Gun Digest Book of Beretta Pistols: Function, Accuracy, Performance

by Massad Ayoob

The federal police who secure Veterans Administration facilities are armed with Beretta 92D 9mm pistols.

The Beretta has often been the victor in the “competition wars.” Famed instructor Ken Hackathorn had a Beretta 92 with a 20-round magazine tucked in his belt to back up his .45 when he won the National Tactical Invitational. He has publicly stated that no factory-manufactured pistol is more reliable.

The Beretta is well respected there. Vince O’Neil, several-time state champion PPC shooter of Oklahoma, is partial to the Beretta 92. He says he has not found any out of the box pistol that is both so accurate and so reliable.

For the last few years, the Beretta has beaten the 1911 more often than not.

More update. The Border Patrol, by the time you read this, will be changing from Beretta pistols to SIG P229s in .40 caliber with DAK trigger groups. They and INS are under the umbrella of Homeland Security, which has approved only the SIG and Heckler & Koch brands for new handgun purchases.

Blecchh!!

As the old cliché goes, “time marches on.” Things change. It is worth noting that when Beretta loses a contract, they don’t sue or scream or badmouth their competition, and that speaks well of them. The company has been with us for going on half a millennium. They’re going to be with us a lot longer, because instead of sniveling about losing a battle, they move forward with research and prepare to fight the next war. It is an attitude that some of their competitors, and most of their detractors, would do well to emulate.

Ray liked the Beretta so much that, since the Army doesn’t issue take-home guns, he bought one for himself as a carry and home-defense pistol.

Ray tried my Beretta 8045 Cougar in .45 ACP. “I love this gun,” he said enthusiastically after strafing down a table of six Bianchi steel plates with six fast shots. “Why couldn’t the military adopt this Beretta? With GI ball ammo, the .45 just makes so much more sense for combat than the 9mm!”

I wonder how Ray would like the PX4 Storm in .45 ACP?

Now in reserve status and recently back from combat in Afghanistan, Ray has a stronger appreciation than ever of reliable fighting weapons that function in adverse conditions. “You can’t beat the Beretta,” he says, patting the Model 96 on his hip.

I asked him once why he chose the Beretta. “For one thing, I’ve always liked fine guns,” he replied, “and I just can’t fault the workmanship on the Beretta. The trigger pull is easy to get along with, whether double- or single-action. It’s probably the most accurate service pistol out there, and that’s something I appreciate, too. There’s a group of cops out here who shoot their duty guns in matches. I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the best shots carry the Beretta.”

The last time I taught a class for Vince, his Beretta of choice was a 92G. He used it to clean the demanding Sky Marshal combat shooting qualification. It was the first time I’ve seen anyone shoot a perfect score on that extremely difficult course of fire.

My buddy John Lawson was then the gunsmithing editor at American Handgunner magazine, where I was the law enforcement editor. He presented my 8-year-old with one of his inimitable “S n’ S Specials.” The “S n’ S” stands for “Sugar n’ Spice,” and it’s a gun he developed for little girl shooters, starting with one of his own nieces, as I recall.

Aw shucks, what a pal!

At age 10, she carried a loaded Colt .38 on her hip when we went on safari together, and due to an anomaly of law in a certain African country, legally carried the same loaded gun concealed in major cities despite minor age.

can’t say exactly. It just feels right in my hand.” Now, as is detailed elsewhere in this book, the big Beretta 92 does not have a great history of winning the hearts of females, who tend to come with smaller hands than their brothers. However, Cat is the daughter of a tall, athletic woman and is tall herself, with very long fingers. Longer than mine, in fact.

My first-born showed up at the National Tactical Invitational with the 92FC in her Ted Blocker LFI Concealment Rig. For backup, she had the 92D. To make a long story short, Cat kicked butt. She was up against a very strong field of the best female combat shooters in the country, including Gila May-Hayes, Vicki Farnam, and Lyn Bates. When the proverbial smoke had cleared, she was High Woman. She had won a national pistol championship at the age of 19. She had also beaten the overwhelming majority of the male contestants.

