Shooting the DA/SA Tanfoglio has reminded me how much I enjoy shooting a properly set up DA/SA gun in competition. The answer is that I enjoy it quite a bit, because it takes me back to the good old days when I was shooting Berettas and loving it. Anyone who’s read this blog knows I love Berettas, and there was even a time when I used my C&R license to collect old Beretta handguns. But as competition guns go, they’ve never been that popular. Sure, there are a couple of people campaigning old Beretta 92G Elites in USPSA, and Ben Stoeger even won Production Nationals with one last year. But Beretta doesn’t make the Elite any more, which leaves Beretta shooters interested in running one sort of out of luck.
Or are they? A perusal of Beretta’s handgun catalog shows two models that might be pretty good for USPSA Production. If for the moment we assume the following, that shooters want an interchangable front sight post on their competition guns, then Beretta offers the 92A1 and the 90-Two as models that have that feature. Unfortunately, none of their current 92-series guns are offered in the “G” configuration, which is decock only, but I can live with that in exchange for being able to swap my front sight out. The next assumption we have to make is that internal parts for the 92 series will fit both of these guns. Beretta’s website says “many” internal components are interchangable without saying which ones are and which ones aren’t. Now, the 90-Two doesn’t do much for me, but the 92A1 takes some of the technological improvements from the 90-Two and applies them to the more traditional 92 style.
The first thing everyone does with their competition Berettas is install a “D” spring to lighten and smooth up the trigger pull. That’s a cool idea and everything, but why not go whole-hog and install a Cylinder and Slide Low-Mass kit? A note on that kit though is that you can’t use the C&S hammer, according to a strict interpretation of the legal Production modifications. However, you can use a factory Beretta Elite hammer with the C&S kit in place of the C&S hammer, because the rest of the C&S parts are internal springs and the Elite hammer is an OEM Beretta part. So now we’ve got the trigger pull tuned up, it’s time to move on to the whole reason we selected the 92A1 – sights.
The reason that people want an interchangeable front sight is because a lot of shooters like to put a fiber optic rod in their front sight. With the 92A1 and 90-Two, that’s possible again. Unfortunately, an exhaustive search of Brownells and MidwayUSA didn’t turn any fiber optic front sights for Berettas, because there just isn’t much of a demand for them. Then suddenly I was struck by a ray of madness, and realized that the best thing to do would be to toss the 92A1, and get a Beretta with a fixed front sight, like the M9A1 model. Why get the M9A1 with a fixed front sight? Because if you do that, you can then buy an LPA adjustable rear sight. The adjustable rear gives you the ability to tune your Beretta for whatever bullet weight and velocity you’re shooting, and if you keep the white dot on the front sight, you have a highly visible aim point for fast shots.
So, forget everything I said about a 92A1, and get an M9A1 instead. Do all the necessary tuning, and possible buy a set of a AlumaGrips for your gun. Don’t forget the other important Beretta accessories: A Martin Riggs style mullet, and to constantly say “Yippie Ki-Yay, motherf***er.”
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