[Mastrogiacomo]

I've been saving up for my Beretta 92FS's vacation at LTT www.langdontactical.com and still have a ways to go yet before I get the money together. What I plan to do is get a stainless steel guide rod, Level II trigger job, night sights and maybe a bar-sto barrel. Haven't decided. Is it just hype or does it really make an improvement?

[444]

Like anything else, it depends.
It depends on how well your present barrel shoots now. If the barrel you have shoots great, there is no point in it. If it is marginal or bad then it would probably be worth it.

A few years ago, I purchased a Springfield Armory "loaded" 1911. The first time I took it out, I went with another guy that had the same gun with a Bar-Sto barrel. I was very disappointed in the accuracy of my gun. My friend suggested that maybe it was just me. I pulled out my Colt 1911 and fired a group half the size of the Springfield. So, my friend pulled the Bar-Sto barrel out of his gun and we put it in mine. My groups were a fraction of the size of the factory barrel. So, I sent my Springfield away to have a Bar-Sto installed and today, it is super accurate. Serious bullseye match accurate (I had some other work done on it at the same time from Clark's).
All that being said, I wouldn't waste my money on a Bar-Sto for my Colt. The Colt was very accurate from day one. I owned the Colt for years and fired many thousands of rounds through it before I ever actually tested it for accuracy. The first time I fired it off of sandbags I was amazed at just how accurate it was right from the factory.

One other factor that would play into the senario for me would be, how much am I spending to trick this gun out. If I was going all out on a custom gun, put together by a top notch smith, I probably would go ahead and spend the extra $150 or whatever rather than spend the rest of my life wondering if I took a shortcut in putting together my dream gun. In other words, If I was spending $1000 on custom work, I would pony up the extra $150 just to put the icing on the cake.

[HSMITH]

A stock 92 FS is a VERY accurate gun on average just as it comes out of the box. Unless your present barrel is worn out or damaged AND you plan to compete in the top levels of whatever discipline I would not put the bar-sto in. They are very good barrels indeed, but I think in your case it would be a waste of money. Unless a VERY good (like everyone watches you shoot you are so good) shooter the bar-sto will show NO dividends on the range.

[Mastrogiacomo]

Someone on the Beretta forum echoed the same thing about the Bar-sto being a waste of money and not making much of a difference. Thanks for sharing your opinion of it. My guns are great as is; I just wondered how a bar-sto would impact their performance. From the sound of it, it'd just impact my finances so I'll save my money and stick with the trigger job and night sights. I appreciate the feedback. :D