How i learned to love a beretta

[Mr.Goodtimes]

well i did something totally unexpected today. i bought a beretta 92fs. after posting threads and pickin yalls along with many other peoples brains, id had my choice narrowed down to either a m&p 9, or a fnp 9. i went into the gunshop leaning towards the fnp 9, picked it up, it just didnt click, something wasnt right. they didnt have any m&p 9 with out the mag safety, and i dont do mag safeties.

They had a used 40 that looked like the guy bought it and sold it, def had less then 150 rds through it. It had no mag safety and at 450 bucks, the price was right. i was pretty close to sold on that, especially since my dad said he would help my pay for ammo, so i would be able to practice plenty. I still felt like i wanted a 9mm though. so i looked around, checked out a glock 19, really liked it, but, the trigger was a little iffy and im really a fan of double/single steel frame guns (grew up shooting a sig226).

I cant afford a sig though so i went and checked out a beretta 92 fs. I pick it up handled it and was sold. the gun is a beautiful gun, it points great, it feels great, and the trigger was AWESOME!

i went in the gun shop fully intending to walk out with an fnp 9, wasnt even considering a beretta, much less any gun with a manual safety. ill be damned, not only do i walk out with a beretta, but a gun with a manual safety!

im going to drill and practice flipping the safety off every time i draw the gun though to get used to it. I know berettas are really accurate guns and that also helped sell me.

Also, my dad bought that VERY lightly used m&p 40. so i won twice today :D im 20 years old so i had to have him with me to buy the gun, and since we bought two i walked out the door with a NIB beretta 92fs for 600 bucks. I cant pick it up till next sat or sunday though as my dad is going out of town and doesent get back till sat, and i cant pick it up :mad: this is gonna be a long 7 days!

This is my first handgun thats my own. Im going to go take my concealed carry class within the week so i can send in for it the day i turn twenty one. until then its a range gun and beside the bed gun. I bought some 147gr Winchester Ranger for HD rounds. Also picked up a case of 500 to store.

Also, are the MDS magazines good mags? i see their about 20 bucks on CDNN vs 35 for a beretta mag. i think i herd somewhere that MDS makes mags for beretta?

Cheers,

Ryan

[Jerm]

Congrats!

Yeah they're the OEM for Beretta.

Ive had no problems with the MDS mags.

The 92 takes alot of flak and its not perfect(nothing is).I've owned several over the last 10+ years and they've treated me very well.

There are several other choices i prefer for carry.For HD or the range they're a favorite of mine.

They're beautiful,they shoot great,and have been very reliable in my experience.

[varoadking]

Glad you like your new piece - enjoy...

Personally, I have no aloha for Beretta handguns...though I believe them to be well built for the most part...

[Mr.Goodtimes]

thanks guys! i knew goin in to it they arent the most tacticool thing on the block but, ive alwayse kinda liked em and, from what i know, their as reliable as any other steel frame pistol. i dont plan on cc this gun, ill probably get a glock 19 for that or an m&p compact, havent decided and i dont turn 21 for another 10 months so i got plenty of time to decide. i also bought the 92 because im enlisting in the military and, i thought it would be nice to be familiarized with the m9, i know its completely not nessecary but, its a nice perk. i wanna go into combat controll and, i figured knowing how to shoot well would probably be a nice thing.

[rathos]

Beretta 92 is a great gun. I cc with it a lot. It took a bit of practice learning to flick the safety up after a few years of CCing a 1911, but its now second nature. I bought a bunch of the MDS mags from CDNN about 2 years ago and they are still going strong. I carry my beretta in a TT gunleather IWB and its pretty comfy. I am surprised to hear that the beretta is up to $600 now, was that with tax?

again congrats!

[Mr.Goodtimes]

yea it was 600 after tax, it would have cost just as much to order it from buds and have it transferred. the shop i bought it from is sorta high, they had it marked 659. they negotiate though. non of the gun shops within about an hour of where i live have what i would consider "awesome deals" on guns. if you want a great deal on a gun around here you gotta go to a gun show.

