So how accurate is a Beretta 92, anyway?

[ChuckB]

I have great respect for Beretta's 92 series, having a 92FS of my own. I'm curious how accurate an OTB 92 should be at, say, 75 feet. "Combat accuracy" seems to be a term bandied about a lot lately, which seems to mean about 3-4" at 75 feet. Not exactly "accurate" by my standards, and I'm not thinking in terms of bullseye shooting. I don't have a Ransom rest available, and I'm just curious.

Chuck

 

[cool45auto]

If you can get 3" groups at 25 yards I would be happy. That sounds like a pretty good group to me not using a rest. If you're that far away from your target you shouldn't be shooting anyway if you can be running!

 

[JohnKSa]

Here are the results of a test done by Grennell and Clapp some years back for a Gun Digest publication.

The gun was a FACTORY ORIGINAL (not modified in any way) 92FS.

Shooting off the bench with a V-Rest @ 25 yards--I think these are 5 round groups--it doesn't say.

Winchester Silver Tips 2.75"
Federal 9BP (115 JHP) 2.5"
Federal 9AP (124 JHP) 3.5"

Shooting from a Ransom Rest @ 25 yards. These are 20 (TWENTY) round groups.

I'm going to list the 5 best

Federal 9BP 2.31"
Geco 123 FMJ 2.67"
Fiocchi 115 FMJ 2.76"
Norma 115 JHP 2.77"
Rio (??) 115 JHP 3.04"

This was published about 10 years ago, some of the ammo listed doesn't seem to be available anymore.

Anyway, the top 4 ammo types stayed under 3"
The top 14 types stayed under 4"

Remember, these are 20 round groups, not the normal 5 or 10.

Later, they took the gun used in this testing and had a Bar-Sto barrel fitted.

The fitted barrel cut TEN shot group sizes by about 1" at 25 yards from the Ransom Rest.

Here are the 10 shot groups fired with the fitted barrel

Federal 9BP 1.23"
Winchester STHP 2.03"
Federal 9AP 2.11"

 

[thefitzvh]

The crappy M9 I had in the army didn't shoot for

James :banghead:

 

[BerettaNut92]

I think most or all modern quality handguns will shoot better than their users and a better trigger and a user-preferred set of sights will do more for whatever inherent accuracy there is in the gun. The long sight radius helps though.

Never pushed my Elite II to the limit--my limits yes, but far from the pistol's limits.

 

[ChuckB]

You're right of course, Skunky. I'm thinking in terms of a competitive edge. A lighter hammer spring, an LTT trigger job, good personalized grips, etc. all help a wee bit here and a smidgen there. I am not as good as my 92. I know that. I'm just curious what the limit will be, in case I ever get good enough to approach it.

Chuck

 

[Fed168]

With the shooter doing his part, the gun should be able to keep a group within the 10 and X ring on a B-27 target.

 

[JohnKSa]

..

 

[K-Man]

The Beretta 92FS is my all-time favorite gun. Whenever I had one in my hand, I had very tight groups, be it straight out of the box or other. The last time I was at the range qualifying with mine as part of the military police work I was doing, I was literally drawing pics on the target with it.

Now, if you put another gun in my hand, other than a Marlin '94 rifle, I'm all over the target. There's just something about that 92FS model that works well with me.

 

[BerettaNut92]

You're right of course, Skunky. I'm thinking in terms of a competitive edge.

My bad. I understood your question but still I fell into the trap of the 'cool guy' answer :banghead:

Run a search on the Beretta forums for Barsto or Bar-Sto and barrel--not sure how it's spelled, but I recall seeing a thread on claims that the BarSto tightened the group from X inches to Y inches...they have some numbers though but I don't recall them...hth?

 

[Sarge111]

92G Centurion accuracy...

is plenty accurate enough.

Found this behind a file cabinet at the office the other day, from a ’99 department qualification shoot. The RO thought it was good enough that he peeled it off and gave it to me; it was shot with my old night-sighted, bone-stock 92G Centurion. The target is a reduced silhouette and the “X†ring was 3†in diameter; “K5“ zone is just under 6†across at its widest point. Course was 84 rounds total, and ranges were from 6-50 feet, 12 in the pitch black of an underground range, with a small dash-mount red light flashing from 20 feet behind us. The course was pretty fast with lotsa 2-3 taps from the holster, and an occasional “challenge†command (requiring you to hold fire & yell Police-Freeze, instead of shooting) just as you were ready to press a string off. Great fun, all told. I could have done better on the two head shots "on command".

This same little pistol would keep 5 rounds of 9BPLE inside 4.5†@ 50 yards when I’d do my part, and it never jammed the whole time I owned it- even with cheap hi-caps. As you might have guessed, it got shot a LOT.

 

[Ala Dan]

Hey-Hey-Hey Sarge My Friend-

Good shooting, with the Beretta! I have experience
with shooting in pitch darkness; as my partner and
I lit up an old isolated dump of tin cans, using only
the blue strobes of the patrol car parked about 15
yards behind us. Good thing the cans couldn't shoot
back, as I was much of a "Rookie" back then!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[Sarge111]

AH, "dump shooting"...

I have fond memories of such activities as a kid, although it'd probably be frowned upon today

Thank you, Dan.

 

[Redhat]

I have shot the military "E" target out to 100M with it...just for fun of course. I consider the M9 very accurate in the combat sense of the word.

 

[Croyance]

Accurate enough for Ernest Langdon to regularly win events and titles.