M9 problems....

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SSN Vet

SSN Vet

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My coworker just bought his first firearm.... a Beretta M9 .... fancy engraved USMC commemorative edition (he's a USMC reservist).

So I invite him to come to the rod 'n gun club with me Sat. to break it in.

big troubles...
:(:uhoh::confused:

Multiple failure to feeds, with the round tipped up high getting jammed above the barrel in the corner between the barrel and the receiver.

So many that we stopped counting, but were talking 7 or 8 out of 100 rounds fired.

Needless to say he was quite frustrated.

He had field stripped and cleaned the weapon w/ CLP prior to firing it for the first time.

He was shooting 115 gr. Rem UMC ball. So I figured maybe it is so lightly loaded that it's not vigorously cycling the action. So we loaded up my handloads... 124 gr. Berry's plated RN over 4.5 gr W231 and still had several failures.

He only had an hour or so to shoot, so we ended the range session before we could really properly troubleshoot the problem.

My recommendations were...

1. Thoroughly clean and lube the weapon and next time bring some different lube and slide grease options to the range. I have zero experience with the Beretta M9 or 92.... do they like to run wet?

2. Disassemble the mags and carefully inspect the followers and bodies for burs or mold line imperfections. Label the mags (he got three with the gun) and try to identify if it's one particular mag that is causing the problem.

3. Bring more ammo. options on the next range trip and see if there's anything that will cycle reliably. Are M9s fussy? Since he had these problems with ball, I'm not encouraged to think what kind of results he'll have with hollow points.

He dropped >$600 on this gun and is trying to not be bummed out.

Meanwhile, there I am pounding rounds through my $350 "piece of crap" Taurus Mil. Pro. with no issues at all. And when asked, I had to honestly report that with ~1,000 rounds through the gun now, I've not had a single failure.

Hmmmm....

Any recommendations for my friend? He's somewhat at a loss to know what to do.... and like I said, I have no experience with any of the 92 variations out there.
 
I believe they need to be pretty wet. Make sure he lubes it up real nice on the rails/ the parts where the side travels along the frame.

I have a stoeger (beretta) cougar and the first time I took it out to the range I had about 10 fte out of 100 rounds. I started lubing it up real nice before I took it to the range and have not had any problems since. I carry it as well and I check the lube about once a week and add more if necessary.

So yeah if he lubes it up before he shoots he should be fine, these things like to run wet.
 
Check the magazine feed lips. It sounds like they are not controlling the round properly or releasing it too early, allowing the powerful spring to push the nose up above the barrel line. The lips should be straight and not flanged out. Make the sure the magazines are marked PB Made in USA or Italy. Otherwise they are generic and of dubious quality.

Did he buy the gun new at a store, or secondhand?

92s are not fussy, they are renowned for their reliability. I've never found it particular about being wet or dry. This is a military weapon after all.
 
Did he buy the gun new at a store, or secondhand?
Click to expand...

NIB from local gun store.....

I hate to see the guy frustrated with his first ever gun purchase.


92s are not fussy, they are renowned for their reliability....This is a military weapon after all.
Click to expand...

that's what we expected....

unfortunately, that's not what we experienced.

He wanted an M9 because he is a qualified marksmanship coach for the M16 and M9 and doesn't feel that he gets enough trigger time on the M9 to really help his students as well as he wants to.
 
I had a 92 and I picked up range brass and put in the same bag as my mags. I forgot about it and the next trip to the range I found may extra mags full of dirt. I knocked the dirt out as best I could with no tools or brushes and the thing still shot with absolutely no malfunctions. I'd still have that gun today if it weren't so huge.
 
cycle the action with some rounds in it and look at how they are feeding out of the magazine into the barrel, or when shooting look at it from the side and note if it cycles ok. it sounds to me like a magazine problem....
 
Ditto it sounds like a magazine problem to me - I have never had a failure to feed with my 92fs in any of my 12 Beretta OEM magazines, I have read many complaints about non Beretta mags however.

Also try asking at www.berettaforum.net Plenty of experiences M9 shooters over there.
 
Puzzling, but I would definitely consider it a magazine problem until proven otherwise. Magazines are always a pistol's achilles heel.
 
