Beretta’s have been passe and over played for a long time now… Since the first Mel Gibson Lethal Weapon movie. Robocop packed a Beretta. The Grammaton Clerics of “Equilibrium” packed them. The Matrix was probably the last of the big Beretta Block Busters.
And people kinda got tired of seeing them. So they pretty much disappeared from the Big Screen. Replaced by Stainless finished Glocks quite often.
Well, Beretta came back big time in TAKEN 2. A long extended Chase Scene featuring Beretta 92FS‘s, 90-Two, and Storm Pistols. And they looked awesome on the Silver Screen.
But is this a good thing? I mean, isn’t the Beretta old school 80’s?
We all know the US Army just purchased a freaking ton of them, making it the handgun for the US Military for at least another 5 years. Probably longer. Why? Because the 92FS is a very high quality pistol with reliability like the Sun Rise. They are super smooth, consistent, accurate, soft shooting, and extremely safe handguns. I will argue they have the safest of actions of any semi-auto handguns. Yet, when they are run properly, they are just as fast as anything else.
The other handgun that US Military uses is the SIG P226 and the 228… Which are very good indeed, but during the Handgun Trials, the Beretta did indeed outperform the SIG’s. You can argue that all you want, but the Beretta won it. And if you were on the selection board, you would have given the Beretta the nod too. I think what makes the 92 so good is what makes it so distinctive… That open slide. A common upgrade to many handguns is to open up the ejection port. I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to open up the 92 anymore. Clear ejection. Any gunk getting in there gets blown back out too. The feed geometry is ideal. It’s almost a straight shot in from the magazine into the chamber. Unlike a 1911 or other guns which makes the cartridge have to do some gymnastics to get loaded. And then there is the locking block. Under the barrel there is a winged wedge-like block. This is what locks and unlocks the action, allowing the 92 to be naturally and inherently smooth… Probably the smoothest action of any locked breach handgun.
The classic 92FS is also a very good looking handgun. It looks cool. There is something wrong with you if you can’t appreciate the lines and curves of the 92… It just looks like what a handheld weapon should look like. And I think the newest version of the 92 looks awesome.
If there is any downside to the 92, it’s the size. The 92 is indeed a large handgun. But then again, it’s supposed to be. It was designed to be a Full Sized, Duty Sidearm. For the guys out there packing only a handgun in their Fight against Evil, the Beretta was comforting, it had some heft, sure, but it also had something few other handguns had… a huge capacity. 15 Rounds! Back then, that was amazing. Now, 15 isn’t a huge capacity… but then again, I’ve not seen a guy that can shrug off 15 rounds of well placed 9mm hits. A big gun is a comfortable gun for shooting… felt recoil… accuracy… They are just easier to go the distance with than a small gun.
Beretta is the oldest company on the planet. They know how to make a good product. Sure, they have had a few flops… Such as the 9000 model. But overall, you can’t beat Beretta’s track record.
We’ve seen a marked upswing in Beretta sales locally. They are coming back in popularity, so expect to see more of them in the Media and Cinema.
