Possible Beretta 92FS 9mm purchase

[ncbearman]

Looking to possibly add this to my collection. Anyone have this weapon?

Any and all info/feedback positive or negative would be appreciated.

As usual, thanks in advance for your time.

Russ

95081

[rintinglen]

Although I don't like them all that much--feel "wrong" in my hand--I think that they are excellent firearms. I gave mine to my son in law, but I never had a malfunction with it in shooting 8 or 10 boxes of ammo through it while I had it. Accuracy was better than that of most stock Glocks, IME. Reliability is second to none.
"If it feels good--do it." Or so they said back in the hippy days. If it handles well for you, I think you'll be very happy.

[USAFrox]

My wife loves it, because it is really heavy for a 9mm, so its weight really helps negate the muzzle jump and recoil. Makes for a nice-shooting gun. I'm not a fan of the exposed barrel, which can allow all kinds of **** into the works, but that's a personal quibble of mine. I've shot it quite a bit in the military (qualified 3x expert and one time just regular qual), plus I wore one while in the sandbox.

I'm not a fan of the 9mm caliber in particular, but can't really honestly complain about this particular specimen of the breed.

[ncbearman]

rintin- yes it has to feel good I agree 100% I held one yesterday and it was comfortable for me. Thanks for the response.

USA- not a 9mm fan either, but my only 9mm is a WWII P38 which is why I looked at Beretta first :o that thing is awesome and loves cast boolits. Very accurate. I actually like the exposed barrel lok and was gonna ask if you can get a stainless barrel for it. Thanks for your service buddy!

Keep em comin' guys THANKS

[Blammer]

if it is the ACTUAL photo, I'd snap it up. Looks like a "stainless" frame with a blued upper.

I have one and have had it for about.... well, since they came out new the first year. (1992 I think?) I've shot LOTS of rounds through it including a bunch of cast.

It's a good gun, I like it. If you get a good price, get it.

[GabbyM]

I had a Tarrus 92 way back. It never fit my hand. Like others say. Hold it up and the sights don't line up. That's a personal fit issue.
My daughter has it now out in AZ. She has a S&W M-15 for back country carry so hits can be made at extended range. THE 92 is for the space between herself and the front door.

For me it seams an auto grip with a hump back. I had a S&W M39-2 that was perfect. Like a fool I sold it. I like the CZ-75. You just need to go to the gun store. Get a grip on the pistol. close your eyes and hold it out. When you open your eyes you'll see if it's lined up. Life is just to short to waste time shooting a pistol or shotgun that doesn't fit.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

love mine shoots cast great

[kweidner]

I fought with one all summer. Honestly think that one needed a new bbl to shoot cast. Leaded no matter what I tried. Sent it down the road as it liked jacketed. Now have a MP 9c and haven't looked back.

[Reaper]

At one time , I owned three of them. Traded two of them off and kept one marked Border Marshall. Mostly shoot the Lee 356-120-TC ahead of 4gr. of Bullseye. This load cycles all my 9's and with 1,700+ loads per pound, it's thrifty to shoot.......Ron

[MtGun44]

Replace the hammer mainspring with one from a 1911 and you will have the
sweetest double action pull you have ever seen for $5. No problems busting
primers, either.

Lee 356 120 TC, air cooled wwts, sized .357 works great in mine. No leading
and feeds reliably.

Bill

[kweidner]

Have had PM's concerning the one I fought this summer. The leading was caused from a slight peening from the hood on the slide. Gun was super accurate, it just leaded at that slight restriction. Manufacture said peening was considered normal wear and gun was not designed to shoot lead. Enough info for me. I realize not all have had this problem but wanted to throw it out there in case anybody else was wondering. The peening bothered me. Replace the barrel and they indicated it would happen eventually again. It would in NO way affect the guns reliability and accuracy shooting jacketed. They are great guns just not for me and cast IMHO.

[BCRider]

I haven't tried lead loads through mine yet. But after this thread I'm going to try a few to see what it does.

I like my 92 but it's a gun for folks with big hands. It's got as big or bigger a wrap around size as anything out there. But for those of us that it fits I'd say it's a great gun if you like the looks. Which I do.

One little niggle. I've shot mine in IDPA and found that it's easy to switch the slide mounted decocker to "safe". Pretty much drags things to a halt for a second or two. But I'm "programmed" to rack the slide from a slide lock reload from all my other guns. So I don't tend to use it in any serious matches. But for those of you that faithfully use the slide lock to release the slide this won't be a problem.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I carried the Beretta 92FS blued from '91 to '98 as a peace officer, on and off duty, in investigations, patrol, in competetion and on the SWAT team. The absolutely most reliable 9mm platform in the universe.

