A couple weeks ago, our friends over at the gunnuts.net blog wrote about The Underrated Beretta 92, which prompted me to look back at my own experiences with the platform. Where I work, officers can choose to carry a personal sidearm as long as they can qualify with the pistol and that the handgun itself meets some basic parameters. However, the default issue pistol is still the Beretta Model 92FS, and most of our sworn personnel carry it since it is provided by the agency. So we on the range staff have quite a bit of experience with the pistol; as a result, I’ve formed a few opinions on its attributes and performance characteristics.
First, here’s a little bit of history on the Beretta 92FS (designated the M9 by the military.) After a long series of trials, it was selected to replace the aging M1911A1, and was adopted by the US armed forces in 1985. Like most issue weapons, people love to hate whatever is provided to them, and comments regarding it being a “lowest bidder” selection continue to this day. In contrast, my experience with the pistol as an agency issue weapon is extremely positive. We have pistols that have been in service for well over a decade, and fed a steady diet of Winchester 127gr +P+ ammunition (against most manufacturer’s recommendations), yet the guns keep on running. From a functional reliability standpoint, for us, the 92FS has been more reliable than any other platform. It works until it breaks. Typically, parts that fail on the pistol are miscellaneous springs and of course, the infamous locking block breakage “problem” which is actually quite rare in the FS models. But aside from failures due to a mechanical breakage, I can’t remember the last feedway malfunction an officer has had on the platform.
Out of the box, the double action trigger is typically quite long and heavy, usually exceeding 12-15 pounds. In single action mode, stock triggers typically measure at around 5-6 pounds with a pretty clean break. As the pistol wears in, triggers significantly smooth and lighten up on their own. The pistol itself is surprisingly accurate, despite the seemingly loose and sloppy barrel fit. The fixed front sight limits aftermarket options, but usable as-is. The downside is that you have to send the entire slide in to a shop like Tooltech if you want night sight inserts.
Shooters typically perform quite well with the pistol as long as hand size is sufficient. Pygmy hands don’t do well with the gun due to the big grip and long reach required to operate the trigger in DA mode. Slimmer grips will mitigate the issue, but it remains that you need at least medium size hands to effectively manipulate the DA/SA trigger.
Aside from the grip size, in my estimation, the single biggest flaw in the design is the slide mounted safety. The location of the safety doesn’t lend to easy operation with the strong hand thumb, yet it is unacceptably easy to inadvertently flip the lever to safe during slide manipulations with the support hand. I wish I could wave a magic wand and instantly turn all 92’s into “G” models, which would change the safety lever to a simple decocker. Far too many times I have seen officers accidentally place their pistol on safe while racking the slide during a reload or malfunction clearance drill. The result is very confused officer wondering why their gun isn’t firing, and sometimes it takes a couple Tap-Rack-Assess cycles for the officer to realize the pistol is on safe.
But, every pistol has strengths and shortcomings, and once understood, you can effectively work around the ones on the Beretta. Another benefit is that there are a blue million of them in circulation. You can find a used one in good condition on the secondary market for $400 and or even lower. Holsters are common, and the gun flat out shoots.
Last week, Wilson Combat announced they’ve teamed up with former Beretta Pistol Team member Ernest Langdon to begin offering custom services and aftermarket parts for the Beretta 92. This is great news, as Wilson Combat is really offering some of the best quality parts available in every market sector they’ve entered. This pairing is truly a heavenly match; if there is someone out there with more knowledge than Ernest about the functional customization of the 92 pistol, I don’t know of him. About 10 years ago, Ernest was generous enough to work up my 92FS, and it has absolutely ruined me on all other Beretta 92s. The DA pull is somewhere less than 10 pounds and the SA pull is about 3.5 pounds, and extremely crisp. The gun is a dream to shoot. I’ve had offers to buy it outright, but refused to sell it any price since I knew Ernest wasn’t in the business of custom work anymore. I am thrilled that he is back, and you should be, too.
If you’ve got that itch for another pistol (and who doesn’t), hit up your favorite shop, find one at a good price, and send it over to Wilson Combat. For a few bucks, you’ll have a blaster that’s accurate, reliable and surprisingly fun to shoot.
I was never issued the 92fs, but I also have a love for them.To me they are suprisingly easy to shoot and like you said dead on accurate. Thank you, Tim, Hilton and crew for continuing to provide free, extremely knowledgeable information, and a great source of entertainment.
