Picked up another early 90s Taurus PT92

[Miami_JBT]

April 1991 production Satin Nickel Taurus PT92AF.

I have a pile of Berettas and now two Tauruses. I view them as being much more fun for me than modern polymer stuff. The other Taurus is a August 1994 production PT92AF.

Here they are with my US made Beretta 92FS and Inox "Ghost."

My .40 S&W Berettas too while I'm at it.

To me, the Beretta 92 pattern is the best metal framed hammer fired gun from the Wonder-Nine era. Taurus made 'em great too in the late 80s and early 90s.

 

[AlexanderA]

April 1991 production Satin Nickel Taurus PT92AF.

The early- to mid-1990's production was the "sweet spot" for the PT92. This was after the introduction of the decocker and before the simplifying changes of the late 1990's.

Here's one from 1994:



Contrast that to one from 1998:



This has wider slide serrations, dull instead of polished slide sides, wider front and rear sights, a polymer recoil spring guide, elimination of 3 of the grip screw bushings, and elimination of the lanyard loop. (At least this was before the pesky Taurus Security System lock.) These came with 17-round instead of 15-round magazines (yellow followers instead of black).

You can see that I added a lanyard loop (mainspring cap) from a Beretta. These mainspring caps are interchangeable between Taurus and Beretta. The difference is that Taurus lanyard loops run transverse to the gun, while Beretta loops run fore-and-aft. This works better anyway because of the lack of beveling in the frame (of this vintage Taurus).

Taurus uses a hard-to-remove roll pin to secure the mainspring cap. I replaced all of these with easy-to-remove stepped Beretta pins (that at least are common on American-made Berettas).

A Beretta "D" hammer spring is an improvement for the Taurus as well as for the Beretta.

Another part that's interchangeable is the magazine base plate. I replaced all the cheap Taurus folded-steel base plates with milled-aluminum Beretta ones. These are somewhat difficult to find without the Beretta logo. I had to get old Beretta magazines in order to salvage the base plates from them. Then I put new plastic Beretta logo base plates on the Beretta magazines.

 

[gc70]

The original 92 series hammer spring was 20#; the 92 "D" spring is 16#. The stock PX4 hammer spring is 14# and fits the 92 series; the "Cougar D" spring for the PX4 is 12#.

Ernest Langdon has a good video about different hammer springs in PX4 and 92 series pistols:

 

[Tallball]

I got my PT99 NiB around 1990. It functioned just fine until a GF wrecked the slide (glad she didn't shoot me). Taurus sold me a new slide for cheap when I sent it in, which was decent of them. It still shoots fine. Sorry for the terrible picture. It still looks pretty good IRL. Has served me faithfully for over 30 years.

The Beretta is a Frankengun in 40 S&W that cost around $200 OTD when PD's were dumping their 40's. You may notice that it has no safety or decocker. IIRC, it has an American DAO frame and a "regular" Italian slide.

They both shoot great. It's a nice platform.

Congrats to the OP on their nice collection. I really like that nickel finish.

TaurusPT99

• Tallball
• Sep 4, 2018

Beretta 96

• Tallball
• Feb 28, 2023

 

[Charlie98]

That's quite a collection you have!

My FIL has one of those early PT92's... I'm not sure if it's a decocker or a safety, it's been a while since I shot it. Not a huge fan of it... it does not fit my hand well, and it's quite big... at least for a 9mm... but, in the end, it is a service pistol. Personally, I'd take a HiPower over the 92's, but that is just personal choice.

 

[Terry G]

My first 9MM was a PT92, My second was PT99. I still have both bought in 1986. Excellent guns, very well made.

 

[Old Dog]

April 1991 production Satin Nickel Taurus PT92AF.

NIce! Before the silly laser etching and billboards.

The early- to mid-1990's production was the "sweet spot" for the PT92.

Concur 100%

My '91 PT-92 (marked 92 AFS-D) has well over 10K rounds, replaced the recoil spring once. Polished flats of the slide still look great.

 

[Cornhusker77]

I have a PT 92 AF, and until it tarted bouncing brass off my forehead, I really liked it.
I wish I could figure out why it does that and get it fixed.

 

[Nuclear]

I have a PT 92 AF, and until it tarted bouncing brass off my forehead, I really liked it.
I wish I could figure out why it does that and get it fixed.

That’s usually an extractor problem.

 

[Charlie98]

I wish I could figure out why it does that and get it fixed.

That’s usually an extractor problem.

I had a Springfield 1911 that did that... and before I figured out the fix was something as simple as a $30 extractor, I sold The Wretch to my brother.

 

[Miami_JBT]

Early 80s production PT-92. Right after Taurus purchased the factory from Beretta.

Now I need to get a "stepped" Beretta.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I love my PT92CS, have no idea when it was made. Favorite winter carry pistol.

 

[AlexanderA]

I love my PT92CS, have no idea when it was made.

You can derive the year and month of manufacture from the second and third letters in the serial number. (The first letter denotes the caliber.)

https://www.taurusarmed.net/threads/taurus-when-your-gun-was-made-chart.121749/

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Well, according to that my pistol was made in 2020, which is odd as I've had it for at least ten years, if not more.

 

[Hasaf]

I recently got something similar to a 92, it is a 380 built on the same gun, the PT-58s.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I recently got something similar to a 92, it is a 380 built on the same gun, the PT-58s.

Wow, that is nice! Not big on the 380, but I'd love to have one of those. Very nice.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That's quite a collection you have!

My FIL has one of those early PT92's... I'm not sure if it's a decocker or a safety, it's been a while since I shot it. Not a huge fan of it... it does not fit my hand well, and it's quite big... at least for a 9mm... but, in the end, it is a service pistol. Personally, I'd take a HiPower over the 92's, but that is just personal choice.

Yes, the PT92's are wide, but fairly light. My PT92CS is light, but it is kind of "big", width wise. My 1911, full size, conceals better. Great winter carry gun, under a sweater and jacket.

 

[Tallball]

I recently got something similar to a 92, it is a 380 built on the same gun, the PT-58s.

It's a little smaller than the PT92.

It's based on the Beretta 84. I'm assuming that since they started out with Beretta machinery, Taurus decided to crank out some of the medium-framed 380's as well as the full-sized 9mm's and the little 22/25 tip-ups.

Nice pistol. They have a very good reputation. My "original" got kinda chewed up in Israeli service.

Beretta Model 84

• Tallball
• Jan 23, 2018

 

[Miami_JBT]

I recently got something similar to a 92, it is a 380 built on the same gun, the PT-58s.

Those PT-58s were neat little guns.

 

[MarshallDodge]

My first 9mm pistol was a PT99AF, back in 1987. I traded it for a 70 series Gold Cup in 1994, when the magazine ban went into effect, to a guy who had to have 15 round mags.

 

[Miami_JBT]

The whole gang together.