, learns it, and tweaks it. But as an expert, one would certainly have multiple better options than a pistol like this. It's a toy.

VooDoo

Off we went to the range today. Shot 50 rounds to see where they went ('cause I sure can't see the sights!) and actually was able to group in slow fire/target style shooting. Shot 8 round groups and each one got tighter and tighter so I suspect this pistol had never been shot before. The the next 50 rounds were on a small, splatter silhouette target that's 12"X 18" again at 21'. This was shot mostly in 3 - 5 round "bursts" in Self Defense mode and for point shooting this gun did about as good as I could expect and then some.

I have kind of changed my opinion about this little "junk" gun as a viable SD pistol. It's not a beginners gun nor for those with limited hand strength and training but it would work for me and is a way better option that a pointed stick or harsh words. I was comfortably dropping 3 - 5 round burst to center mass in about a second. So, this one is a keeper and I'm gonna tear it down and strip the chrome off it and refinish in Cerakote or, more likely rust black it. I might Cerakote the safety and mag release etc to get some contrast. I'm likely gonna make grips out of ebony or bone depending on it it survives chrome stripping, re finishing, and reassembly.

The little junker never missed a lick. No FTF's or FTE's - every time I pressed the trigger it went *BaNg!* and the bullet went where I looked.

Did not expect to like this pistol. I may even hand load for it, I liked it that much. I am appeased. Then again I do love my cheezy Mouse Guns.

VooDoo