Wilson says they’ll be doing “G” conversions, which apparently requires machining of the slide, at customers’ request. So it looks like you’ll be able to remedy the safety/decocker issues if your preference is for a decocker only.
Thanks for writing this piece. I recently discovered that I shoot the Model 92 better than anything besides a 1911 and wondered what your experienced opinion was of them aside from all the internet rumors about them.
I have been issued an M9 in garrison and overseas. Personally I find the weapon quite awful. Not because I love to hate what I am issued, because the current configuration and ammo selection by the DOD make the weapon pretty pointless as an effective combat weapon and make it only ideal for using as a FOB runner when going to chow, gym, etc and not having to carry your M4. Having also run numerous familiarization and qualification ranges for the M9 I have seen numerous malfunctions. When teaching primary instruction on the system I provide ample time going over malfunction drills, not because of prudence and training value, but because I know the current pistols in are inventory they are going to fail. Maybe they have exceeded their life cycle, maybe when they were rebuilt the locking blocks were just thrown into guns they weren’t fitted too. Either way what we currently have is a pretty ruddy excuse of a service pistol. I am not a 1911 or glock fanboy. The market has changed dramatically since 1985, simply put there are lighter, higher capacity better performing service pistols on the market. And lets be honest the real reason Beretta won out was because of the final pistols selected Beretta was the only the company at the time to have a US located factory.
I have heard and read that the civilian and LEO issued guns are better made, and to give these models a go before passing final judgement on the system. Maybe, but I wont be putting my money down on one until then and I certainly wont be making it my EDC.
I can’t speak to your specific batch of pistols, but military guns often suffer from a couple potential disadvantages that are largely avoided by civilian/LE end users. For example, as you mentioned, military guns are pressed into service way beyond their service life. Locking blocks are often taken out of deadlined guns and shoved into others, which is problematic. Also, the parkerized magazine can cause feed issues as well. Poor or improper maintenance will negatively affect any platform. As for ballistic deficiencies, that would be a function of ammunition selection and not the platform, and my intention was not to turn this into a caliber debate.
Tim,
I agree, this isnt a caliber debate either. 9×19 is more than capable and adequate. The current M882 ball is part of the problem but that is consistent STANAG 4090. Our armorers work hard to keep our weapons in service but they can only do so much with what they are provided. I really believe the DOD’s current inventory of M9s are past their service lives. Which means they need to be updated or replaced.
That being said, I will withhold final judgement until I have fired a civilian model. Great posts as always and I enjoy reading the MSM blog.
Thanks for commenting and also for the kind words regarding the site.
“Forgotten” for very good reasons.
In my time in the .mil, I saw no less than 4 broken locking blocks, one of which occurred on my pistol. NONE of these were high mileage pistols.
Spoke to a Beretta rep in 1995 about these issues. He said Beretta had solved them with an improved locking block. Yet the problems persist.
I know personally a fellow who has a scar in his face from a fractured slide (pre M10 device).
In a military class that Matt Burkett ran a few years ago, he posted a picture of broken M9s. Over half of the pistols broke during the course.
Users with small fingers, or less strong, have difficulty operating the pistol due to grip size and reach to trigger. Using more than 1 finger to press the trigger in DA mode is not unusual for such folks, out of necessity.
Shoot a M9 enough to get it hot, be careful not to let that exposed barrel contact your skin. I learned that one the hard way.
The G model is by far preferable to the F or FS (for decocker/safety use), however the G model is not what most users have available to them, therefore problems with unintentional engagement of the manual safety whilst operating the pistol occur often.
Also, the pistol is rather large for what it is.
IMO, the M9/92F/etc is best “forgotten”. There many other viable options out there. However, if one is stuck with one, then master it. Ernest Landgon and Ben Stoeger have showed how well a Beretta can be run.
I don’t doubt your poor experiences with the military guns. I’ve seen a few broken locking blocks at work, but these were definitely on high mileage pistols. The “slide in face” issue was likely overblown, though probably not to those it happened to. The slide retention “M10” device alleviated this issue. As for guns breaking at the cyclic rate in the Burkett class, I wasn’t there so I can only guess as to the condition of the pistols prior to the start of the class. All the other points you mention are valid, and already covered in the article.