Keep it oiled and it will run. Don't oil the space aged alloy it's made from and it will not run. We had a saying, if there isn't an oil stain on your seat where your holster is you are not using enough oil. It was my 50 commissioned agency's most favorite gun. When they bought us Glock's, guys spent their own money to buy Beretta's.

Back to the oil. I live in a wet climate, oiled guns work great here. They took this platform to the sand pit. The sand in the wind would adhere to the oil and cause problems. I could have told them that was going to happen. Then they ran them without oil in the sand pit, and they had problems of course. I probably would choose something else in a dry dusty climate for daily carry. This would have been the perfect handgun for SE Asia.

I wouldn't put it in a community dunk tank for cleaning. That caused us problems. The Glock's get washed in the dunk tank and run fine, but the Beretta's and Sig's needed to get completely dried off after the dunk tank and then oiled up good.

I did not cast for my 92FS, I would experiment with a harder alloy as the 9mm is a high pressure cartridge, maximum industry working pressure is 35,700 cup.

I took the 1911 .45 trail, maximum 19,900 cup which is a working world for cast boolits.

[MtGun44]

Air cooled wwt alloy is just fine, IME.

Bill

[rintinglen]

I generally agree with Bill but I found that properly sized, heat treated, wheel weights worked better with less leading than air cooled. I was running Lyman 356-242 122 grain boolits over Unique or Power Pistol in my 92. Good lube matters. Recluse formula 45/45/10 not recommended, nor Lee Liquid Alox, unless you multi-coat and make it thick,in which case it gums up your seating die and then you have to keep a close watch on over all length. I use Ben's Red.

[ncbearman]

kids that hunt and fish dont mug old ladies

Dawg> love your tag line.

My grandpa always used to say that. I was about 8 before I figured out what he meant :o I thought there was a group of 8 year old kids running around mugging old ladies haha

rintin> Excuse my ignorance, but what is meant by heat treated as opposed to air cooled. Are you referring to water dropped?

This is great guys. Thank you. Keep em' coming.
Russ

[ElDorado]

I generally agree with Bill but I found that properly sized, heat treated, wheel weights worked better with less leading than air cooled. I was running Lyman 356-242 122 grain boolits over Unique or Power Pistol in my 92. Good lube matters. Recluse formula 45/45/10 not recommended, nor Lee Liquid Alox, unless you multi-coat and make it thick,in which case it gums up your seating die and then you have to keep a close watch on over all length. I use Ben's Red.

This is close to my 92 cast load. I have a 358242, sized to .357, lubed with Javelina and loaded with Unique. I shoot a lot of FMJ with Unique in it, too. I never had any problems with the gun, although a friend's kid used to have limp-wristing problems with it.

[Fishman]

Mine has a .358 bore. They are extremely well made.

[Bzcraig]

I'm not a fan of the slide mounted safety, but other than that, for a large hand, it could be the perfect 9mm. They can be tuned to be very accurate shooters.

[harley45]

We love ours everyone in my family shoots it from my 12 year old on up!

[Geraldo]

The 92F feels like it was made for my paws, so I really like it. I currently have two: an Italian 92F I bought in 1988 and a 92FS Brigadier. I can't tell you how many rounds the old one has through it, but it's a lot and it's still running strong. The Brigadier has had Trijicons added, and back when Ernie Langdon sold parts I put in a different trigger and springs. Next on my wish list is a 92A1 that will get mated with the Brigadier.

I've never had anything get stuck in the open slide, and I've had to scrape mud off the pistol before shooting, so I'd say that's a non-issue. You'll get varying opinions on this, but I don't use the decocker as a safety. Other than lowering the hammer, the only time I would use it is if I was grappling for the pistol and thought I was going to lose the battle.

I've been running 15 and 20 round mags, but there are new 17 round mags available.

[Petrol & Powder]

I've had several Beretta 92 series pistols, including the 92F. They are remarkably reliable and accurate pistols. Compared to a Glock or a SIG, the design is somewhat more complicated but despite that complexity, they very seldom break or fail to function. If one is seeking a large high capacity, DA/SA style 9mm pistol, the model 92 is an excellent option.
The grip is a little big for some people but well shaped for most. The pistol is a bit heavy for it's class but that weight makes it one of the easiest pistol to shoot fast. If you're not particularly mechanically inclined I would advise against disassembly beyond field stripping. They're not fragile but they do have a lot of small parts. That being said, I've seen them go thousands of rounds with no maintenance without failure.
The locking system is similar to that of a P-38. Because a separate locking block is utilized the barrel doesn't tilt to lock to the slide as in the Browning system. Again, this is slightly more complex than the Browning short recoil system but very functional.
When the U.S. military adopted the Beretta there was a tremendous amount of opposition and, in my opinion, most of it was slanderous. Resistance to change is normal but it reached sad levels during that transition. Some people are still negatively influenced by those largely false accusations. The Beretta 92 is a well proven design.

