Doc1
11-15-2008, 12:55 PM
My son is in the Army and gifts his Dear Old Dad with his cast off personal Army junk from time to time.
Recently he gave me a Beretta 92 mag and while I don't own one of those pistols, I figured it would go in the miscellaneous parts box with a million other odds and ends. You guys all know that you never know when you'll desperately need some forgotten doodad in that box, despite the wife's protests about "cleaning up that mess one of these days."
Anyway, I started examining the mag carefully and was struck by how similar it was to my Browning Hi Power mags. A few cursory measurements showed it to be pretty darned close, so out came a pistol. It fit perfectly...except that the mag release cutout is in a different place. 15 minutes at my workbench with jewelers files had created a new cutout in the 92 mag and it locked in perfectly and manually cycled well. The 92's mag follower will not hold the slide open after the last round, but I think that could be modified easily enough, or if it's not important to you in a range mag, just be left alone. Another notable difference from stock is that the 92 mag projects about a half-inch below the HP's butt, but it's not unattractive and works OK.
A trip to the range showed that the modified 92 mag worked almost perfectly. Almost? Yeah. There were a couple of minor feeding issues, but I think that's just a matter of the magazine lips contours and I'm already getting that smoothed out with a little experimentation. I've had brand new mags with feeding issues, so I don't think it's a deal-killer.
Genuine Hi Power mags are expensive and a bit hard to find. 92 Mags are cheap and plentiful at the gun shows, so anyone wanting inexpensive mags for their HP might consider this 92 modification.
Best regards
Doc
Recently he gave me a Beretta 92 mag and while I don't own one of those pistols, I figured it would go in the miscellaneous parts box with a million other odds and ends. You guys all know that you never know when you'll desperately need some forgotten doodad in that box, despite the wife's protests about "cleaning up that mess one of these days."
Anyway, I started examining the mag carefully and was struck by how similar it was to my Browning Hi Power mags. A few cursory measurements showed it to be pretty darned close, so out came a pistol. It fit perfectly...except that the mag release cutout is in a different place. 15 minutes at my workbench with jewelers files had created a new cutout in the 92 mag and it locked in perfectly and manually cycled well. The 92's mag follower will not hold the slide open after the last round, but I think that could be modified easily enough, or if it's not important to you in a range mag, just be left alone. Another notable difference from stock is that the 92 mag projects about a half-inch below the HP's butt, but it's not unattractive and works OK.
A trip to the range showed that the modified 92 mag worked almost perfectly. Almost? Yeah. There were a couple of minor feeding issues, but I think that's just a matter of the magazine lips contours and I'm already getting that smoothed out with a little experimentation. I've had brand new mags with feeding issues, so I don't think it's a deal-killer.
Genuine Hi Power mags are expensive and a bit hard to find. 92 Mags are cheap and plentiful at the gun shows, so anyone wanting inexpensive mags for their HP might consider this 92 modification.
Best regards
Doc