Beretta M9 Failures

[Rocketmedic]

Qualified today with the Army's standard M9 pistol. Clean, lubricated, and close to brand-new. Ten failures to eject, three failures to feed from new magazines, one failure to fire (light strike on the primer). Ammunition was standard Winchester-provided Army-spec 9mm. Once again, these are nearly brand-new pistols. Eight of the FTEs were stovepipes, one was a double-feed related to a stovepipe, and one was a complete failure to engage the extractor (rechambered the expended casing).

TEN failures to eject on a weapon out of 35 rounds fired is horrific- and my pistol was not the only one malfunctioning. Some were admittedly excellent, but mine and at least three others were very unreliable. Temperature was low-40s, dry, clean weapons, properly loaded magazines.

For comparison, my Hi-Point JHP 45 has 650 rounds through it with no failures of any kind.

I cannot recommend the Beretta 92 or M9 for service or concealed-carry- in my opinion, it's totally unreliable.

 

[altitude_19]

Sorry you had a bad go of it, but you are the exception. Many are the reports of that weapon being even MORE reliable than the 1911 of old (including the acquisition program's test results). Clearly that batch has issues, but there are so many of them out there, you can't possibly believe your class comprises what statisticians would call a "representative sample."

 

[otomik]

I cannot recommend the Beretta 92 or M9 for service or concealed-carry- in my opinion, it's totally unreliable.

my experience has been completely different. wish i could show you my Beretta on the range.

 

[gun addict]

i have never had ANY problem with my NIB M9a1, it runs like a swiss watch

 

[Roughneck08]

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes, every manufacturer can have a lemon of some sort at sometime. Don't give up hope.

 

[IdahoLT1]

With military officials present, they tested a batch of M9s for a contract renewal about 2 years ago. The average round count for the FIRST malfunction was 18,500 rounds. That pretty reliable. My 92F I bought 4 years ago is old('89) and I'm unaware of the round count in that time. However, I've put over 2500 flawless rounds down range. Definitely the pistols I trust for home defense.

 

[Skylerbone]

When local PD was issued the 92 FS circa 1990 the first range qualification day with new pistols produced horrific numbers of FTFs and FTEs. Most every one of them came from female officers of slight stature. Several male officers had issues as well but what they all had in common was decades of shooting almost nothing but revolvers.

The RO who also served as armorer had them tighten up their grip and poof! Problem solved.

It seems as delivered the Berettas are very tight and do not tolerate being limp wristed during initial break-in. I'd bet money this was the cause of the initial problems save the light primer strike.

 

[Nushif]

My 92D with a significantly lightened trigger pull seems to do just fine. But I guess I'll sell it now.
*le shrug*

 

[george d dennis]

maybe a bad batch of ammo? i dont have a 92, but everything i read is mostly
positive.

 

[Badger1911]

No such issues with my 92FS...I trust it, and it will stay in my carry rotation.

 

[TheProf]

I would consider that a rare example. I have found M9 to be great and super reliable. Laser like accuracy too. No FTF or FTE of any kind in over 3000 rounds.

 

[amd6547]

"Dry"?...I run my Police Special 92FS well lubed with WeaponShield CLP (now...used to use breakFree). Never a jam.

 

[shep854]

That's what armorers are for.

 

[Deanimator]

Qualified today with the Army's standard M9 pistol. Clean, lubricated, and close to brand-new.

"Brand-new", or arsenal rebuilt? There's a BIG difference.

Back in the early '80s, I was XO of a Basic Training company at Fort Knox.

When we started up the new company, we got all "new" M16A1s, shrink wrapped to cardboard like toys.

A lot of them were fine (or at least a good as the POS A1s could be). Others couldn't be zeroed, no matter how much windage was applied.

It turns out that arsenal rebuilds vary in quality. Apparently some of our A1s had bent barrels, for which they were NOT checked.

 

[shep854]

"Apparently some of our A1s had bent barrels, for which they were NOT checked."--Deanimator

That's interesting. At the end of Marine Corps OCS training back in 1975, armorers inspected every M16A1 as we turned them in, including checking barrels for straightness. When we had M14s, two years earlier, all they did was checked s/n and loaded them into crates.

 

[WRGADog]

Sorry you are having a problem. My experience with Beretta weapons is totally different. I own six Berettas and they all perform flawlessly. In fact, I have never experienced a failure of any kind with any of the guns below.

M9A1
92FS Inox
PX4 Storm
PX4 Storm SC
CX4 Storm
84F

 

[APIT50]

The army is notorious in its use of off brand mags for the m9 the checkmate mags are about 50/50 in my experience. Not saying you in particular but as an armorer I saw soldiers do some pretty poor care for their pistols and most don't keep that pistol all the time so can b luck of the draw if yours was dropped on concrete by the last person to check it out. Coulda been a bad batch of ammo too . I run a 92D spring in my M9 for competition and have had no problems with Win milspec brown box.

 

[Trigun]

You may got a lemon or the mag has problems. Beretta 92/M9 was the only made that I haven't seen any single one fail infront of me during eleven years of shooting, not even my Glock and do that. I Have seen almost every mayor brand name gun fail of some sort but still Beretta is the best if not.

Edmond

 

[Rocketmedic]

I'm pretty sure my grip was fine- I've never had a problem with limp-wristing handguns, and these were nearly new from the factory. We unpacked them last month as part of our reset cycle. They've been used at a range once beforehand.

I understand that Beretta has an excellent reputation, but I had a horrific experience with my assigned pistol and will not trust it. Others had much better luck.

 

[Deanimator]

I understand that Beretta has an excellent reputation, but I had a horrific experience with my assigned pistol and will not trust it. Others had much better luck.

Buy yourself a good quality commercial magazine. Try that the next time you shoot the gun. If that's the problem, see if you can get a bunch of magazines from the armorer and find three that are 100% with THAT gun. Mark them. If he's not a richard, the armorer should let you do this.

 

[Rocketmedic]

The mags aren't Checkmates though- two of them were my personal mags, bought for the M9 I carried through Iraq, and in good shape. Springs were good, fit was tight, round orientation was good.

I think it was the extractor. That POS wasn't working to save its own life.

 

[Mainsail]

Temperature was low-40s...

Wait, are you saying it was minus 40 outside? You might try a lighter lube if it's that cold.

 

[REAPER4206969]

The military buys the crappiest aftermarket mags avaliable for the M9. The military reliability requirements are no more than 1 malfunction in 7,000rds. and the M9 exceeds it easily. The Beretta 92 series is amongst the most reliable self-loading firearms in history (with in-spec mags.)

 

[Owen]

remember the serial number? current production is around 151xxxx

rebuilt guns get refinished I talked to more than one Joe that thought he had a brand new issue weapon that was actually had a 20 year old frame. It's entirely possible to have a bad extractor or ejector on a rebuild. IIRC, they fire all of 10 rounds to prove the guns for acceptance...not enough if the gun is showing an intermittent issue.

 

[gatornavy]

...