She found that in cool to cold weather garb, she could conceal the Beretta Compact with its 13-round magazine under a jacket. In hot weather, she opted for a smaller Smith & Wesson Model 3913 in the same caliber.

Say, my GF can relate to the latter! :-)

It was about that time that she changed her email address to “BerettaGirl”…

The American Gun Expert I’ve known Patrick Sweeney

Pat’s a hell of a good shot, a hell of a good gunsmith, and a hell of a good writer.

He notes in the latter, in his chapter on the Beretta 92, “Its good points haven’t kept its detractors from beating on it at every opportunity.

And it will not bite you, jab you with sharp corners, or abrade parts of your hands.”

had been inundated with stories of broken slides and locking blocks. Wrote Patrick, “One area that came in for continual improvement was the locking block. The latest version is the fourth design, and is now nearly indestructible.

Keeping spare parts on hand is not an indictment of the Beretta. There are few pistols as rugged and reliable as the 1911, and I keep spares for my 1911s with me. There are few gunsmiths, competitors or writers with a greater appreciation and love of the 1911 than myself, and I own and have been known to carry, a Beretta M-92.”

Kinda like Bill Wilson and Ken Hackathorn, eh! (Though Ken’s not a ‘smith.)

The British Gun Expert Prior to the sad day in the mid-1990s when the Tony Blair government confiscated all modern handguns belonging to the British people, there were a number of staunch and highly competent handgunners among their number.

FUCK Tony Blair!

There were many highly competent handgun experts in the British Isles then, and among the very best was Richard Law. His facility in Wales hosted a large gun club.

“The Beretta we tested notched up mileage quite quickly and passed the 50,000-round mark after about 18 months’ service. We test-fired the pistol quite often, and allowed it to be used a great deal at our club, so that it was used a lot without our paying for the ammunition!

but that ‘improvement’ was clearly not necessary for our test gun, which is still banging on cheerfully without any sign of wear in that department.

“Not the least of the weapon’s attractions was that the clear sight picture was easy to acquire, and the group printed where the sights pointed. There is probably nothing more irritating than fixed-sight pistols which shoot low left or otherwise off-centre. Aiming-off is an unsatisfactory way of getting a decent score, so any pistol which is not true should be adjusted if possible. “One is entitled to expect a decent performance from a pistol which, out-of-the-box, is one of the most expensive of its type, but in this case at least one gets what one pays for a reliable tool which purrs on and on …”

The Instructor SSG James Mattimor

brought three Beretta 92s with me. We fired 1,500 rounds per man in five days. The only time my weapons stopped working was during the malfunction drills when we deliberately loaded dummy rounds. I was most pleased with myself when I was able to hit a steel silhouette target at 100 yards, standing, Weaver position. (Thank God for luck and a good optician.) I would not hesitate to train and send out my people armed with Berettas.

Mattimor later added, “While shooting at the NY Adjutant General’s match in Camp Smith this year we had two competitors shooting the old Gov’t Model .45. It was nothing but incessant jamming, magazine changes due to tap/rack procedures, etc.

At the end of the match I approached one of these ‘gentlemen’ and told him he was using a dinosaur. He was still sputtering nonsense about the .45 when I left in disgust. The U.S. military has been using Beretta for almost 20 years now and still the ‘Dinosaur Lovers’ carp, criticize and whine about their relics of the past. The .45 can’t compete in a rapid-fire high-capacity world. I wish the gun writers and ‘aficionados’ would give it a rest.”

Oh, snap!

The Security Professional A man who identifies himself as Charles S. told Beretta, “I bought my 92F in 1992 from a local gun shop. This was my first Beretta firearm. I am a licensed security officer, and have been so from 1979. At the time I worked for the Federal Reserve Bank. I have used this handgun for home protection, work, and competition shooting. I’ve fired some 10,000 rounds without a malfunction.

The Retired Cop Ian Cunningham carries a Model 92FS, and told Beretta, “I carried a Beretta as a police officer and still carry one in my personal life today. I load lots of +P and wide JHPs. I’ve owned three Model 92s and have never had a problem. It is a robust, accurate, fast pistol. It is very easy to rhythm fire. For a long time I bounced between SIGs and Berettas but in the end the Beretta is where I’m gonna stay.

