Beretta vs Taurus

[Skitter]

I've got both a Taurus PT92 stainless and a Beretta 92A1. While the Beretta has better fit and finish, I love the stainless finish of the PT92 and the frame mounted safety/decocker. That one feature is what always keeps me loving my Taurus. I recently acquired a Ciener .22 conversion for the Taurus. It's making me seriously consider selling the Beretta. My Beretta is brand new and is very tight, but the Taurus still shoots as accurately as you can shoot it. Plus, you can probably buy the Taurus for approximately $100 less than a Beretta.

This is exactly why I went with my Stoeger. Albeit I didn't realize they were made by Beretta until after the fact... In doing that research was when I found Taurus bought the Beretta plant as mentioned before.

[Budda]

My PT 99 is frame mounted safety and non decock. It is the one gun i will never sell. I will not trade it for a NIB Beretta, glock, or xdm or any other semi pistol. I might trade it for a mint python or a korth though......

I have 8 mags loaded laying in wait for the s to htf.

[artoo]

7n6. Check your PMs please.

[LockedBreech]

This is my opinion only, but I think buying a Taurus over a Beretta for a better-placed safety is like buying a Yugo over a BMW because you like the Yugo's door handles better.

It's true that the PT92 design is a Beretta one, but it is execution and service, not design, that has always been the downfall of Taurus. They actually have very innovative designs if they were well-made.

I'd go Beretta. The slightly less convenient safety is worth the quality differential. $100-200 difference is a few trips to the range in ammo costs.

[BobNH]

Have had a M9 for over 8 years, thousands of rounds through it. It will fire anything and has never had a problem. Beretta has a history of hundreds of years and makes some of the best product on the market - handguns, rifles, shot guns, some sold under their divisions as "other brands."
There is no comparison

[whip1]

Spend the extra money and get the better gun.

[Leejack]

The accuracy and reliability myths just keep-a-comin! LOL!

Get the one you want, the only significant differences are the safety and the price. Both are great guns based on my experience with them.

[gc70]

Originally Posted by tahunua001

you are comparing a gun made in a brazilian factory with known QC issues and very bad reputation for reliability and a gun made in Italy/USA with a lifetime warranty that goes along with a reputation for excellence.

Actually, Taurus has a lifetime warranty available to any owner of a gun, while Beretta has a one-year warranty (can be extended to three years with registration) limited to the original retail owner of a gun.

[Pico]

The Beretta has a little better finish, better resale, and a newer locking block design. But you pay for that up front. Sorry to all who may disagree but they shoot the same. And the Beretta safety design is not a plus.

Pico

[LockedBreech]

Warranty is a distant second to quality when it comes to firearms. For a TV a warranty might be king, but if your TV breaks it can't get you killed.

Also, what the warranty is on paper doesn't matter a lot in the firearms industry. Ruger technically doesn't even warrant their firearms, and they'll bend over backwards for you, whereas there are endless stories of the tooth-pulling process it can be to get Taurus to honor their lifetime warranty.

[Dragline45]

Why is everyone complaining about the slide mounted safety on the Beretta? Are you really that incapable that you cant learn to push up instead of down, you would be amazed at what the the human mind and body can get accustomed to Also the gun is DA/SA, if you don't like the saftey then just don's use it. The saftey on my M9A1 is almost never engaged.

[KyJim]

Why is everyone complaining about the slide mounted safety on the Beretta? Are you really that incapable that you cant learn to push up instead of down, you would be amazed at what the the human mind and body can get accustomed to

I have quit carrying two handguns with slide mounted safeties because I mostly carry pistols with frame mounted safeties. In the stress of a real life emergency, I thought it best to keep to one manual of arms on this (or a DAO with no safety).

[Pico]

I really hate the location and operation of this safety. Taurus may be looked down on for QC issues and deemed a "second tier" gun company but if they had come up with this "improvement" and Beretta had retained the frame mounted safety they would have been hammered.

Pico

[Pico]

Sorry repeated post.

Pico

[ferrarif1fan]

Yeah, I can actuate the safety on the slide of my Beretta. But I DO NOT LIKE IT compared to the frame mounted safety on the Taurus. And the comparison of a Yugo to a BMW is a bit extreme. My Taurus shoots just as good as my Beretta...it just doesn't have an Italian pedigree.

