Beretta M9A3 as hit the streets!!

[Love Life]

Woohoo!! For those who have been anxiously waiting for the M9A3 to come out...it's here!!! I'll do a range report when mine get here.

Happy dance!

[Artful]

What changes over the M9 standard model?

[Love Life]

Sights, slide, grip, threaded muzzle, mag release. The only thing that offends me is the use of Cerakote. I'll probably send it out for Ion Bond when the first hard look at it chips/scuffs the paint.

http://www.beretta.com/en-us/m9a3/#Features

[jmort]

Good for you. Like you, I am a fan of the 92 variants and the best iteration being M9A3. If I did not have my four beloved P89s, I would probably get a couple few M9A3s. I like solid full size 9mm guns for house and field carry. I also prefer a lanyard loop, an external hammer and a decocker. The M9A3 reminds me of my P89s except it is more refined.

[Love Life]

I've been waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

I was on Beretta's notification list and several other suppliers...

Poof!!! Out of nowhere Buds had some, and then they hit other places, and then gunbroker. The street price at this time is $800+ . I jumped on it in fear that it might be limited run or some such jazz. I remember when I was waiting for USMC roll marked Colt's to get cheaper...

[Hickok]

I have heard some condemn the Beretta 92 platform as being "inaccurate" or "unable to hit anything with it", but I find my 92FS is one of easiest pistols I own to shoot comfortably, accurately and fast.

Low recoil, quick shot to shot recovery, points nicely, I can get fast repeat hits on bullseye with little effort.

[historicfirearms]

Thanks for letting us know these have hit the street. It gives me an excuse to head over to the big gun shop later this week to see if they have any in stock.

[Combat Diver]

I have heard some condemn the Beretta 92 platform as being "inaccurate" or "unable to hit anything with it", but I find my 92FS is one of easiest pistols I own to shoot comfortably, accurately and fast.

Low recoil, quick shot to shot recovery, points nicely, I can get fast repeat hits on bullseye with little effort.

I've done my longest handgun with a issued M9 in Iraq. 300 meters on a known distance range. Took a mag to figure out the hold over but then I was ringing steel.


CD

[Hickok]

I've done my longest handgun with a issued M9 in Iraq. 300 meters on a known distance range. Took a mag to figure out the hold over but then I was ringing steel.


CDI truly believe what you say.

The new M9A3 is a fine looking pistol.

Combat Diver, thank you for your service to our country, and God's protection be on you!

[Scharfschuetze]

Took a mag to figure out the hold over but then I was ringing steel.

Ha, ha! Yes, the M9 will hit at long range when shot well. Not as well as a 357, but well enough to win a few bets from the rest of the team.

Looks like the new grip design on the M9A3 will hold in your hand much like a 1911 with a flat mainspring housing. I also like the drift adjustable front sight. I always wished that the original M9 had one of those.

Straying from the topic a bit and as an aside, the best long range pistol I ever fired was an Artillery Model Luger with a shoulder stock.

[harley45]

I have no idea how many handguns we went thry trying to find my 13 year ols something he liked, I was about to give up when a buddy traded into a 92f Compact. Handed it to the boy and after watching the smile on his face as he shot it my buddy presented to him as a Birthday present! Amazing guns I'd like to try one of the new m3s myself!

[Love Life]

Now that's a good friend!

[Love Life]

Picking mine up today!!

[jmort]

^^^ Good for you. I am a definite fan of the gun and the improvements/refinements have made it a even greater duty gun. At least you know what it is like to put one through the ultimate test.

BTW, wan't one of the improvements making more sand/dirt resistant?

[Love Life]

Sand resistant magazines. They have a PVD coating. Honestly, I never experienced the reliability issues often talked about with any weapon system I used in the service. Come to think of it, neither did my fireteam or later squad. We did weapons maintenance...

The threaded barrel is a non consideration for me, but the night sights are a very nice upgrade along with the dovetailed front sight. The new grip angle is fantastic. I didn't think it would matter, but talk about serious pointability. For a no BS full size service gun, I like the Beretta M9 series.

My only gripe is the cerakote finish. Once it chips off enough, I'll get it Ion-bonded.

[Petrol & Powder]

No offense to anyone but I'll stick with my 92F. That M9A3 looks a little to "tacticool" for me.

Wish I still had my old 92SB and my Stainless Type M (compact length slide and single stack mag).

[Love Life]

I'm offended. Deeply offended.

Just kidding!!

The upgrades are definitely well thought out. It's a full size service pistol made to be adaptable to different missions and requirements, and to be more adaptable to different hand sizes.

