Beretta 92 and 96..."slanted" underslide frame vs parallel...

[saturno_v]

I never did figure out why some Beretta 92 FS and 96 specimen have the lower edge of the frame in front of the trigger guard exactly parallel to the slide while in others it has a slight upward trend.
These differences affects both made in USA and made in Italy pistols


To clarify better what I'm asking here are couple of pics


Straight (I would say, the most common)

"Slanted"






Thank you!!!

 

[KAS1981]

The M9 has the straight dust cover, the 92 has the slanted.

 

[BCRider]

I could well be wrong but I thought that the straight lower line is a feature of the US made Berettas and that the sloped line is from the Italian side.

After looking at the two and reading around I went with an Italian made 92fs with the sloping lower dust cover. I prefer the look... besides it was a used but like new gun for a very good price.... I can basically shoot this thing for another couple of years and then sell it for what I paid.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I could well be wrong but I thought that the straight lower line is a feature of the US made Berettas and that the sloped line is from the Italian side.

That is my understanding also

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

To be a military contractor, they have to be made in the United States. But it doesn't explain the different frames. Even when the early parts breakage problems surfaced, it wasn't the frames that were breaking.

The slanted frame on the Italians does look a little sleeker, much like the LadySmith variant of the S&W 3913.

 

[Ghost Host]

The story goes that the slanted dust cover is stronger than the straight one, and was implemented shortly after the .40 cal came out.

GH

 

[Hacker15E]

The story goes that the slanted dust cover is stronger than the straight one, and was implemented shortly after the .40 cal came out.

That's my understanding -- that it was done for the 96, and incorporated into the 92 production so that the frames were all the same in the name of efficiency at the factory.

The government production seems to not have initially allowed the M9s to have the slanted cover, so they retained the straight cover. I recently read a report from someone in the military who saw an issued M9 with a slanted cover, though, so that difference may have gone away, too.

 

[saturno_v]

I saw M9 on sale at Cabela's (new production obviously) last year with the straight lower frame....

 

[Hacker15E]

berettaforum.net/vb/showthread.php?t=81659

I went to the Pasadena (Houston area) gun show today and saw something I have never seen before, a new USA M9 with a slanted dust cover on the frame and a radiused backstrap. All markings though were standard "commercial" M9 as were the sights. Now I've seen it all, Beretta is making all kinds of configurations and it's almost getting random. The dealer said that they just got a bunch of them like this from the factory, I wonder if this configuration will become standard now. Honestly, I didn't like it being different than what the GIs get in this manner. Regardless, the talk pertaining to "The M9 comes always comes in this configuration with a straight dustcover.........." probably needs to cease on this board as Beretta USA has thrown out the rule book at this point.