The slide separation/break that happened like 100 years ago was less about a design flaw and more about a bunch of high speed, low drag folks stuffing SMG load ammo into a handgun. For newer shooters yes there was/is ammo they was loaded specifically for use with SMG’s especially back on the WWII/Korea time frame. Point is this issue both happened so very few times and did so by using ammo too hot for the gun. Beretta still addressed the issue with the FS models.
As to the unreliability in the sandbox this came largely from three factors.
-guns rode hard and put up wet.
-Off brand locking blocks as well as the fact that the military due to the way the requisitions worked could not take advantage of Berettas updated blocks.
-Checkmate magazines that had either an incorrect finish or a finish simply not designed for the sandy environment (basically off brand parts again)
Mark my words the SIG M17 will see similar problems over time, as the Beretta did, as the 1911 did, as the Colt SAA..........seeing the trend here.
Now all that said I do feel the locking block is a weak link in the Beretta platform but current Gen blocks are plenty beefy and all of them are cheap easy replacements as far as maintenance.
A maintained Beretta 92 using factory spec parts and quality magazines (Berettta or Mec-Gar) is one of the most reliable handguns on earth.
All that said the Girsan is likely very similar since it’s pretty much a copy, I just stand by my known quantity/Extra mag and parts commonality thoughts.
