[BrokenArrow]

FWIW went to a Police Week pistol match at the local USAF base in May. Pop ups, steel plates, 150 yd target on a tank downrange... fun stuff. Interesting how many can't hit a tank at 150 yds, let alone a target on a tank.

If you did not want to shoot your own stuff, they provided a govt gun (Beretta M9), ammo (Win frangible Mk254 Mod O, a +P load BTW), and holster (Bianchi UM84) at no extra charge. During 6 hours of shooting, saw several guns choke, none of them the beat up M9s (about 12 opted for 'em, not counting military shooters also using them), and they were handing out Checkmate mags, not Beretta.

When the match was over, they put on a 7.62 mini gun demo and blasted some old vehicles (M113, M60, M2/3, Peacekeepers) on the range.

A Texas State Police pistol team took second place team. One of their guys took second individual. Only reason I remember that is there was a woman on their team who was hard to forget.

Asked the range guys about the M9s. They have cracked slides at very high round counts (50K+), but have never had a catastrophic slide separation. Blocks break at higher round counts too (20K+), they replace 'em when they do. Newer contract guns have several plastic parts (guide rod, hammer, safety lever, slide stop, trigger). They have plenty of older steel guide rods they swap out. The other plastic parts they leave in and haven't had any problems w them.

As for the slide separation issue, here is my dos centavos.

The SEALs shot Berettas for 9 yrs (79-87) before it happened. Things that make ya go hmmmm? The range of slide failures in military testing in 1988 was about 5K to 30K. In 1998 it was 55K to 95K. More things that make ya go hmmm? LAPD, LASD, and 25 state police agencies never had it happen over a 25 year period. I'm tired of going hmmmm.

All pistol slides will crack if you shoot them enough. The Beretta design makes it more interesting when they do crack. If you don't notice the initial crack and keep going, you will generate the nifty separation pics we've all seen. The enlarged hammer pivot pin and slide mod keeps anybody from being injured when catastrophe strikes.

It happens. It's happened to very few pistols, most at very high round counts, well in excess of any previous (5K for the M9) or proposed (25K for the latest MHS Modular Handgun System) military pistol service life requirements. If you want more, ask for more. If you ask for less, don't complain when you get more.

So, I still think this just isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be!

I didn't worry about it when I was issued an M9 (88-98), and I don't worry about it now when I carry/shoot my M9 commercial model.

[TN.Frank]

Yep, you can beat any pistol to death if you put enough hot rounds thru it. Shooting the light Civilian stuff that most of us use for target practice and plinking(i.e. Winchester White Box, Remington UMC, ect.) you could probably put 100k rounds thru one of these guns before anything happened. Main thing is keep the recoil spring changed out at regular intervals like ever 4k or 5k rounds and that'll help keep the slide and frame in good shape.
No more then I shoot my Compact should last my lifetime and then some. I'm lucky to put 100 rounds thru a pistol in a year let alone 50k,LOL.
Hopefully if I can get some loading dies and a bullet mold that'll change but it'll be a WWM bullet at 1000 or so fps, basically a lighter target load so I won't be hurting anything but my wallet buying primers and powder by shooting those.

[Jr.]

Good post, I have a strong feeling I'll never wear out my 7 beretta 92 or 96's.

[Shipwreck-The-Sequel]

Good post.

The whole issue has been overblown, IMHO. Change the recoil spring and trigger spring every 5k. Change the locking block every 20k (I personally say every 15K – it’s only a $35 part, and they tend to break RIGHT after 20k rounds… Better safe than sorry).

I’ve seen tons of posts over the years on various gun forums… Military guys who claim to have seen morons in the military using their M9s as hammers and tools… Beating on the guns. Also, no one maintains round counts on the guns. So, they get poor maintenance, and no spring changes as necessary. So, no wonder they routinely break in the slide.

Plus, with the crappy magazines the military bought for years, this went a long way towards making people think the M9 wasn’t a good gun. The military was too cheap to buy decent mags/factory mags.

Anyway – here is an interesting link… Follow it all the way through, and you will see a government report investigating issues with the M9 and how the contract was chosen. There are so many rumors and innuendo… Interesting to see the actual government report that was done to investigate any unfairness against the other companies vying for a chance to supply the military pistol.

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread....hlight=beretta