What does the 92FS *hate* about my wife?

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

stevemis

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
771
Last summer, a friend of mine let my wife shoot his Beretta 92FS, and she fell in love. His pistol often had failures to feed when she shot it, but it functioned flawlessly for everyone else. We chalked this up to the gun being dirty or a bad magazine.

Fast forward a few months... we're at a gun show and an Inox 92FS caught her eye... we bought it. I've shot about 500 rounds through the pistol with absolutely no issues. My wife came with me to the range today and had many failures to feed.

My wife is an experienced shooter ... she's not limp-wristing, she has a firm, two hand grip on the pistol and none of our other semi-autos "flake out" with her on the trigger. She can have failure after failure and then hand me the pistol and I have no trouble at all.

She cleared a few of the jams, although I had to help out with two or three. In the cases where I was summoned, I found a cartridge bullet down (primer facing up) in the magazine. On one of these occasions, I found it almost impossible to remove the cartridge with the tools in my range bag, and actually considered removing the base plate in order to free it up.

We're currently shooting Remington UMC 115 grain (L9MM3).

Any ideas?
 
:eek: Just thought I'd ask.

Sometimes I don't pay attention when I'm loading mags (like if I'm watching TV, too) and I'll try to pop one or two in backwards. :uhoh:
 
I think her problems are a combination of two things.

UMC 9mm FMJ rounds are loaded a bit lighter than most. If something about the gun is marginal they sometimes don't have enough power to fully recoil the slide.

I realize you said she is not limp wristing the firearm, but... she's limp wristing it. The fact that you don't have problems more or less proves it. People of smaller stature sometimes just don't have the upper body strength and mass to overpower the recoil. A slightly light load coupled with the recoil being absorbed by the shooter will keep the slide from fully clearing the magazine. When this happens, the magazine follower can't fully push the round up and you get the nosedives you described.

Have her try a different brand of ammo and see if the problem disappears. Just a little bit of extra oomph in the cartridge will probably make everything 100% reliable.
 
I have to agree with Mike.....combination of UMC ammo (which is one of the few brands I don't like) and limpwristing. The 92fs is fairly heavy and thick which she isn't quite used to, yet anyway. Have her try a different ammo maybe even a combination of regular and +p and if possible let her shoot it from a rested position across one of the range tables for a bit more leverage. If one of those don't make the problem disappear....ya got me.

Joker
 
It's been my experience that people with smaller hands can have a real problem getting a proper grip on the 92/96 Berettas. They often have to cheat their hand over so that the gun is no longer recoiling into the web of the hand but is rather recoiling against the thumb. It's pretty easy to limpwrist with that kind of grip on the pistol.
 
I'd have to agree with Mike and Joker. Another possibility, along the same lines as limpwristing, is the dynamic between the particular kind of grip angle of the Beretta 92 and the structural configuration of a woman's forearms. (Bone structure and length vary from man to man, woman to woman, and, more markedly, from man to woman. The combination of the grip shape/pistol weight balance and bone structure, in this case, might be enough to cause the failures to feed, no matter how firm her grip may be.

Hmmm... maybe there was some truth to my wiseacre comment about Berettas being sexist?

-Sans Authoritas
 
Just a suggestion. First, I agree that there is some unintentional limp wristing going on, even though she may be experienced. Go to a range where she can try out several pistols. She should be able to find one that she likes that will shoot accurately and reliably for her. Then trade the Beretta.
 
If she likes the Beretta, maybe she should try a Hi-Power or a CZ. Smaller grip, but with a similar feel.
 
JohnSka nailed it.

It's been my experience that people with smaller hands can have a real problem getting a proper grip on the 92/96 Berettas. They often have to cheat their hand over so that the gun is no longer recoiling into the web of the hand but is rather recoiling against the thumb. It's pretty easy to limpwrist with that kind of grip on the pistol.
Click to expand...

After I made the post last night, my wife actually showed me how the pistol doesn't sit in the "meat" of the web of the hand. The butt of the pistol is at the edge of her thumb joint. If she holds the pistol "properly", the trigger guard puts the weight of the pistol on her middle finger. Obviously, when holding a pistol properly, the pistol should be in your hand, not resting on a finger.

With this pistol, my wife can either have the weight of the pistol on her middle finger or tweak her grip off center. Neither are good choices.

Ah well. At least I like the 92FS.

If she likes the Beretta, maybe she should try a Hi-Power or a CZ. Smaller grip, but with a similar feel.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that, Brasso. My wife wanted the Beretta because our CZ collection was getting out of hand. She carries a P01 and shoots very well with it. The butt of the P01's grip is a half inch narrower than the 92FS, even though they're both double-stack 9mm's.

Thanks for your help, folks!

Steve
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

sirgilligan
  • Locked
Glock 42 Range Report
2
Replies
36
Views
3K
Vodoun da Vinci
V
W
  • Locked
Bought the Wife a new gun
Replies
14
Views
681
Warhawk83
W
B
  • Locked
Gun Choice for Limp-Wristed Wife
2
Replies
38
Views
3K
kokapelli
K
hAkron
  • Locked
Beretta 85FS Cheetah for my wife
Replies
22
Views
2K
DROCK
D
L
  • Locked
Walther PPS light primer strike?
Replies
0
Views
404
LAFLA
L
Back
Top