My first experience with the M9 was in the Army as a young Platoon Leader running my first Pistol Range. Having never fired the M9, I took the opportunity to run my platoon and myself through the qualification prior to the arrival of the rest of the battalion. First round I sent down range carried the slide and barrel with it, leaving me holding nothing but the grip. Fast foward several years, and I find myself armed with an M9 in Baghdad. It didn’t take long for us to break out dremels to smooth out the magazines. I replaced the recoil spring and magazine springs in all my magazines with Wolff overstregth springs. Never had another issue… unless we get into the fact that we were carrying +P+ Ball that traveled right through Haji without doing substantial damage short of a CNS hit. To this day I can’t walk past an original made in Italy Beretta magazine without carrying it home…. Who buys parkerized magazines for desert combat?
Apparently, the US Government does.
More’s the pity, CheckMate, the same manufacturer who has the contract for M14 magazines (and inasmuch as I keep up with that firearm, which isn’t much, I hear their M14 mags are excellent and well-liked), got the parkerized M9 magazine contract.
So they made the magazines parkerized…and those magazines then went to Iraq. And the moon-dust sand got trapped in the parkerizing and caused problems, which CheckMate couldn’t reproduce until they actually got a sample of Middle East sand delivered to them for testing.
Which means that a magazine manufacturer who otherwise seems to have a good rep for quality products–and I have been told, though I can’t substantiate it, that their “hybrid” 1911 magazine is also the Colt OEM–got tarred with the brush of their M9 magazines’ failures.
All because the customer specified a finish that caused problems, and they gave the customer what he wanted.
Thank you, the “Checkmate is low-bid crap” comments from some people get old.
My first experience with Checkmate mags is with my first 1911, a SIG GSR 1911 which had OEM Checkmate 8 round mags. They worked 100% of the time in that 1911 and the three other 1911s I’ve owned over the years.
I’ve been blessed to have never been forced to carry a Beretta. I have one just for a training gun, but have always detested the ergonomics and they never “fit” me right. With that said, I have always been able to shoot them really well. I have also seen others do some amazing work with them and I think Wilson has the “right guy” for their Beretta program. I am a little bitter about the Wilson news as I was hoping that to take a class with Ernest as he was carrying and shooting a HK LEM P30 and figured I could have picked up some great stuff from him.
I was issued a 92FS when I was in the Police Academy, but shortly after graduating my PD switched to Glocks. I had it only for a short while, but could shoot it decently. If I can find one for a good price I may just pick one up. Another good article.
We issued them at our PD for awhile until a new chief wanted Glocks. They work for our 100 person department. No major problems. I did notice they did need to be lubricated. They are not as forgiving as Glocks in that you actually have to maintain them in a reasonable manner.
The safety in a tap, rack, bang is not that big of a deal as long as you train to sweep the thumb forward as you draw or bring it back on target. My department mandated safety on so I had to do it every time I drew. IT becomes second nature.
Training as always is frequently the work around for many issues.
Never been a fan of the M9 Burrito. In my (Mil armorer/trainer) experience, they are unreliable compared to what’s available. I can’t count how many locking blocks and hammer release levers I’ve had to replace.
Not to mention how many times (with numerous M9s) I’ve either had to, or watch someone else have to tap/slap the rear of the slide to get it back into battery during firing. Gotta love seeing small handed people trying to pull the DA trigger back with both forefingers too. I hate the safety location as well as it’s too easy to engage the safety while sling-shotting or overhand racking the slide.
I will admit they can be accurate though. An AMU Armorer buddy came up with a way to “fix” the barrel making it an accurate shooter.
Props to Beretta for being the oldest firearms manufacturer in the world though.
Given the common experience of poorly performing mil guns, I suspect these guns are being pressed into service beyond their service life. Clearly there is something going on with the mil guns that the civilian LE side doesnt have to contend with, such as big government, bureaucratic decision making as far as maintenance, parts supply chain, and parkerized magazines… As for the other issues you mentioned, those were already mentioned in the article.
You’re absolutely correct that there is a problem on the .mil side that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
The Army and Marine Corp did not start ordering replacements for the M9 until 2009. That means that just about everyone who served in the GWOT and was issued an M9, received one that ranged from 15-20 years in age and had a round count way beyond what would be tolerated in LE.