AMEN! Roll that in yer pipe and smoke it, SIG!!

The Police Chief The manufacturer learned from Chief Mike Lasniel, “I have been carrying Beretta Model 92s since I purchased an Italian-made 92SB in 1984 while I was in the Marines. I had zero faith in the crappy 1911s that we were issued at the time.

OORAH!!

The 1911s were incredibly unreliable, even though the armorers babied them. I was very happy when the Corps went to the Beretta, and got my 92F in 1987. “When I went into law enforcement, I purchased a 92F, and carried it for many years while working as a city cop.

We would shoot at the sniper ranges, and after we were done with the rifles, we would grab some pistol ammo, and work on knockdown targets at 100 and 200 yards with our pistols. People were amazed at the accuracy of the Beretta, and I could drop the knockdowns nine out of 10 times at 200 yards. (I won quite a few free beers that way!)

Cheers/Prost/Kanpaī/Sláinte/¡Salud! 🍻🍺

“When I became Chief of a small rural community near salt water, I switched to the Stainless 92F, which I dearly love, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

“I’ve been betting my life on Beretta Pistols every day for over 20 years. I can purchase and carry any pistol in the world. I’ve shot them all, and tried them all. I’ll stick with my Beretta. There was an old saying in the Old West: ‘Beware the man with one gun.’ Especially if that gun is a Beretta!”

The SWAT Cop “I’ve been carrying a 92F since 1987 when my agency’s SRT (special reaction team) decided on it as the team’s sidearm of choice,” Officer Marty Hommel told Beretta.

The IPSC Shooter Robert Engh e-mailed Beretta, “As anyone on Beretta Forum knows I’ve been shooting IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) now for three years. Using my Beretta Elite IIs I have taken 2nd place Nationally in Canada in Production Division (2003), won the British Columbia Production Division Title

Beauty, eh! 🇨🇦🍁

The IPSC/IDPA Shooter J. P. Pohlman submitted the following to the Beretta website. “Three years ago I purchased a used 92FS pistol in 80 to 90 percent condition. Inspired by Ernest Langdon and his 92G series pistol, I planned to ‘trick-out’ this ordinary 92FS for IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) and IPSC shooting. However after shooting it the first time at the range, I decided the pistol was fine just as is. Seeing how it was used there’s no telling how many rounds were fired through it before it arrived into my ownership. Yet, I have personally put a bit over 4,000 rounds through it. (I try to keep a close eye on such things.) Thus far I have yet to have a single malfunction of ANY kind! There are not many pistols that can say that.” The list goes

The Beretta points naturally. The Beretta is a shooter’s gun. Those who most appreciate them aren’t the collectors, but the shooters.

Yessir!

work the slide one more time, just for the feel of it. The sensation is like glass running on glass. It’s like racking the slide of a prewar Colt National Match pistol, or like running your finger over a piece of fine crystal. No out-of-the-box semiautomatic pistol has so smooth an action. The Beretta is the standard by which the rest of the industry is judged in this respect.

Check out the sight picture. It’s a generous one. The front sight is tall and thick, the rear notch is big and blocky, and as a result, even those with imperfect eyesight can align the sights well. The inexpensive models come with three white dots, which stand out against a black target and help the eye see what it is supposed to see in aiming for a perfect shot.

Stroke the trigger. The double-action pull is smooth. Not the lightest in the industry, not even the smoothest, but smooth enough. It is conducive to the marksman’s ideal, a surprise shot break.

If your Model 92 or Model 96 is an F or G series instead of the double-action-only D series, it will go into self-cocking single action mode for every subsequent shot.

Ahem, okay Mas, you’re repeating yourself again.

The single-action pull won’t be particularly light, but it will be consistent. There will be a very slight palpable movement – it feels like a little bit of a “roll” – as the trigger comes back before it cleanly releases the cocked hammer. This, too, is helpful in achieving a surprise break,

You’re getting a sense of why shooters appreciate the Beretta.

With one of the double-stack Berettas, you’ll notice that the wide opening in the butt combines with the tapered top of the magazine to allow a smooth and fumble-free insertion.