Beretta 96D Centurion

[NCPatrolAR]

Anyone have any expereince with these? I've got one on layaway and have some plans on doing a bit of work to it, but want to make sure these things arent full of problems.

[TOrrock]

The only issues I ever saw were the heavy double action triggers on most of them, which can be worked around, and the increased wear and tear on the system because of the caliber.

Beretta's are some smooth shooting pieces, I'm sure you'd keep up on spring changes and locking block inspection, that kind of thing.

You're issued a .40 right? Free ammo?

[NCPatrolAR]

Originally Posted by Templar

The only issues I ever saw were the heavy double action triggers on most of them, which can be worked around, and the increased wear and tear on the system because of the caliber.

Beretta's are some smooth shooting pieces, I'm sure you'd keep up on spring changes and locking block inspection, that kind of thing.

You're issued a .40 right? Free ammo?

I do get some .40 ammo, but I'm thinking about grabbing a Bar Sto barrel and rechambering the gun to 357 Sig.

[TOrrock]

That's an awfully hot round for that locking system.....I don't know of Beretta ever did a 9X series in .357 SIG. I know that they chambered their Cougar rotating barrel system in .357 SIG but I don't think it did too well.

I'm sure Todd G. will be along soon.

[RD62]

I had a standard 96 that I had Ernest Langdon tune and fit a Bar-Sto barrel to back in the day. Very smooth, very reliable, very accurate. No complaints. It was heavy, and compared to other .40 pistols it was lower capacity.

If I were to pick up another it would be a 92, for caliber and capacity. And an Elite if I could find one.

-RD62

[Skintop911]

Originally Posted by NCPatrolAR

Anyone have any expereince with these? I've got one on layaway and have some plans on doing a bit of work to it, but want to make sure these things arent full of problems.

40SW is hard on the 90-series. The Centurion is handy. I like the D mainspring, but in a G model. Serviceable.

Not full of problems, but they share the quirks of the 90-series in general, magnified by the 40SW cartridge.

Originally Posted by NCPatrolAR

Anyone have any expereince with these? I've got one on layaway and have some plans on doing a bit of work to it, but want to make sure these things arent full of problems.

Think in 1911 terms. You're taking a gun, changing its caliber (to something significantly more powerful in this case), then shrinking the overall size of the gun. Result: less than perfect.

The 96-series guns were not known for their durability and generally exhibited less reliability -- in some cases dramatically less -- than their 9mm counterparts. While I'm a big fan of the 9mm 92-series, the .40-cal guns are not their equal. As a range toy that will never see more than a few thousand rounds, sure. As a gun I'd rely on for home & hearth, no.

Originally Posted by NCPatrolAR

I do get some .40 ammo, but I'm thinking about grabbing a Bar Sto barrel and rechambering the gun to 357 Sig.

Did that to the beefed-up Brigadier (Elite I, actually) in 1999/2000. Frame cracked in multiple places within a relatively small number of rounds ... I want to say 4-5,000 but it's been a decade. Beretta magnafluxed and dye penetrant tested my gun and in part because of that they never produced a 357 SIG variant of the 90-series guns.

edited to add: Thinking back, I recall that Beretta's head tech guru Drew Ursin and one of their sales reps (Brian Felter) actually tried to make a 357 SIG Centurion a year or two before I started working there. The test results were such that by the time I showed up, everyone already knew the 357 concept wouldn't work but since my gun appeared fine to the naked eye, I insisted they test it.

Moral of the story: if you absolutely must have a 96 Centurion, do not put a 357 barrel in it.

[kmrtnsn]

U.S. Border Patrol 96D Brigadiers (reinforced slide/regular 92 frame) would regularly suffer from cracked frames at the 4,500-5,000 round mark firing 155gr. JHP .40S&W. The old fire breathing INS loading was fairly hot and very hard on handguns.

[Slater]

I believe Beretta's (relatively) new 90Two in .40 is supposed to be the 96 replacement. The 90Two has some type of integral recoil buffer to better handle the hotter round, but it seems to have gotten a lukewarm reception from Beretta fans.