When used and abused long enough, every pistol will wear out; This isn’t unique to Beretta. The M1911s that were being used at ITS – Camp LeJeune in 1985 were so bad that I recall our CO joking the best way to deploy them was to break them down, put the pieces into a sock and swing it at the enemy. He also stated that these pistols had been received from Colt in the early 1950s.
My bad Tim. I must’ve missed that part in your article.
I’d say there are roughly 50 Glocks on camp currently and I wonder how they would fare if given a head to head comparison brand new out of the box.
Im not surprised at the negative complaints from .mil users. The M9s in service are so poorly maintained that they’re not even the same gun as a civilian model, all things considered.
Background : I currently use a 92FS for CCW and home defense. I bought one back when I was junior enlisted, so I had to check it into and out of the armory every time I carried. In so doing, I saw a lot of the armory guys, who were amazed my civilian 92 felt the way it did. They all thought , naturally, every Beretta ever made was a POS based on their issue guns.To prove the point, the Airman at the armory cleared his gun and showed it to me.
The M9s finish was basically gone, the guns parts were so worn out it sounded like a baby rattle, and the slide lock was so FUBAR I sent the empty pistol into battery by simply tilting it forward.
Which is the logical consequence when you issue a pistol to support personnell unfamiliar with handgun maintenance or proper care. Even the old timers with the 1911 dealt with the same woes, so don’t read the .mil complaints and think Mr. Lau is crazy. Even if the DoD went with Glock, Sig, or some other company, it would be the same story. Issue guns to Airman Schmucmatelli and don’t use proper parts, and big surprise, the piece likely won’t work. Even a Glock won’t work right under those circumstances.
-ST
The Glock has less parts to break and is easier to maintain but I agree if the DoD had selected the Sig 226 or S&W 5906 we would be making the same comments that we do about our M9s.
Speaking of armorers and maintenance I smoked the snot out of an armorer once when doing a sensitive items inventory. Pulled an M9 out of the rack, racked the slide and saw a nice coat of rust covering the barrel and internals. Either he recieved it back in the arms room not properly maintained or he failed at his job to maintain it. I gave him the option of ink or sweat. He chose sweat.
Do you recommend installation of the D spring?
ST is correct. Any modern service pistol would have the same issues or worse if treated the way the Beretta’s are treated. Often people think the guns they have are low round count, but what they don’t know is that parts have been swapped out from other guns. Sent back for depot level maintenance and fully disassembled along with another 500 M9s, refinished and then all but back together with no regard to the where parts came from at the start of the project.
Barrels with 20 rounds through it with a slide with 10,000 rounds on a frame with 2000 rounds, locking block with 15,000 rounds, or some combo there in. Recoil springs that never get replaced. Trigger springs that only get replaced when they break. When I worked at the HRP program at Quantico, I remember getting a new batch on M9s in our cage for our students. Or what I thought was a new batch of gun. They looked new, but upon disassembly and close inspection they were not new at all! I did find a new gun once, which became “my gun” which I used for training and demos. That gun lasted me for another two years and was still running when I left. Well over 50K through the gun and no issues.
I had a friend of mine that worked down at Range 37, Bragg. When out an got his own 92FS, a year later and over 40K though the gun of mil ball and the gun was still running fine. I had to explain the issue to him as well.
Another issue that most don’t know is that the military has sourced parts form out side vendors. It is not just the magazines that are non Beretta parts. For sure they had large number of locking bocks made by outside vendors that were built to the print, but it is now known that they do not hold up anywhere close to the factory part.
I don’t care whose gun it is, if you treat them the way the military treats there M9s, you would have the same issues.
So I would say Tim is dead on correct in his assessment. Thanks for the great post Tim!
S/F
Ernest
Ernest, thanks for the insight and the kind words. Typical military…. Anyway, hope to take one of your classes sometime soon!
Great article Tim. My experience with the 92 FS has ways been extremely positive as a civilian. It remains one of my favorite pistols. I tend to suck less with it. My only two complaints are the slide mounted safety and the front sight being what it is.
I think you made an interesting point about in any LE Agency, Military Unit, or Contractor/Security Company when it comes issued weapons you are going to have people who either are going to love them, hate them, or not care about the weapon they are issued. I work part time for a local gun shop in the Norfolk area of Virginia and I see customers who are mostly Navy or Marines who either love the Beretta they are issued, hate them or don’t care. I also work for a local LE Agency as my full time job and we get to choose between the Glock 17 or 19 Gen 4s and again I see people who love the gun, or hate the gun. Though regardless I am a firm believer if your required to carry a certain gun you should train with it as much as possible as that is the most likely weapon your going to have to use due to the nature of your job.
