Using Beretta 92 Slide Release: Damage?

No.

Hope this helps,
Mizar

Slide stop lever should not be used to chamber round after magazine insertion. Beretta is dated design newer guns have safety levels mounted on the frame or no safety levers at all. Note Taurus which is Beretta clone has safety on the frame.

The Beretta 92 was designed to use the slide stop to release the slide. Can it break from over use? Sure. Is it likely? No.

Hey, you can wear your barrel out from over use too.

No, never really saw that happen. Your locking block, trigger spring, and the right side of your safety/decock will go first. And YES, it is easy to accidentally put it on safe slingshotting- or during a malfunction drill.

paulsj said:

Slide stop lever should not be used to chamber round after magazine insertion. Beretta is dated design newer guns have safety levels mounted on the frame or no safety levers at all. Note Taurus which is Beretta clone has safety on the frame.

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The Taurus is a less evolved version of the Beretta 92. The 92 originated with a frame mounted safety.

http://www.berettaweb.com/92 successo/beretta 92 a global success 1a.htm

Ugh, not this again. Sure, use it. It's faster than the racking method if you can actually reach the lever anyway.

Will I wear out my grips by actually gripping the pistol? How many other parts wear out by using them? My concern for the day. Life is good.

I've had numerous Beretta 92's. Never accidentally engaged the safety while racking the slide. And in the Vickers video, it looks like the shooter intentionally did it.

Then again, I don't come over the top to rack it. It looks uncomfortable. I just pinch it from the rear and release.

eventually yes, of course it will, as all mechanical things experience wear with all use, but as you know the Beretta's aren't known to last forever with normal use anyway. With the lifespan of the frame in the 80-100 thousand round range with normal ammunition, thats 5 or so thousand times with the standard magazines, and I don't think that number will damage it at all. I would not worry, though if you see clearly accelerated wear, you can stop using it, or just replace the parts as they wear. I once saw a demonstration on why 1911's are junk because if you keep you pointer finger along the frame and use your middle finger on the trigger, you can push out the mag release accidentally. Sure it will happen, but Ive never seen anyone shoot a real firearm that way. I think activating the safety on the Beretta is another made up problem.

if you are worried about the safety in a drill, put your thumb in the pit the safety rides in, and you can't turn it off

Some pistols, like the little Kahr can have a tendency to jam if you slingshot the slide instead of using the lever. I find my off hand is "right there" after inserting a fresh magazine, so hitting the lever as I regain a two handed grip seems more natural and faster for me.

Actually I want an ambi slide release much more than an ambi mag release because of this, although when I shoot lefty my trigger finger activates the mag release and slide release just fine. If fact on most guns, my thumb can't hit the mag release without shifting my grip so I usually drop the mag with my left hand as I undo the two handed grip on its way to fetching a fresh mag.

I figure if the designer out a slide release lever on it, there is a reason for it, and use it. Addressing what wally said, yes when shooting say a 1911 left, I slingshot it, because John M. Browning, in all his wisdom, forgot the left handed people of the world......<heresy has been spoken-get........the comfy chair!>

Nope.

Go for it. When your olde and gray and sitting in a rocking chair, it might be worn out and fail to lock back. Then you can get a new one.

Cooldill,

I would be far more concerned with possibly dangling the dingle than damaging a Beretta or other slide mounted safety slide pistol's stop.

The dingle switch safety has always been an issue with me even as a 'ute when dinosaurs ruled the earth and as far as I was concerned only P-38s and S&W 39s had them. I would, and was, far more worried about the gun not going bang after each time I worked the slide than about wearing out a part.

Train as you will shoot, so it you plan on using the slide stop if you ever REALLY NEED to do a magazine change in a REAL HURRY, then train that way.

Since the slide stop is hit as hard as it ever will be every time you empty a magazine by shooting, it is under far more force after that mag emptying shot than you are going to put on it when you just push it out of the slide's way. I rather imagine you are under far more danger of having the slide stop break from crystallization from having it hammered by hundreds of automatic last round slide stops. That is exactly what happens generally when the long armed Browning GP, CZ75, and, yes, 1911 type slide stops break. Good new is that when that type break happens one can usually shake the actual stop free, if it has not departed the pistol for parts unknown, and for another magazine or two, continue to march if it really counts.

-kBob

Cooldill said:

Thanks gang. I'm seeing a couple smart alec remarks above. Having personally worn out a Makarov slide release in less than 500 rounds of shooting, I was just trying to find out if Berettas could have the same issues.

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A Makarov's slide stop is a little piece of stamped sheet steel, a Beretta's slide stop is a nice hefty casting.

