A Tribute to the Beretta 92

[Love Life]

So ah.....when will the cmp be getting them in stock....

The Gubmint will probably give all the surplus M9 pistols to Iran.

[Thumbcocker]

Never could warm up to the M9

[fatelk]

I never had any experience at all with a Beretta 92/M9 until I bought a surplus 92S a year or two ago. Numrich had them for $199, and the one I got appeared unfired. I've come to really appreciate it; it's a good shooter.

[reddog81]

So ah.....when will the cmp be getting them in stock....

Once the Sig is getting ready to be replaced. They'll keep them as a back up until then, just like they did with the 1911's

[Petrol & Powder]

I never had any experience at all with a Beretta 92/M9 until I bought a surplus 92S a year or two ago. Numrich had them for $199, and the one I got appeared unfired. I've come to really appreciate it; it's a good shooter.

The 92S has a slide mounted safety but the magazine release is at the bottom of the grip - not a horrible setup but a little foreign to most Americans.
They really can be excellent shooting pistols and at $200 for an Italian made 92S; how can you go wrong?

[Petrol & Powder]

Never could warm up to the M9

I hear you. I always found the grip on a 92 to be pretty close to that of the Browning Hi-Power but not an exact copy.
For me the Beretta 92 grip always looked a little fat but didn't feel fat. Other people said they just couldn't warm up to it - everyone is different and what works for one person doesn't always work for someone else.

The 92 is capable of very fine accuracy despite it's combat pistol overtones. I think the nearly 5" barrel and in-line recoil of the barrel helps with that accuracy. However on the negative side, the DA pull requires practice to master and the SA pull feels more like a two stage trigger than a SA. Practice is key, as always but the 92 requires a bit more dedication than some other designs.

[uscra112]

Only problem I've ever had with my 92S is the tiny sights. Three dots of white paint solved that.

I'll always prefer the DA/SA lockwork to the Block-and-clones because the recoil spring doesn't have to be strong enough to half-way cock the striker on return to battery. My old hands really appreciate this.

Unlike the old P-38 I had, the 92S is not at all fussy about bullet ogive - it eats everything.

I do miss the loaded-chamber indicator that the P-38 had, but not much.

My $0.05 worth.

[Walks]

Me, I just never cared for it. As much as I like the P-38, I prefer the more modern P-4. Same operation better sights.
Sigs are ok though. Had a P-220 in 9mm. 40 yrs back under the Browning BDA name. Single-Stack mag, heel clip mag Release. Operation was flawless, sights were small. Sold it to buy a Ruger P-89, didn't care for it. Sold it to buy one of the final run of Service-Six's.

The only 9mm's I have left are a P-08, P-38, Hi-Power and that P-4. Which is the 9mm I shoot the most.

The U.S. Armed Services will have to go through this mess again in 30yrs. Maybe an all steel American Made, American Branded Pistol.

[Petrol & Powder]

............

The U.S. Armed Services will have to go through this mess again in 30yrs. Maybe an all steel American Made, American Branded Pistol.

The days of "All steel" are over and that's probably a good thing. As for American Branded? I'm not sure that's a valid concern in today's world.
FN makes a lot of our military's weapons in SC. Beretta ran factories in Maryland and Tennessee, SIG is about to supply our handguns. Bofors and Oerlikon both licensed designs to the U.S.A. in the past. Seal team 6 used the H&K 416 to end Osama Bin Laden's annoying existence.
No, it doesn't need to be an American company or even be made in the U.S.A. to enter the competition. American companies are welcome to submit bids but that doesn't mean they automatically win those contracts by virtue of their "American" status.

[Burnt Fingers]

FAT grip in an era of more small women joining the service and law enforcement. . .

Safety that moves in the wrong direction that you can easily re-engage by accident when you are trying to clear a malfunction or reload thus shutting down the pistol. . .

No front lockup at the muzzle. . .

Open-top sand-ingress port. . .

DA/SA trigger as a measure of keeping the untrained from shooting themselves. . .which makes it harder for those same troops to hit anything (the whole point of the exercise) without lots of training to master. . .which once you have, you no longer need the idiotic Walther-based trigger system to be safe from yourself. . . (Invention of DA/SA automatic pistol was another Nazi crime against humanity that should have been brought up at Nuremberg.)

A detail strip process rifle with parts both many and microscopic. . .

Had a cheaper, sturdy, DOMESTIC option available in the form of the Ruger P-85. . .

Didn't the acquisition process involve the U.S. gaining a cruise missile launch pad in Italy that we could then point across the Mediterranean at Villain of the Week, Moamar Khadaffi?

As I alluded to in the Sig thread, U.S. small arms procurement has a 200+ year history of retardation, and the 92F was merely the latest lobotomized chapter. The 1911 selection process and 1911-A1 revision was about the only thing U.S. Ordnance ever got right from the start. There were reasons for replacing it - some good, some dubious - but it's probably fair for anyone to look askance and say "You're replacing THIS. . .with THAT???"

Bravo! I could not have said it better. I remember the Army telling us that the Beretta was better suited for people with smaller hands. I could never figure out how they came to that conclusion.

[charlie b]

Bravo! I could not have said it better. I remember the Army telling us that the Beretta was better suited for people with smaller hands. I could never figure out how they came to that conclusion.

Because they needed to justify their choice.

[Love Life]

A trigger job and a short reset trigger make a world of difference for the Beretta M9. I bought the M9A3 to try out the Vertec grip, and didn’t like it. I use the humped rubber grip that came with it. I eventually sold it and replaced it with the M9 commercial version. I like it much better. Sights are dead on and it’ll average 5 inch 10 shot groups at 50 yards with Winchester 124 gr 9mm nato ammo.

[robertbank]

Great pistol, period. It was a long time before one 92A1 landed in my safe. It soon was joined by another 92A1 and a 092A1 Compact in Stainless and a Girsan Compact. All shoot POA. I have installed the D Coversion for the two 92A1's, one of which ahs the short trigger installed. All of the pistols are dead nuts reliable and eat anything I put in them that resembles a 9MM cartridge.

I now have a SIG 329 XFive for competition but for general range use and teaching IDPA Safety Officer Classes the 92A1 rides on the hip.

Take Care

Bob

[rintinglen]

The Beretta M92 is a great pistol that I could never warm up to. It (like the Glock 19/17) is just a hair too large to comfortably fit in my hand. But I have shot 3 and owned 1 and they are much more accurate IME than the 1911's we had when I was in the Marines. People with medium to small hands may have a bit of trouble with them, but they were/are superbly reliable. That open port makes stoppages few and far between. There were enough harsh tests done by various police agencies, as well as military groups that did everything but run over them with M-1 tanks to dispel rumors to the contrary. If you have one and it fits you, you are well armed. Let's hope it's successor proves to be as reliable and dependable.

[Wag]

One of my favorite handguns. Depending on the day of the week, it could be the Beretta 92FS or the Sig P220. Just depends on my mood.

--Wag--

[Idaho45guy]

Never could warm up to the M9

Same here. When I was a serious cold warrior, I bought a Beretta 96F as my personal weapon so it would match my issued weapon.

It was accurate, great SA trigger, butter smooth action, and tamed the .40 S&W very well. Plus it was a sexy looking pistol. But it was just too big and heavy for concealed carry.

Replaced it with a Glock 24c that was ten ounces lighter but not really smaller than the Beretta, and it was less accurate. Switched to the Glock 31, which was much better in terms of size and accuracy, but ammo was expensive.

Went to the M&P line after that and have been happy.

Would love to find a Beretta 96 Centurion that I could afford. Love the compact Berettas.