Beretta 92S review

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atblis said:
Anybody received the $259 PSA specials recently? If so, what sort of condition have they been in?
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Ordered mine from PSA 12/31 for their $259 special. Just picked it up from my FFL last night, that was pretty darn quick for PSA. Anyway, haven't shot it yet. Here are pics before I cleaned the Italian gun-goo off. The safety lever looks really red in the pictures. It does not look that red in real life.

IMG_20150113_165646730_zpsc26cf1ca.jpg

IMG_20150113_165608404_zpse58ec6e0.jpg
 
ID-shooting that looks really good for the $$ you paid. You did well the PSA where really luck of the draw.
 
VAgunner said:
ID-shooting that looks really good for the $$ you paid. You did well the PSA where really luck of the draw.
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I do feel lucky from pics others have posted on other forums. The only thing I really want to change is to find a set of grip like on yours. The "slick" grips are, well, slick LOL. I want to keep factory original. No luck finding them though.
 
Somehow I timed it so that I ordered at $289 and then they changed to $259. I sent PSA an email and asked if they'd credit me $30--of course, no response (at least so far but I don't have much hope). Not worth sending back and ordering again for $30 unless I get a real dog and need to send it back anyway.

I should know Monday or Tuesday and will post.
 
atblis said:
Anybody received the $259 PSA specials recently? If so, what sort of condition have they been in?
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I received my $259 PSA 92S last week. It had some holster wear on the slide near the muzzle, and around the trigger guard. The plastic grips have some minor scratches on them, and someone had boogered up the grip screws using the wrong size of screwdriver.

The outside of the barrel was beginning to show tiny spots of rust, but some fine steel wool took care of that. The rifling looks almost new, and the feed ramp doesn't have any wear at all. It basically looks like a gun that was carried for a few years, but never shot.

I spoke with someone who also bought one, and the one he received had less wear with no rust at all. He said his ramp looked unused, also.

For the money, you just can't go wrong with one of these for $259. Mine came to $306 out-the-door ($259 + $17 shipping + $30 FFL). My dealer is a bit pricey for transfers, but he's a great guy, and I try to throw him some business when I can. You can probably find a FFL to do the transfer for $10-20.

I still haven't had a chance to try mine out yet, but will hopefully get to do so tomorrow. The other guy who got one said his shot very well. He liked his so much, he is considering getting another one.

Just a note for anyone who has never used a pistol with the mag release button near the bottom of the grip. It is very weird. I am having trouble getting used to it. I expect it to be at the very bottom of the grip, but it is about 1/2" from the bottom, and I'm already handicapped enough by being a lefty.

Heel hook releases have never bothered me, but this one is just in a really odd, unintuitive place, but I still think the pistol was a great bargain for the price. I just wouldn't ever use this one for a carry piece due to the mag release location.
 
Set of allen heads are like $8 or some such from Beretta. I plan to buy a set to go on it and save the factory originals in pristine condition.
 
Got it to the range yesterday during a short break in the fog and rain where the sun actually came out. Had more than one thing to shoot so only put 50 rounds through it.

It ran 100% with cheap Tula brass ammo. I did also find out that Taurus PT92 mags work perfectly in these. I figured they would but I was able to test it as well yesterday.
 
So, the Taurus mags have the cut for the "European" mag latch?
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The standard capacity magazines do. The PT-92 originally had the same magazine latch as the Beretta 92/92S. The ten round magazines do not have the cutout since they have that extended plastic base.
 
Here's what I received. A lot of edge wear, especially on the beaver tail, and scratched grips, bluing worn a little, but in overall decent shape. Feed ramp looks to have no wear. No reply from PSA. BU code on it equals 2004 mfg date.
Img_6062.gif
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I see Southern Ohio Gun also has 9the 92s, but they want $279 (and $20 more if you want "hand select"). Anyone order from them.? They describe theirs as being in 'very good' condition with some finish wear. Wondering if it getting what SOG promises to be a pretty clean gun is worth the extra $$$ for Palmetto's luck of the draw?

I've got a lovely cerakoted Taurus Pt99, but hate to see a good deal for a "real" Beretta like these go by. (I've got a Beretta 1951, 1915/17, 1935 and Model 70).
 
Dang, I saw this for $259 but didn't pull the trigger, not seeing them there anymore.
 
cuervo said:
BU code on it equals 2004 mfg date.
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That's when the gun was proofed, not when it was manufactured. Guns manufactured for the Italian military and police don't have to be proofed; if they're later surplussed, then they have to be proofed. All of these Berettas were manufactured between 1978 and 1982.
 
FWIW, Beretta factory mags can be had new for 15 bucks that have the bottom release cutout. No need to modify m9 mags. Surprised Beretta mags are that cheap given my past experiences with Beretta.
 
cuervo said:
I took that off of here:
http://berettausa.custhelp.com/app/...sion/L3RpbWUvMTMzMTU1Mzk2My9zaWQveFhTSERVU2s=
which is based on proof marks.

Is there a way to narrow down the year of manufacture?

And, are they just now getting here after 10 years of their being retired?
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Well, the info in the link is correct for Berettas originally intended for the civilian market, since the proofing happens very shortly after assembly. If they wanted to be most accurate, though, they could mention that this doesn't apply to guns originally intended for non-civilian use.

The only easy way to narrow down the year of manufacture is to note which version of 92 the pistol is and then look up the year range of manufacture. For the 92S, that was 1978-82. Aside from that, you'd have to try to contact Beretta Italy and see if they could provide you with that information based on the serial number.

cuervo said:
And, are they just now getting here after 10 years of their being retired?
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For whatever reason(s), yes. It's not uncommon for batches of guns and gun parts to sit around factories and armories for a long time for a variety of reasons. Some of the guns making it over here were never even really "retired," because they were never even issued. So, in addition to the issued pistols, the military and/or police for many years had some number of these pistols in storage that were originally intended to be cycled in as needed, but which were ultimately never needed before the 92F and 92FS began to be cycled in. Weapons can sit around a long time before the military decides to surplus them, and the military can decide to surplus weapons without there being any rush to arrange for exportation. Maybe they first released batches to Italian civilians for a number of years. Maybe they all just sat mothballed and considered as a very low-priority concern before and after proofing. Who knows for certain?
 
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