Cooldill said:

Thanks gang. I'm seeing a couple smart alec remarks above. Having personally worn out a Makarov slide release in less than 500 rounds of shooting, I was just trying to find out if Berettas could have the same issues.

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I've had three 92FSs, over the years. Never a malfunction. Never had a part break. Thousands of rounds per gun. Nary a hiccup.
Might one break? Yes. Is it likely? Not during the course of normal use, IMO.

Cooldill said:

Have you used the slide release during reloads during all of that?

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I had an M9 for a while, used the slide stop maybe a few dozen times only, but in that time I never scratched the slide paint, nor the bluing on the slidestop. I think the hole in the frame will wear before the slide stop or slide. And I don't think the frame will wear. Hardened quality steel, which both parts are made from are amazingly abrasion tolerant. Good case hardening lasts hundreds of thousands of miles, sometimes over a million in RWD car axle, Loading dies last hundreds of thousands of rounds, and while its not a direct comparison, it is the same technology.

Cooldill said:

Thanks gang. I'm seeing a couple smart alec remarks above. Having personally worn out a Makarov slide release in less than 500 rounds of shooting, I was just trying to find out if Berettas could have the same issues.

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Unfortunately smart alec remarks are overly tolerated on THR when someone is seeking a honest reply to their question.

In regards to your Makarov I think you merely had first hand experience with a handgun made primary for use as a badge of rank by a Officer instead of a pistol made for true military combat.

My personal preference is to release the slide back into battery by using the thumb of my weak (left) hand to depress the slide release lever. The advantages for me are;

I don't have to break the grip of my right hand to reach the slide release lever.

I shoot with both thumbs pointing forward. After inserting the magazine with my weak hand it is a short shift to bring my hand up and around my strong hand. I then depress the slide release with my left thumb as I bring it up along my right thumb.

It requires less movements of hands and gun than the slingshot method. That keeps me on target better.

Frankly I think it is unlikely I will ever shoot enough rounds through my 92 to find out if this is a problem. If it is I just happened to have a spare slide release lever in my parts box. And if that isn't good enough that is why a have a spare 92.

p.s. Change the recoil spring every 3,000- 5,000 rounds and you will not have damage to the frame

You might enjoy this video from Ben Stoeger. At the time, he was winning national USPSA championships with beretta 92's, and this video is about the wear experience. After, as the title says, a few hundred thousand rounds.

He releases the slide with the release.

Cooldill said:

Have you used the slide release during reloads during all of that?

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I use the release, as BSA does, with my off hand. Never a problem.
That said..I did have a model 1951 Beretta , which is a close cousin to the 92, where the stop notch in the SLIDE actually wore so smooth that it would not lock open. God only knows how many rounds that old thing had down the pipe, but a few minutes with a precision file cleaned it right up- no more issue after that.
Love those Berettas!

Cooldill said:

Have you used the slide release during reloads during all of that?

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Exclusively. It is a crisp, straightforward action which precludes your "accidentally setting the safety". (yanno, really?) You
simply drop the mag when the slide locks back, on the last round, load a new mag, and hit the release. You are ready to rock and roll.

I spent time as an Air Force cop and Combat Arms instructor from 2005 to 2016 teaching the M9 to our students. Our job was also working as armorers and I have replaced a lot of parts on the M9 as well. In all of our classes, we taught using the slide release, at a clearing barrel, we would again use the slide release to send the slide forward as well. Want to guess how many slide release levers I replaced in all those years? Zero. Now I have had to replace a few slides but never for a worn out slide stop notch. I've had cracked slides, broken slides (it's referred to as a "slide separation failure" in our books) and one slide that required the use of a dremel tool to cut it apart to get out a broken locking block. Which brings me to the next point, the locking blocks are the number one part I have had to replace in the M9 pistol. We had a .50 caliber ammo can at Hurlburt Field that was about 1/2 to 2/3 filled with nothing but broken and cracked locking blocks. Old style, new style, we had both kinds crack and break. Recoil springs were another common part that was replaced but that's to be expected and I wouldn't count that as a parts breakage though. I've also had several hammer tripping levers break off their top lobe but that was also in a batch on 120 M9s we got in that also had problems with frame breakage around the dust cover and forward slide rails. I think when I got out of there, out of the original 120 we were down to around 30 or so by the time I PCS'd out of there. Other than that, I think I have replaced one left side safety lever, one mainspring housing that had the lanyard ring broken off and one barrel that cracked at the bottom of the chamber. That one was a weird one!! But no, slide release levers or worn out slide stop notches in slides, nope, never a problem in that area.