[williejc]

You will enjoy your Beretta. Keep it clean and lubed, resist the urge to dry fire it, avoid slamming the slide forward on an empty chamber, and avoid Pro-Mag magazines. In mine I choose not to shoot steel-case ammo, because I think it to be hard on extractor and ejector.

Think twice before letting just anybody work on it. The trigger will smooth out after use, and the chamber throat will not need polishing--so beware the Dremel tool guy who has that lean and hungry look. Also stay with factory grips or the one or two other choices recommended by Beretta. Why? The trigger bar tends to pop out with the wrong grip in place.

Wear ear protection. Be safe and think twice before mixing gunpowder and alcohol.

The best of luck to you.

[JonInWA]

Congratulations on acquiring your Beretta 92F-you've gotten what's becoming a modern-day classic.

Massad Ayoob's relatively recent "The Gun Digest Book of the Beretta" is an excellent read, despite some errors (particularly in his coverage of magazines), and the chapter on maintenance and lubrication alone is the most detailed I've seen, and completely justifies the price of the book.

For grips, the stock grips are fine in and of themselves; the two aftermarket grips "approved" by Beretta are by Hogue and Farrar. Farrars have been out of production for some time; the company was acquired by Pierce Grips, and I don't believe they've re-issued the grips for the 92 Series guns. Hogue grips (particularly the ones with the fingergrooves that cover the frontstrap) tend to be bulky. My own personal preference are the Ergo Extreme grips by Falcon Industries (see www.ergogrips.net) and Uncle Mike's santoprene rubber grips, designed by Craig Spegel-I've used both without incident, and particularly prefer the Ergo grips. If you switch to aftermarket grips, there's a large probability that you'll need to use the grip washers that come with the factory grips for the grips to properly fit.

Beretta specifically recommends using lubricating oil, not grease on the 92 series, although a thinner viscosity "grease" like TW25B would probably work fine, I pretty much stick with Weapons Shield or FP10 on mine; these are pretty tightly tolerenced guns, so using grease or going with some of the thicker after-market finishes can be a bit of an iffy proposition operationally. Beretta 92s are not Glocks-they need to be well, and frequently lubed (but NOT over-lubed-it shouldn't be dripping), especially regarding the slide and receiver rails. Particularly if you're using yours as a carry gun, I'd check it at a minimum of once a week. Bill Loughridge has an excellent discussion of handgun lubrication on his Cylinder & Slide website. For many of the fiddly internal lubrication points I use Dri-Slide, a molybedendum disulfide dry-film lubricant carried in suspension in a liquid carrier solution-capillary action carries the solution to the difficult nooks and crannies, the carrier solution evaporates, and you're left with a dry-film lubricant/anti-corrosive that doesn't attract dirt and residue.

Externally, the barrel exterior and grip screws are just blued, not Bruniton coated, and as such can be more susceptable to rust. I apply a coat of Senty Solutions' Tuff Coat to help prevent rustion on mine.

Unlike many contemporary combat handguns, my example (at least) uses a 6 o'clock hold to achieve a center-of-mass point of impact (most recent combat handguns generally seem to start you off with a center hold point of aim/point of impact, as it's more instinctive; the 6 o'clock POA is the old target shooting preference). Zero yours carefully to find out what yours does before carrying it or using it for defensive purposes is my suggestion.

While some consider the grip to be inordinately bulky, I actually find that it provides a very natural grip index and feel.

Magazines we've already discussed on the other thread on the forum currently running.

Another good website (with intelligent adult behavior as a rule) is www.berettaforum.net.

Again, congratulations. Let us know how it shoots.

Best, Jon

[Mr.Goodtimes]

great post jon! thanks for all the information! i like the look of the ergo grips and im going to strongly consider picking up a pair, i might order them today. they would certainly be nice in the hotter months here in florida. ive tried a pair of the houge grips on my friends taurus wanna-be-beretta and i gotta agree, they were def too bulky for my taste. the stock beretta ergonomics fit my hand perfectly, but the houge grip seemed to make the pistol feel to large in my hands.


Hopefully the magazines i ordered perform alright, they wont be exposed to salt water, probably ever. ill order some MDS mags to be safe though.

[R Moran]

I've got a set of the Ergos if your interested

Bob