It's not designed for concealed carry, it's not a bullseye gun, and it's not catering towards the "classics" look either. The beauty in it is it is what it is. A tool, catered towards the military who actually use all the tacticool features. Plus it'll keep mall ninjas ready to defend the clueless shoppers during Christmas, lol.

[9.3X62AL]

I have enjoyed my Beretta 92/96-series pistols. My uniform carry gun the last 6 years of my career was a Beretta 96. Will I buy another one? Maybe.

I had the privilege of firing a stock-looking but highly-refined 92-series in 9mm some years back that was SCARY ACCURATE. I barricade-fired at 25 yards with 10 rounds (factory W-W sub-sonic 147 JHPs) and tore a ragged hole 1-1/8"......round and centered in a B-27 X-ring. The 92s are a little big for the caliber, but they compensate for that by being (to my eye, anyway) the most beautifully-designed service pistol commonly encountered. The Italians design beautiful things, for darn sure.

[Petrol & Powder]

I've always felt that the Beretta 92 was maligned without basis. The 92 was the result of years of refinement and I agree the Italians did a good job on the 92 series pistols.
There were some sour grapes when the M9 replaced the 1911A1. I always thought there were false stories and maybe even sabotage during the early days of the Beretta in our military. The 92 series may not be perfect but it wasn't as bad as some would lead you to believe.

[Love Life]

According to the busy bodies, if our weapons are as bad as claimed on the interweb and word of mouth, then nobody would have ever survived any engagement we have been involved in since the adoption.

[Golfswithwolves]

If this new variation becomes real popular, maybe it will mean some good bargains on the originals. I could be persuaded to pick one up, but I am thrifty (wife says cheap).

[Love Life]

I have it in hand and it's awesome. Full write up and range report coming when I hit the range next week.

[dragon813gt]

I have it in hand and it's awesome.

Lies! I've read a bunch of blogs and the operators who write them know what they're talking about. They say they are weak sauce compared to Glocks.

[Love Life]

Psh. My response to them:


156105

Followed by:

156106

[dragon813gt]

LOL :laugh:

[9.3X62AL]

Ford/Chevy/Mopar-flavored breath mints. "Operators" of that sort do their best work on keyboards.

[Love Life]

Some of the best operators in the world are born on the internet.

[Love Life]

1st range session completed today. The load fired was 124 gr plated rn over 4.4 gr of HP-38. Between the wife and I, plus her Glock 17, we managed to fire enough 9mm to completely fill up a Maxwell house coffee can with spent brass.

Pretty much uneventful. 100% function all day. It hits about 2 inches high so I plan to swap to AA#7 to give the bullets a bit more juice and bring the POI down since I need to refill the ammo can.

[tazman]

I have a Beretta 92fs and a Taurus PT92 which both feel the same and work the same with the exception of the safety. I have shot enough ammo through them that I can hit center of mass without using the sights at close range. They now point naturally for me. Good old muscle memory.
I don't really want to change to another grip angle and have to learn it all over again.
If there were a substantial reason such as improved reliability( I don't think that's possible) or better choice of ammo I might jump on it but that isn't the case.
My neighbor did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He used his M9 a lot clearing buildings in close quarters. He never complained about the M9 reliability. His only complaint was the round nose ammo didn't kill quickly enough if you were a little off target. He wasn't a big fan of the 1911 since he never carried or trained with one. He used what he was issued.
He was a special forces sniper and was released from service when he took some shrapnel in his back from an IED. He still has trouble with it from time to time when the weather is wrong for him.
He is one fabulous shot though. I can't hold a candle to him.
He still get this funny "aw shucks" look on his face when you thank him for his service.

[Love Life]

I have a Beretta 92fs and a Taurus PT92 which both feel the same and work the same with the exception of the safety. I have shot enough ammo through them that I can hit center of mass without using the sights at close range. They now point naturally for me. Good old muscle memory.
I don't really want to change to another grip angle and have to learn it all over again.
If there were a substantial reason such as improved reliability( I don't think that's possible) or better choice of ammo I might jump on it but that isn't the case.
My neighbor did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He used his M9 a lot clearing buildings in close quarters. He never complained about the M9 reliability. His only complaint was the round nose ammo didn't kill quickly enough if you were a little off target. He wasn't a big fan of the 1911 since he never carried or trained with one. He used what he was issued.
He was a special forces sniper and was released from service when he took some shrapnel in his back from an IED. He still has trouble with it from time to time when the weather is wrong for him.
He is one fabulous shot though. I can't hold a candle to him.
He still get this funny "aw shucks" look on his face when you thank him for his service.