I have as much emotional attachment to my Glocks as I do the hammer in my tool box. You’re absolutely right in that no matter what we’re mandated to use or how we feel about it, it is incumbent on us to be as proficient on it as possible.
My beretta experience. Through two deployments plus as a member of a guard shooting team has been very positive. Very reliable with proper care and about as accurate as a rack gun can be. I used mine to earn a pistol distinguished badge including earing leg points with a rack gun on a bullseye course. The big issue is while troop lavish hours caring for m4’s and m16’s they will ignore the pistol hanging in the holster till it is covered in dust and rust from neglect then curse it when it doesn’t run. The checkmate mags did not help either.
My last LEO agency issued the 92FS (and was possibly the first agency to do so in the US, but that had much to do with the fact we were in Maryland, home of Beretta USA, and our connection to the then-LEO sales rep).
Not my favorite, but I do have to say they were very reliable. Bulky, but reliable. We had a mixture of Italian and American-made pistols. Due to our relationship with the factory, they were well maintained, with regular inspections/parts and spring replacements. We also issued and practiced with standard pressure loads only.
I never had a problem activating the decoct while racking the slide, but observed it frequently.
All of the other comments concerning the size and trigger reach are certainly spot-on. We changed out the mainsprings to those from the 92D (double-action only), which did lighten and smooth out the trigger pull itself. Now that I have retired, I can’t say it is my first, second, third or fourth choice in a 9mm, but would not be upset if that was the only thing available to me.
I’ve had front seating to the use of the 92FS with an agency in my state. Well liked, the DA/SA & De-cocker created an interesting work around. Users would load, de-cock and then move the hammer to half-cock. It was believed to give a shorter purchase to the DA and provided more resistance to the de-cock lever, making it less likely to get bumped to the dead pistol position. The gun was well liked for it’s accuracy as several of the critical decsion makers had a PPC background.
When I was active duty Marine Corps I never got issued a M9 for my deployments but have used them for pistol qual and the Combat Marksmanship Coaches course. Yes, my unit’s M9s were also beaten up, with silvered, shot out barrels that I could never shoot a consistent group with. I also had a locking block break on me during Day 2 of pistol qual. The safety was already on fire whenever I drew from my holster (I was using nylon universal fit holsters before I discovered the Safariland ALS series)
My opinion on the M9/92FS changed when I shot my best friend’s new, barely used 92FS. I still hate the slide mounted safety and the bulky size but they are good, reliable guns. However, I prefer the Glock and unlike popular military doctrine I don’t white glove clean my guns and shoot them dry!
I am not shocked they are having problems. It seems as if their fleet is pretty old. Even at my department we rotated about 10% out of service every year. As the guns got near their replacement date you could see they were worn. The more worn the more they needed to be taken care of appropriately. They aren’t as good at functioning with abusive levels of care as Glocks.
Like a number of LE officers who were on the job during the “change over” from revolvers to semi auto pistols, my department went with the 92 Beretta. When asked why the Beretta was chosen the common response was “if it is good enough for the military it is good enough for us”. I personally bought my own Beretta 92 even before the department made the switch. I cannot lie, the original “Lethal Weapon” movie featuring Mel Gibson blasting bad guys with a Beretta 92 may have had some influence. Either way, I always liked the Beretta and it always served me well. The only issue I remember having back in those days was trying to keep our spare mags from rusting due to the hot, humid summer weather in eastern N.C. I did learn that the Beretta does not run well dry, a little oil keeps it very happy.
Years later, while working in the armory of a major training facility, I got a lot more experience maintaining the Beretta 92. We had a huge inventory of Berettas due to the amount of U.S. mil that trained with us and used our pistols. I did see some broken trigger springs and broken locking blocks but by far the most common problem was broken hammer release levers. I always suspected that dropping the slide on the Beretta with the safety on (as mandated by DOD and frowned upon by Beretta) was the culprit. In talking with troops that had been down range with the Beretta the primary complaint was the magazine. In addition to having difficulty dropping them from the weapon, it was the commom opinion that loading even a clean magazine with more than 10 rounds or so would insure a feed stoppage. That sounds like a possible spring or follower issue to me and the magazine they described were the aftermarket magazines with parkerized finish and flat, steel base plates. For this reason, when troops trained with our Berettas we often had problems with military magazines being returned to the armory after training and our OE Beretta magazines leaving with the customer! (Didn’t the military institute the term scrounging?)
