Beretta 92S review
I couldn’t resist the sub-$300 price on the Beretta 92S from Palmetto State Armory.
I’m quite satisfied with the specimen I received yesterday.
Not a museum piece by any means, but well worth the price paid.
It appears to have been very well-kept all these years, but with the exception of some pitting on the safety lever.
Pics will follow in a separate post to this thread.
I believe my gun to be from the general lot currently being sold by several vendors of the usual online suspects.
The gun I received appears to be in perfect working condition.
Much evidence of “carried a lot, and shot very little.”
The bore is excellent.
The bore was dirty when received.
At first I thought I saw a patch of pitting, which turned out to be just some hairy fouling, and which quickly disappeared after application of bronze brush and Break-Free.
Break Free is just about all I ever use to clean and maintain guns these days.
This gun got the usual robust Break-Free enema when I got into the man cave.
I mean I DROWN the gun in the stuff until it is seeping out of every crack and crevice.
A couple range trips usually shakes-out any excess, and it ensures that sufficient lube finds its way to the nether regions that would otherwise be neglected unless the owner gives it a full tear-down --- which I will not.
I field stripped the gun for the Break-Free treatment.
I did not remove the grip panels.
For whatever reason, Beretta has the notion that screw slots for grip-panel screws should be only slightly wider than a human hair.
I don’t own a screwdriver that will fit in that screw-slot, except a screwdriver I got in a kit at the drug store for fixing eyeglasses.
Removing the grips usually expedites clean-up of the Break-Free enema, but this one will just have to seep until I can get around to modifying a screwdriver to fit the grip-panel screw-slots.
The muzzle and breech look quite good.
You will see a whitish artifact from the camera at 6 o’clock in the muzzle pic.
I’m not sure what causes that artifact. There is nothing actually physically on (or wrong-with) the muzzle to explain the weird white image. Its just a flaw in the photo.
The slide engagement areas on the frame clearly show use.
I’m of the opinion that this “use” is more from repeated loading/unloading than actual firing.
The Italians actually used the lanyard loop.
You will notice that the lanyard loop shows considerable wear, and that the floorplate of the magazine has a corresponding “dent” from the hook of the lanyard loop compressing the baseplate.
Sights are miniscule, and pretty much a joke so far as a quality of aiming device.
Testament to the Italians subscribing to the notion that whoever draws and fires first usually wins, no matter whether “aiming” is really involved.
Just eyeballing it, I have to say that the horizontal edge of the front sight is slightly off-square with the vertical edge. Not that it matters, because the front sight is so short, you would never notice it in a gunfight.
None of the springs exhibited any visible wear, or decay.
The recoil spring, and recoil spring guide look immaculate.
The magazine looks like its seen a lot of handling and very little use.
The follower is made of some sort of metal alloy, and is in excellent condition, showing only a small area of wear from engagement with the magazine release lever.
I tried to get the best pics I could of the various markings.
It is interesting that the barrel has two conspicuous numbers. The “serial number” on the barrel matches the serial number on the frame of the pistol but for the upper-case letter prefix and suffix that are included on the frame of the pistol.
The second number on the barrel is very well-executed. A part number perhaps???
No range report yet.
If the weather is nice, and the world behaves, I might make it out as soon as Tuesday.
I’ll try it with some brass-case and steel-case 115 grain range ammo.
I’d be interested to know what the Italians think this gun is zeroed for – 124-grain NATO load perhaps?
Whose idea was it that all the 9mm range ammo has to be 115-grain? Can 9 grains of lead, and 0.2 grains of gunpowder really make THAT MUCH difference?
Also, I picked up a couple of the “correct” 92S genuine Beretta mags from Midway.
So, those will be tested too.
I got some 92SF mags also, but that don’t have the cutout in the right place. That will be a project for another day to modify those mags, and see if they will actually work in the 92S.
Right side
(white "smear" on frame below external trigger bar is just a reflection from the oily surface - finish is intact there)
Left side
Muzzle
Breech
Front sight
Frame wear
Frame wear 2
Serial numbers
Proof mark right side of barrel
Proof mark link lug
Proof mark frame
Grip screw and mag-release button
Hammer face
Mag well
Magazine markings
Magazine follower 1
Magazine follower 2
Magazine baseplate
/
Gun in box
Box
Box label
Below, you will see the safety-lever pitting I mentioned earlier.
Judging from the looks of the pitting, I would estimate the pitting was the result of human blood that was left on the gun after some unfortunate Italian gendarme got the palm of his hand caught between the barrel and the slide during his annual qualification.
The peril of the “open top” slide.
I traded-away my previous 92SF for three reasons:
1. I got a sweet trade on a .22 Smith and Wesson “kit gun” in excellent condition.
2. Let’s face it, the grip on any Beretta 92 series is seriously FAT for being just a 9mm, and OK… my hands just aren’t that big. But don’t believe the rumours.
3. Beretta bite. That 92SF bit the palm of my hand viciously! Yes… 100% my fault that I let it happen, but after that, I had queasy feelings about that gun.
Now, about that pitting.
When the Beretta 92 series bites, it REALLY HURTS, and you WILL BLEED.
The area of the gun where the blood from your bloody palm will land is on the back of the slide in the area of the selector.
The area of the pitting on the 92S was pretty hairy-looking (rust) when I received it, so I jabbed at it with an old copper penny until all the rust-bloom was knocked-off, and then I worked on it a bit with a dental pick to dig any residual human matter from the pits.
You will see it in the pics as a silvery-shiny (and still somewhat pitted) area.
I’ll keep Break-Free on the afflicted area, and live with it. Every service gun seems to come with a scar.
Safety pitting
Beretta bite 1
Beretta bite 2
Beretta bite 3
Beretta bite 4
Beretta bite 5
At the end of the day, I have to say that it was this picture of a couple Marines and a misbehaving skinny in Somalia that made me always want to still have a Beretta 92.
…and now I gots me one again!
Beretta 92S review
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