You know, funny thing about that grip angle...

When I first picked the M9A3 up, and up until I fired the first magazine full at the range, I was super stoked about the vertec grip. It was mo' 1911-ish. Yeah, about that, I'm so used to the regular hump grip that I found it odd when firing so I swapped to the included grip adapter to make the grip the same size as the standard M9. I felt like such a boot, and my wife asked me if I even operate.

Then later it clicked as I started shooting the 1911s at the range. Mine have the arched mainspring housings which I prefer...duh, lol.

The night sights and dovetailed front sight are worthwhile improvements along with the checkering. The barrel is also threaded, but that is a non starter for me. Plus it comes with a sweet plastic ammo can inside of a sweet cardboard box with M9A3 stamped all over it.

[tazman]

That box sounds like the boxes Canon cameras come in. Canon stamped everywhere. As if it's saying Steal me! Steal me!

[B. Lumpkin]

Has anybody else had a chance to try out the M9A3? I have been considering getting one.

[bigboredad]

I have shot one and it was the first 9mm I've ever shot good. However I only shoot 1911 .45's. the grip angle and trigger were excellent out of the box. If wasn't dirt poor thanks to being blessed with multiple sclerosis i would jump all over it.

[warboar_21]

I carried the M9 daily in the Army for almost 6 years. At first I really didn't like it as I had been shooting a Glock prior to service. In training I barely missed expert by one round. My first duty assignment I was issued an old 1911 and was able qualify expert with but a few weeks later they took it away and issued me a brand new M9. When shooting that one I qualified expert with ease. After qualifying we set up clay pigeons on the 50 meter line and were given 10 rounds to shoot as many as we could in any position we wanted. I hit 7 out of 10 standing. My old squad leader hit 10 for 10 (he had been on the Army shooting team).
The more I shot the gun the more I liked it. I don't own one but the closest thing I have to it would be my CZ 85. I think it's more accurate than my M9 was.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[kingstrider]

I am looking for a 9mm suppressor host and would like to see a range report when you get it. Hopefully they will come to their senses and start making this in black soon instead of that awful multicolor brown.

[TCLouis]

I think those are being cranked out right here in their new Tennessee facility.

What do you consider accurate with the M9?

I got 3 out of 5 in a 2.5X3" group at 50 last week with a rest and a little, but not great care on the sights with my P92AFS 92 copy. Hey rested kinda locks sights in place for ya.

No load development, I just loaded one that runfiverun suggested 3.2 Red Dot (I use PROMO) and a 127 grain RNHP purchased from someone here a few years ago.

[TXSlade]

I used the M9 in the Army, it was a fine weapon. I don't have the longest fingers, so the first round is a stretch, the rest are fine.

I bought a Wilson Combat Brig Tac, I love it. Super smooth, it is a "G" instead of the FS I am used to, my first "G" model.

Then I bought the first M9A3 to come to my local gun shop, it is FS, but Beretta is coming out with a drop in "G" conversion. First thing, I love the Vertec grip. It is a bit smaller than the regular M9, and it feels great to me. I might even have Wilson Combat shave my Brig Tac to match. The FS has slightly upturned controls for decocker/safety. 15 degrees if I remember correctly, honestly, in combat that could/would have been handy. I was aware of mag changes and slide manipulations can knock the lever down on an M9 and I always give a quick check, the M9A3, it will take a small problem and make it possibly non-existent. It works great with a suppressor, I've used several different kinds, and no malfunctions with any, and no boosters required, I love that. It come with a plastic grip to mimic the M9 grip, if your hands are on the big side.

With either gun, using a rest and heavier bullets I can get 1.5" groups at 25 yards. The smallest with the brig tac was under an 1", the smallest with the M9A3, was right at 1". Off-hand, I shoot the M9A3 better. I think because it is more comfortable. What I liked was at 100 yards I could hit coke can sized steel offhand with the M9A3 at will. As far as I'm concerned, it is a shooter.

As far as the FDE color, yeah, it's the only FDE colored gun I have, in person I think it looks better. I am glad I didn't let the color stop my purchase.

[Multigunner]

There were in fact some serious problems with the Berettas when they were first brought into service. The NATO STANAG 9x19 cartridge broke a few slides with some injuries to those firing the gun. The Navy had a few pistols with fully enclosed slides made up to try to fix the problem but the newer strengthened slide works well.
The Berretta wasn't the only pistol to break when using STANAG ammo. One of the SIG pistol models also suffered broken slides. In that case they found the corners of the ejector port were not properly radius milled.