Of the hundereds of Berettas we had on hand we ran them until they were beat down as live fire guns and then switched them over to Sims guns and ran them for years. We did not pull them completely off line until used live fire guns trickled down as replacements. All in all, I always found the Beretta 92 series to be an accurate, reliable platform that some people just love to hate.
I was issued the M9 in the USMC and my first ccw was a 92fs for continuity. I shot the crap out of my personal gun and put a lot of rounds through my m9 in various FAM fires on a 2005 deployment. I have little girl hands and I echo the strengths and weaknesses of the platform. What the m9 taught me was that a less than optimal weapon can work if you shoot and train enough. It would certainly not be my first choice but there are far worse guns out there.
I was in the service when the change over to the M9 began. As a 1911 devotee I thought it was the end of western civilization. Now, nearly three decades later and with a lot more objectivity, I find the 92fs to be one of my favorite shooters. Yes, it’s large with a big old ghetto bootie. Fortunately, I have large hands and long fingers so it fits me well, but I can see that as an issue for those of smaller stature.. It’s also heavy by todays standards but that weight makes it a very soft shooter. I don’t carry it regularly in either an on or off duty capacity, but I have used it occasionly in the latter role and find it conceals easily under even a polo shirt. The 92fs has probably received more ongoing hatred than any gun since the M16 and most of it is unjusitified. The problems with the Berettas military service have to do with the military, not the Beretta. The issues lie with maintenance procedures (or lack there of) and training (or lack there of), not with the design. I find the 92fs to be as reliable as any machine can be, with above average accuracy and I wouldn’t hesitate to use one as a duty weapon if required.
I’ve run a Beretta 92D for years-both a a carry gun (in a Kramer IWB) and for IDPA competition (including the past four state championship matches). I’ve been very conscious of the 92 series’critiques and commentaries. I’m also one of Check-Mate Industries sponsored shooters, which came about subsequent to some in-dept field testing of their 92 and 1911 magazines. TIm’s, Earnest Langdon’s, Larry Vickers’ and Todd Green’s comments, either in this thread and/or elsewhere have proven to be the most succinct and on-target regarding the 92, in my opinion.
In running my 92D over time, I’ve come to some observations:
-The 92 needs lube to run;
-The trigger return spring is the “weak link;” and susceptible to breakage at or around after 2K trigger manipulations (combined live- and dry-fire); Beretta re-designed and materially improved the spring 8 or 9 years ago, but I much prefer the Wolff TCU set-up;
-I periodically replace the recoil spring, triggerbar spring and slide release spring, preferring Wolff springs;
-Check-Mate DRY FILM (post 2004 Check-Mate magazines) perform very, very well, and actually have a lifetime warranty from Check-Mate (as do all their magazines), and I prefer their lower profile, hardened steel baseplate;
-I’ve heard repeatedly that DoD uses aftermarket replacement locking blocks which are in no way up to the quality of the Beretta ones.
-Replacing the OEM grips with a set of the exceptionally slim Trausch grips drastically improves the handling of the gun for the better; unfortunately Jacques Trausch passed away a year or so ago, and the grips are currently unavailable.
Good column, Tim.
Best, Jon Stein
We’ve had to replace that spring quite a few times due to overly aggressive cleaning in the mag well with a brush.
As for the locking blocks, the ones we received came with the gun in the original Beretta packaging (dark blue box with Yahtzee/shot cup).
I’d rather “shoot myself in the right foot accidently”, then rely on the M9.
I was issued a 92FS 19 years ago in the academy and we had one broken locking block in my class in a used pistol of unknown age. I switched to a beautiful stainless Italian 92F after finishing probation and that was the gun I had during some of my more memorable adventures while working Patrol… To this day I think it carried more comfortably in plainclothes than my 3rd Gen Smiths and Glocks. It is a huge chunk of steel but I think the smooth blended Italian corners made it sit perfectly when carried close to the body.
Dennis.
All of the issued M9s I have had were nasty. Many were not totally 100% reliable, even with nice mags. All the of the civilian 92FSs I have owned and shot were always 100%.
I like the handgun. With the big MecGar mags its a decent package.