$588 OTD for made in Italy 92fs?

[SonofGilnockie89]

Hello all. I have been drooling over the Beretta 92fs for quite some time for use as an open carry/bedside gun. A local dealer has one for $549.00 NIB with two mags. Mississippi sales tax would bring the price in around $588 OTD. I have never fired one but I love the looks and it fits my medium sized hands quite well. I have searched the web and they seem to be going for mid $500s. Therefore this seems to be a decent price. Opinions?

 

[BCRider]

It would be nice if you can fire one somewhere just to confirm how well it fits your hands.

I recently got my own 92fs after casually watching for a "deal" for some time. They really do have very FAT grips and frame compared to my CZ's. I'm glad I take a large to extra large glove size or I don't think I'd be able to really hold the gun in the best full wrap around supportive grip. If you're just after a good gun for open and bedside you really should check out the CZ options as they have a far more oval shape to their grips which suits medium size to large size hands much better.

We even had a local girl go for a Shadow for the grip size after trying out a heap of rental guns. Even the M&P with the smaller back grip didn't fit her as well as the CZ did according to her.

Having said that the 92 IS a really nice gun. But from your post I'd suggest you want to find some thinner grips even if it's just to try them out if you buy the gun.

If you're a handy sort you could even make up some inexpensive "cut and try" grips from regular construction lumber to try them and see if flatter and more ovalized grips would suit you better. If so then make a second set out of some exotic knife slab hardwoods, stag or micarta to match the hacked up trial grips. Then you'd have sweet looking grips on a great gun that fit your hands better.

 

[12131]

$588 OTD for made in Italy 92fs?

Sounds about right, OTD.

 

[Jim K]

IMHO, the Italian made guns are better. The US factory had problems in startup and most of the 92fs troubles came from there. While the US guns are now OK, my choice still goes to the Italian ones.

Jim

 

[postalnut25]

"It would be nice if you can fire one somewhere just to confirm how well it fits your hands.

Having said that the 92 IS a really nice gun. But from your post I'd suggest you want to find some thinner grips even if it's just to try them out if you buy the gun. "

Try the Trausch grips. They thin the grip out nicely, and make it feel so much more natural in the hand. The stock grip panels are just a little too fat.

 

[SonofGilnockie89]

Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone in my area that has one. The gun culture in eastern Mississippi isn't exactly a unified front. I also don't know of any rental ranges anywhere even close. Therefore it may well have to be a case such as when I bought my Kahr CW9.....buy it and hope I love it (which I do).

 

[InkEd]

The 92FS is a good looking gun. It's not the best fit for ALOT of people's hands. Try one and some other guns before you buy it. (If you have a Bass Pro then go handle a Taurus 92 and that will give you a good idea of it.)

The decocker is very awkwardly placed on the slide. The grips are very fat and the DA trigger is horrible. IMHO the CZ-75, BHP and Sig226 are all far better pistols than the Beretta 92FS. I had two of them (a regular and and an inox) that I thought were nice
until tried other pistols.

 

[Confederate]

If you haven't snapped it up, I strongly urge you to check out the Taurus PT-92 stainless. I picked one up recently and it's my favorite pistol (and I'm not a big fan of Taurus). But Beretta sold Taurus their tooling, and now Taurus' safety/safeties is far superior to the one on Beretta.

You may like the Beretta better, but at least take a look at the Taurus. I've owned both and like both -- but I'd take the Taurus any day.

 

[OregonJohnny]

Just as a reference, I bought a brand-new Italian 92FS at a local gun shop in early 2008 for $499.00, no tax of course (yay Oregon!)

Average price these days seems to be between $529 - $599.

Also, the decocker/safety on the Beretta tends to get used by a lot of people (myself included) as a decocker only, not a safety, so the position on the slide has never bothered me. It's not really intended to be used like a 1911 safety. The long, long, long double-action trigger pull makes the 92 safe to carry with a round chambered, hammer down, safety off.

Insert mag, rack slide, decock, flip safety back off, holster. No other use for the safety, in my opinion. In fact, many "special edition" versions of the 92/96 series come with a decocker-only lever, that automatically flips back up after being decocked.

 

[jlg]

That's not an amazing deal but it is a good price.

 

[Clark]

in 2007 Century was selling surplus Italian police 92s pistols for $250.

I got a number of them and got my friend to buy a bunch of them.

The problem was the magazines.

Look where the magazine release is.

All those high capacity 92FS magazines that are everywhere will not work.
So I tried to mill out a slot in the at the bottom of the magazines.
It turns out that magazine bodies are hardened steel.
I had to use a carbide bit to get the job done.

 

[jamesjames]

Love my Beretta

I got the Beretta 96D.

(FYI, The 92 is chambered in 9mm and the 96 is chambered in .40 caliber). Later, I got a 92 (9mm) barrel that was for sale on the Beretta Forum. The barrel drops right into the 96 slide and works with 92 mags in the 96 receiver.

Then I ordered an Arthur Ciener .22 conversion slide, barrel, and mags. It also slaps right onto the 96 reciever and works flawlessly with its own mags for .22 lr. plinking and cheap training.

The Beretta 92-96 platform is an incredible engineering feat. Everything is interchaneable between the 92 and 96. The feed ramp on the 96 is the wider one, so it will feed both 9mm and .40S&W. All you have to do is slap on the right barrel. I have never shot so accurately and effortlessly with any gun.

It is a shame that Beretta has never been able to market this weapon effectively in the US market.

My experience has been exquisite craftsmanship and flawless performance. The grip is "hand-filling", but not too big. It is designed for a high-cap, double-stack mag. I can enthusiastically endorse the Beretta 92-96 platform. It is a 5-inch, full-size, combat pistol. And it is wonderful.

 

[SonofGilnockie89]

Thanks for the input guys. The same shnp has one of the Taurus platforms and it felt very solid. However, the Beretta keeps drawing me back........choices choices.