Then there's the trick of yanking the slide off a opponents Beretta in hand to hand combat. They redesigned the take down method to deal with that,

I wouldn't mind having the current model Berretta but I'm glad I didn't buy one before they worked out the bugs.

[TXSlade]

There are all sorts of stories about Beretta 92/M9 cracked slides to be read on the internet, heard at gunshop counters and from folks who "have a friend that knows a Navy SEAL". These sources usually wildly distort the true story of the Beretta 92/M9 cracked slides. The best authoritative source I have found on the subject is the US General Accounting Office Report to the Chairman, Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, dated September 1988 and titled Quality and Safety Problems With the Beretta M9 Handgun (NSIAD-88-213). The report is 28 pages long, but the key points related to slide failures are:

Between September 23, 1987 and July 18, 1988, the Army and Navy experienced 14 cracked slides. Three were on Navy-owned pistols (1 92SB and 2 M9s) under operational conditions. Eleven were on Army-owned pistols (3 92SBFs and 8 M9s) being tested under laboratory conditions.
The 3 Navy operational failures and the first Army test failure resulted in minor injuries to the shooters. Three received facial lacerations, one of them received a broken tooth, and the fourth shooter received chest bruises.
The average number of rounds to slide failure was 18,137, and ranged from an estimated 4,500 in an operational pistol to 30,545 in a laboratory test pistol.
Beretta subsequently completed a DOD-observed test that involved firing 20,000 rounds through each of 12 M9s with no slide failures (although 5 slides developed cracks).
All of the slides that failed were made in Italy.
There was no agreement on the root cause of the slide failures.



http://www.gao.gov/assets/220/210461.pdf

As far as that slide trick, lol, one too many movies there.

M9 is basically a 92FS with minor cosmetic differences. To remove the slide, one must depress a button on the right sight while flipping a small lever on the left. Doing this action in "combat" is laughable at best. I hate to admit, but in country we used to try this on each other all the time. (before safety police cry out, unloaded weapon) To entertain ourselves, amongst even dumber activities. The only action that worked was to push the slide out of battery, which worked on any semi-auto pistol. The cure for this action was even easier, just yank really hard and pull the trigger. But close quarter combat like this is thankfully rare, you plan your movements to avoid such things.

The biggest problem with M9's in the military is they are wore out. My first issued M9 had over 50,000 documented rounds, and it was considered a newer one. One of my fellow soldiers M9's we could stick a 9mm cart about halfway down the muzzle. But, it is considered a last resort weapon.

I never have seen a cracked slide, btw.

[robertbank]

Well I have a confession to make. Iwas and am late in the Beretta 92FS game. By chance this fall I bought a gently used Girsan, a Turkish copy of the Beretta Centurian, made on Beretta supplied CNC equipment. Best $450Cdn I have spent on any handgun. Fit and finish, reliability all hang with any Beretta made at for us, 1/3 of the price. So anmoured with this pistol I am about to trade one of my CZ85 Combats for a M9A1. The M9A3 are more up here than I want to spend - $1,300 Cdn. would be a good deal.

I am not sure why the US Government wants to re-invent the pistol again with their newest search. I suspect the Glock young guns will have their day and the US Army goes to the G 19 or G17. We shall see.

Nothing should distract from the 92FS though. Seems to me to just be an extremely reliable pistol with a proven track record.

Interesting comment regarding the internet operators. We have them up here as well. The other day one was arguing with a Police Armourer. the latter had serviced Beretta's for 15 years with his former department. Seems the young operator was quite convinced the 92 was a piece of, well you know, and his Glock was so, so superior. :roll:

Take Care
Merry Christmas to all

[9.3X62AL]

Mego.

[TXSlade]

As of yesterday, Beretta released a kit so you can swap parts in a 92 FS to make a G. (FS is decock/safety) (G is decock only, no safety). Police tend to use the G a lot. I ordered the kit myself, it was $55, plus shipping. They sold out of the 300 kits they had in a couple hours, I am sure they will stock up soon.

Kudos to Beretta for coming up with this!

[historicfirearms]

As of yesterday, Beretta released a kit so you can swap parts in a 92 FS to make a G. (FS is decock/safety) (G is decock only, no safety). Police tend to use the G a lot. I ordered the kit myself, it was $55, plus shipping. They sold out of the 300 kits they had in a couple hours, I am sure they will stock up soon.

Kudos to Beretta for coming up with this!

Thanks for the heads up. I've always wanted a G model, now it will be much cheaper to get one by switching over a 92 fs.