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Old October 18, 2012, 08:01 PM   #1
Col. Jones
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How durable is a Beretta 96a1

I plan on getting a Beretta after I get my Sig P228. I was just wondering how well a Beretta can function if subjected to: dirt,sand,mud,water,etc.....I can't find any quality torture tests on YouTube. Any opinions of people who OWN Beretta's.

Last edited by Col. Jones; October 18, 2012 at 08:25 PM.
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Old October 19, 2012, 01:18 AM   #2
fun2shoot
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Beretta Pistol

Ok dirt sand mud water. Dirt can slow down ejection when exposed to a (substantial) amount. For that you might want to quick strip and blow it off with your mouth then reassemble and oil if you can. Sand can be worse but has the weight to be shaken off if you whip the pistol up and down to throw it out, make sure your not shooting basically any gun when you got sand in it so shake strip and blow it as best as you can. Sand can get very deep into the slide and extractor flange and firing pin assembly therefore rendering it frozen shut if you were to shoot it. Mud basically if you get mud on it find water which hopefully is nearby and immerse the pistol into it until the water dissolves the gloppy mud but mud has a little water content so it might not be that horrible as many think. If a pistol gets immersed in water shake it out like jumping up and down while palming your ear when you get trapped ear water gravity should get alot of it out. I know I said alot of what probably does not have to do with your question but a decently clean beretta will get a job done. This should work with most all semi-auto handguns. I wish I knew how reliable that beretta pistol stands up to certain test conditions but that info is out of my knowledge. Hope this helps
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Old October 19, 2012, 01:33 AM   #3
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The open slide design of the Beretta, which helps with reliable feeding, makes it more vulnerable to sand and grit. With that caveat, a well-maintained Beretta will run as well as any other higher-end gun. I was once on the line and had a $800 Sig 226 in the next lane choke while my $400-500 Beretta PX4 kept spinning like a top. Beretta makes a very reliable, accurate, well-machined pistol. Keep the somewhat increased grit sensitivity of that open slide in mind and you'll be fine.

I just ordered a 96A1 for my dad yesterday, I have great faith in the platform. The older 96G served him perfectly for about a decade.
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Old October 19, 2012, 08:39 AM   #4
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My son #2, a former Marine and now in Afghanistan as part of the State Dept. Air Wing has a lot of experience with the M9 (M92FS), both in his issue side arm and a privately owned one. When he enlisted in the Marines, I bought him the M92 as a practice weapon for his personal use. Since then, he's put over 5000 rounds through it with no appreciable wear. That gun will still put 5 shots into a silver dollar size group at 25 yds....really surprised me with it's accuracy. He's also had no problems with his issued M9's, aside from the caliber..he'd prefer a .45. That M96 is the same design and I'd think that the wear issues would be very similar.

HTH's Rod
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Old October 23, 2012, 11:42 PM   #5
IZinterrogator
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When I lived in Arizona, I used to shoot a monthly match with my M9. The courses of fire had us crawling through or rolling around in the Arizona dirt most of the time and the pistol never choked. However, when I had the pistol in hand while doing that, I kept it out of the dirt. When it was holstered, only the butt of the pistol was coated in dirt. So what exactly are you planning to do where such a torture test is necessary? Are you going surfing with a sidearm? Noodling with a handgun? Taking out the competition at a Tough Mudder event? Amateur torture tests most often prove nothing more than that the tester has more money than sense when it comes down to it. Most major pistols today survived some sort of endurance test which included shooting a lot in less than ideal situations, isn't that enough?
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Old October 24, 2012, 12:05 AM   #6
LockedBreech
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IZinterrogator View Post
torture tests most often prove nothing more than that the tester has more money than sense when it comes down to it. Most major pistols today survived some sort of endurance test which included shooting a lot in less than ideal situations, isn't that enough?
I tend to agree. You'll never see a gun that won't fail. Even the toughest HK needs to fire a round, extract and eject the casing, feed a new round, and return to battery. Those are moving parts, and you can jam them if you try hard enough.

I'm happy with a gun that isn't finicky about the length of the ammo or shape of JHPs and that can run when lightly lubed and pretty dirty. I just want a gun that gives me a bit of maintenance leeway. The rest is my job - keeping a clean, lubed firearm like a good owner.
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Old October 24, 2012, 03:48 PM   #7
Coltman 77
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The Beretta is accurate, reliable and very well vetted you can buy with confidence.

(Forget Youtube, btw. It's mostly bs.)
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Old October 24, 2012, 03:55 PM   #8
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While the open slide design of the 92 will in theory let more dirt in, they also let the brass out! There is absolutely NO semi-auto on the planet I would trust more "out of the box" than the 92 and it's siblings.
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Old October 24, 2012, 03:56 PM   #9
ShootingNut
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Own both the 92 and 96 Beretta's, love both and have never
had even a hiccup with either.
That said, I have never run them through sand, mud and water which
was the question.
SN
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Old October 25, 2012, 10:09 AM   #10
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the 96 is a .40 cal weapon. Realize that the Beretta was designed for the 9mm. If you shoot hot .40s in it you could have longevity issues. We did with our issued 96d. Many never made it to the expected service life of 10k rounds.
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Old October 25, 2012, 04:09 PM   #11
LockedBreech
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Quote:
Originally Posted by obiwan1 View Post
the 96 is a .40 cal weapon. Realize that the Beretta was designed for the 9mm. If you shoot hot .40s in it you could have longevity issues. We did with our issued 96d. Many never made it to the expected service life of 10k rounds.
While this is totally true re: older model 96 pistols, the 96A1 was designed with a more robust frame and an internal recoil buffer to address this issue.
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Old October 25, 2012, 04:51 PM   #12
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Quote:
the 96 is a .40 cal weapon. Realize that the Beretta was designed for the 9mm. If you shoot hot .40s in it you could have longevity issues. We did with our issued 96d. Many never made it to the expected service life of 10k rounds.
Hot 40's?????
If loaded properly and within SAMMI spec's the .40S&W has no more chamber pressue then the 9mm.
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Old October 25, 2012, 06:50 PM   #13
LockedBreech
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Originally Posted by TMD View Post
Hot 40's?????
If loaded properly and within SAMMI spec's the .40S&W has no more chamber pressue then the 9mm.
It does have a bit more recoil impulse, though. That's why the dust covers on the 92/96 are curved now instead of straight - it was an answer to model 96 pistols wearing and cracking prematurely.

I'm a fan of .40, it's my primary, but it is a bit tougher (in terms of five-figure round count long term longevity) on pistols than a gun designed from the ground up to handle .40 (like most modern service pistols, notably the Smith M&P and Sig 229).
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