M9s have their problems; way too large of a grip circumference for a 9mm, triggers usually feel like dragging a cinder block across a gravel road, the slide mounted upswept safety is bass-ackwards and counter-intuitive, it can't be carried cocked-and-locked, and I am still not sure how I feel about the exposed barrel, or relative complexities of the operating mechanism. But of the two I have any real experience with, feed problems have not been among them.

Feed problems such as you are experiencing are usually traced back to the mags. Replace the ones you got and see if problems persist.
 
Check if they are Beretta mags and not another brand that has been swapped out.
Check if they are 9mm and not. 40 mags (15 not 11 rounds).
Try someone elses mags.
If all else fails, send it back to Beretta.
 
They'll run wet or dry, they're not fussy. The preference in the military is to keep them pretty dry. My issued one is pretty used an abused and when I qualed they handed us mags that were literally rusty and caked in sand. They made grit noises when you put them in the guns.

I did not have any malfunctions of any sort, and it still shoots dead on. His M9 probably has an issue going on.

I have been nicer to my Commercial M9, but it has not had any issues either.
 
My oldest 92FS was purchased new in the late 1980's.

I've shot it quite a bit since then and never had any problems with it. It eats any ammo I feed it -- fmj, jhp from various manufacturers.

I like to run it a little bit wet, with Wilson Ultima Lube on the sliding parts and CLP on rotating parts.

SSN Vet, sorry to hear about your co-worker's problems with his new Beretta. It should do much, much better out of the box than it has.

I believe your friend should send it back to Beretta and let them make it right.

Good luck and please keep us updated.
 
I have shot my Beretta M9 bone dry in the past with no problems. The magazines are usually the culprit when it comes to repeated malfunctions even after a good cleaning. In general the 92FS/M9 is one of the most reliable auto pistols around, but like with any gun, lemons still make their way into circulation.
 
Beretta OEM mags are widely considered the best, followed by MecGar. I have Never heard any complaints about them.
Click to expand...

I would actually disagree with that. My Beretta OEM mags work fine, but my "aftermarket" MecGar mags are absolute heaven on earth. They are easier to load, they feed smoother, they load and release cleaner from the gun, and their operation has been flawless in my Vertec. (Not so with the OEMs)

Have your buddy buy some MecGar 18 rounders with anti-friction coating and see if he still has issues.
 
Here is what I think, you said its his first firearm and that he stripped it to lube it. Be sure that he is putting the recoil spring back in properly. If he isnt putting it back on the middle groove but on the one closest to the barrel then there is the reason it is jamming. I have ran into countless newbies who have done this with their first pistols. Just a suggestion.

-Ed
 
update...

all three mags are marked "PB" made in Italy. Mags are Baretta factory new 9mm 15 rounders.

all three mags disassembled and inspected for rough edges, parting line debri on the molded follower, etc.. all look good. feed lips are identical on all three.

When cylcled manually with live ammo, a the case mouth seems to catch slightly on the top edge of the feed ramp and tips up to much, thus missing the chamber and getting lodged in a near verticle position.

This also seems to cause the front edge of the mag. follower to tilt down as it attempts to raise the next round into position.

The feed ramp is polished, but not to a mirror finish.
 
Hmm, I have the air force edition, and it's been completely reliable, but I do grease my guns rather heavily.
 
Sounds like something is out of spec. I'd call Beretta and arrange to send it back to them. Be patient, BUSA customer service is reportedly pretty bad at answering the phone. Otherwise get your dealer to ship it back.
 
Well, I hate to say this, but I've seen this many times in commemoratives. Many factories don't believe anyone's ever going to shoot the things (because many times engraved versions are only for display or sitting in safes). Because of the extra cost and the depreciation that occurs when these things are shot, they just don't watch the tolerances.

These guns are supposed to be flawless right out of the box regardless of the lubrication. I'd call the factory and raise hell. Just because something's a commemorative doesn't mean you just throw it together.
 
updated status...

Well my pal re-cleaned his M9 and cycled the slide manually a couple hundred times.

Then he loaded mags with live rounds and manually cycled all of the ammo through them three times on each of the three mags. He had some hang ups, but things seemed to be getting better.

We went back to the range this past Saturday and he put ~120 rounds through it with no hang ups at all. He was running the pistol pretty dry.

At this point, were chalking it up as "break in" issues.

I told him the next step was to start working with hollow points and to find some that cycle reliably.
 
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