Beretta 92a1 review, upgrades, thoughts from an amateur

[RWCRaiden]

Good write up. The D hammer spring is the best thing you can do for a Beretta 92. For the 5 bucks it costs, you'll shoot it much better.

[Serpico1985]

Thanks for the positive comments.

-The G17 actually has a very slightly longer sight radius (6.1" vs 6.5") than the 92.
-I've come to the conclusion that the two light primer strikes I've had are very likely attributed to the Winchester White box ammo. I spoke with a Wilson Combat rep via PM on another forum and his thoughts were that the ammo was suspect and predicted that if I switch to PMC bronze I wouldn't have any more issues. I've to a few thousand more rounds of the WWB and only shot it for practice so I'm not worried about it. Another side note on the ammo. It leaves gold flakes all over the inside of my gun after a range session. No idea what that is.
-It's completely unanimous, the D spring or equivalent thereof is a mandatory upgrade to all berettas. They shouldn't even ship a 92 or M9 without one.

I'll keep shooting my Pizza gun and post updates periodically.

Thanks for reading.

[vereceleritas]

I like that the 92A1 has dovetailed sights but why the different trigger guard? Seems to limit holster selection since most holster makers favor the M9A1 for obvious reasons.

It's a shame Beretta didn't continue to develop and modernize the 92 series. The Elites, Vertecs, and G-SD models were a step in the right direction and are still desirable pistols today. Instead, they discontinued those pistols and gave us the PX4

[T2C]

I owned a 92FS for several years and it was not bad. Recoil was soft and it was very reliable in the environment I used it. It would digest all of my reloads, even some that were of questionable quality. It was not as sensitive to bullet weight as other 9mm pistols I currently own. I think it is a good all round pistol, but I could not get the accuracy I wanted at 50 yards for shooting PPC, so I sold it.

It's good that the front sight on the 92A1 is dovetailed. That gives you more options.

If you do any accuracy testing at 50 yards, I would love to hear the results.

[samuse]

If you have light strikes with WWB, then not hitting the primers hard enough.

I've shot tens of thousands of it in 9,40,&45, watched much much more than that go downrange over the years, never saw one with a hard primer. PPU is the same stuff (sometimes), nobody has ever whined about the primers on them either.

If your mainspring is so light that the most reliable handgun on the planet is now ammo picky, I'd reconsider the spring.

[GJM]

Wilson Combat hit it out of the park with this 92A1, they recently did for me. Pretty much a Wilson 1911 CQB crossed with a 92A1. G conversion, sights, trigger job, checkering of frame, mag well bevel, and dehorned so well it is soft in your hands.

[Bret]

If you have light strikes with WWB, then not hitting the primers hard enough.

I have to agree with this. I've never once had a light primer strike with WWB.

[RHINOWSO]

I've got a 92A1 in the pipeline and some WC stuff is in its future as well. I had a 92FS Brig in the late 90s.

[Serpico1985]

I'm using the stock hammer. The hammer spring I'm using is a wolf and is rated at 16lbs. Anyone know what the rating on a D spring is? 18lbs?

GJM,

Does your WC Beretta have the wolf 16lb spring? Any issues with it? Can you advise DA and SA pull weights since the WC work was done?

[samuse]

You probably need the lighter Vertec hammer.

Quite a bit more mass to the stock hammer.