[EIGHTYDUECE]

Unless you are a cop or competition shooter that the department or rules state that you must activate the safety, why are you using the safety other than to decock the pistol?

Just use it to decock the pistol like the Sig and then switch it off. The first shot will be a long double action first shot like the Sig. In decock mode it is much harder to pull than a Glock with no safety. I just don't get some of you guys.

[Seaman]

"....why are you using the safety other than to decock the pistol?." [EIGHTYDEUCE]

Well with the Taurus you have the option of carrying hot chamber cocked & locked, just flip the safety down and get a quick accurate SA shot off. For some folks, and many 1911 shooters, this is a big deal, which in an emergency could mean the difference between getting home or taking a ride in an ambulance.

"Just use it to decock the pistol like the Sig and then switch it off. The first shot will be a long double action first shot like the Sig."

I like Sigs a lot, but I like my 1911 Sig best of all.

[spanishjames]

I think buying a Taurus over a Beretta for a better-placed safety is like buying a Yugo over a BMW because you like the Yugo's door handles better.

And the comparison of a Yugo to a BMW is a bit extreme

I'd say the Taurus is a Ford, Beretta a BMW, and Jennings is the Yugo.

[EIGHTYDUECE]

I was responding to the ppl hammering the Beretta slide mounted safety and the direction the thumb has to go to manipulate it. If you want cocked and locked, then Taurus is the way to go. I have no beef torward the Taurus 92. I actually like it.

[shep854]

When I had both pistols, I found that a 'forward, then down' thumb motion would suffice to hit either safety. For those with smaller hands, it might not work, though.

[LockedBreech]

And the comparison of a Yugo to a BMW is a bit extreme

My experience with 3 Tauri has been unmitigated failure, which is why I posted that. I understand that my experience is not universal.

I agree that speaking in terms of design and materials, they're not shoddy like Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez, but execution can be just as dodgy in terms of the end product.

[shep854]

The discussion reinforces the point that anybody can put out lemons; I've yet to hear of slide or locking-block failures of a PT92!
In the 20+ years I've been a 'gunnie', I've seen reports of QC problems with every gun maker, and shooters who swear they will never again touch those companies' products--this includes S&W and Colt!!

[Skans]

I'll save the regulars here from another PT99 (same as PT92)
rant. Just search "pt99" and you will get my thoughts on the one that broke on me after only a few hundred rounds.

[Seaman]

"I was responding to the ppl hammering the Beretta slide mounted safety and the direction the thumb has to go to manipulate it." [EIGHTYDEUCE]

Ahoy EIGHTYDEUCE,

Apologies for tardy rejoinder, was busy.

Well I would agree too. As explained in post #2, the natural movement of the thumb is down, i.e. make a fist, thumb goes down. On the Beretta 92 (except for the first 5,000 manufactured), the safety goes up to bring it out of safe, and also up after de-cocking.

I think that all active safetys should operate down - not up. Thats the way the thumb works for homo sapiens, is the 1911 way, the CZ way, ditto HK, ditto Makarov PM, etc.

Taurus decided to stay with the original design (some say improved it), but Beretta changed... (?) some advise when carrying a thumb-up to fire gun to simply leave the safety lever in the up position.... but that can be trouble too, what if, in a shtf situation, under stress, I flip the safety down on a Beretta... not good, (muscle memory and ergonomics 101 are against me).

Was brought up riding British motorcycles: BSA, Norton, Triumph... to operate them you must manipulate the controls (brakes, clutch, transmission) in a cross-body manner. However the Japanese used same-side body controls. And because I ride both British and Japanese bikes, I sometimes (in a stressful moment like when a big truck is about to hit me) use(d) the wrong controls and wound up in a ditch.

Since the auto analogy has been used... if Taurus is a Yugo, with a standard stick shift, on the drivers side floor is a gas pedal on the right, a brake pedal in the middle and a clutch pedal on the left. Then the Beretta car would have a clutch pedal on the right, a gas pedal in the middle and a brake pedal on the left. The Beretta may be a higher quality, but I wouldn't want to drive it.

[Pico]

I think the Beretta vs Taurus thread may rival the "whats better 9 mm or .40 thread". Maybe we need a hybrid thread:

Whats better: a Taurus 9mm or a Beretta .40? Or maybe a Taurus .40 vs a Beretta 9 mm.



Pico