[captaint]

My only experience is with a new Italian built 92FS. It shoots boolits sized @ .358 (the MP 125gr HP) and the Lee 120grTC cast of straight WW and air cooled. No lead and very accurate. More accurate than I expected, really. I still haven't shot jax bullets out of it. Probably never will. I'm very happy with mine.
Mike

[khmer6]

I love the 92/96 setup. They have not so cast friendly without some work. The barrels tend to be large. The 96 shot cast great right out of the gate. Also the locking block is a weak point in those guns. But they are cheap to replace and about the only thing that will break on you.

[pretzelxx]

As much as military people hate them, I fix them and it's not that bad of a feel. Its a pretty sturdy frame and the slide is nice for cooling the barrel. The only complaint I have is the way the barrel slides in the frame it gives me a half second issue once in a while. That's if I'm "speed" assembling.

[Geraldo]

If you're not particularly mechanically inclined I would advise against disassembly beyond field stripping. They're not fragile but they do have a lot of small parts.

I suppose you could say the same about every pistol. It's been a while since I tore one down, but I don't recall them being all that complicated. Maybe that's because I have stripped P7s to the frame, and they are a true work of over-engineering.

[Wag]

I absolutely love mine. My hands are large enough to wrap up the grip and give me instant sight acquisition so it's perfect for me.

I haven't shot any of my own cast boolits through it but I have shot some lead heads that I bought many years ago and haven't had any problems with it.

One of my top two firearms.

--Wag--

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I've had a model 92 SB for many years and it is a very reliable pistol; has never failed to feed a single time even when the stack includes all mixtures of cast and jacketed in any order. Shoots accurately...will hold the 9 ring or better off the bench at 25 yards. Easy to take down and clean. LLS

[Petrol & Powder]

I suppose you could say the same about every pistol. It's been a while since I tore one down, but I don't recall them being all that complicated. Maybe that's because I have stripped P7s to the frame, and they are a true work of over-engineering.

I too have striped a P7 down to the frame and it's closer to a Swiss watch than a pistol. If you really what to test yourself, take an original Remington model 51 apart :o
Some people are just a little more mechanically inclined than others. That's not an insult just an observation. The first time I took the trigger spring out of a Beretta 92 I had to make a tool to re-install the spring.
And by the way, the H&K P7 is a classic example of German over-engineering that works far better than one would first think.

[lotech]

Big, heavy, and certainly not a target pistol, but it works well even with bullets never designed to be used in it, such as a 158 grain .38 cal. SWC. I can't recall a single jam with anything. I've been shooting my Beretta since '88 or '89, mostly with cast bullets sized at .358" or .359". It's about as accurate with cast as jacketed.

[Hickok]

I have a Beretta 92FS that I have owned for a number of years, and I really like it. Being a large pistol, it handles the recoil of a 9mm very well. I can get more rounds into the center of mass of a "bad guy" target faster with it than I can with any of my other handguns. For me, it is just flat out easy to shoot fast and accurate.

I agree with Silver Jack Hammer on running the Beretta "wet." If mine gets a little dry as to oiling, it wont feed rounds like Winchester White box. Mine needs to be oiled up good with rounds that are not "hot."

I plan on loading some cast boolits in it as soon as the boolit mold comes!

[Beesdad]

Great gun for shooting cast... Most accurate 9mm that I own

[ncbearman]

Yeah I fall in that camp.

That being said NCBearman if you get that Beretta and need some mags PM I have a several that are not needed by me, and no these will not work in a Taurus.

I will sarge, but would like to hear more about the gripes. Lets have it it. I'm pretty thick skinned haha

[Geraldo]

Ha, nope not going down that road, everything I could bring up has already been stated by many and discussed to death.

http://thegunzone.com/m9-a.html

Oh I'm sorry that hyperlink was slanderous. :brokenima

Man, that is some ancient history. :roll: Obviously this won't die even after nearly 25 years, yet people buy Glock .40s without a bit of concern that some agencies had so many problems they traded them in for 9mms. Teams that issue 1911s often issue two, and not just so you can carry them both, yet 1911s are incredibly popular.

[John Allen]

I could never warm up to one. It just did not feel right in my hands. I think the guns are great but make sure it feels good in your hand.

[Nicholas]

I have a Brigadier with a Jarvis bbl that I like a lot. The Beretta store has factory mags up to 30 capacity. The also have an inside the belt crossbreed style holster that carries comfortably.

[ncbearman]

P.S. the remark about being in the other camp was to convey that I have no attachment to the mags as the holy grail and the member could quite possiably get a great deal.

Thanks sarge, if this plays out I will contact you. Unless another member reads this and snatches em' up first haha
Russ

btw- I am also in the 1911 camp. My Dads WWII side arm he had nickeled in the 50's. My favorite. Love anything .45