Back in 2006 at the SHOT Show, I saw Beretta’s new 90-Two pistol. Forgive me for saying this, but I think the name is stone cold retarded. This is a different handgun than the 92, yet they are pronounced the same. Thank you Mr. Too Clever For Your Own Good… This is about as good of a name as the FN Five-seveN pistol, but at least the FN isn’t being confused with any other handgun. Brilliant move, Beretta.
Like I said, I saw this gun back in 2006. And I liked it then. Unfortunately no one has ever asked me to see one until 2 weeks ago. Then we had a couple requests for them at the gun shop and we finally got one to put it on the shelf.
Is this indicating that there is something wrong with the 90-Two? Maybe it’s had a long history of problems? Well, yes.
The problems are Beretta’s Marketing. Beretta has a slick gun that people would want, if people knew it existed. Much like the failed Beretta Cougar… these guns are great guns that no one ever even heard of… Especially with this 90-Two. Because you say that name and people instantly think you are talking about the weapon the US Military adopted and call the M-9. Beretta’s Marketing strategy seems to consist of waiting for the US Military or another Lethal Weapon movie to be made. But maybe I am too harsh… because they did run a promo last year – if you are a member of the Military you could have got a 50 dollar rebate. But we never sold any based on that rebate offer because pretty much if you were a member of the military, the military gave you one to use for free. Brilliant Marketing!
Beretta seems to want to sell to only two groups of shooters… Police Agencies and the Land Rover crowd. Don’t get me wrong, I like Beretta stuff. I love their guns. But their marketing is an utter failure when it comes to the general shooting public. I don’t drive a Cop Car and I don’t drive a Land Rover. So I’m not interested in a 40 gun program or two thousand dollar Over-Under shotgun. And the same goes to most of my customers. Beretta needs a completely new Marketing Team. Not just a new Marketing Manager… the whole team. They need new advertising in new (to them) channels. They need a new vibe. They need new promotions for the customers. They need some incentives for the gun sales clerks. Because why would I want to even sell a Beretta? So the customer can get looked down upon when they call for anything…
Anyways, enough ragging on Beretta’s failure. The 90-Two is a great handgun. As a service gun, duty gun, open carry or range gun… it’s fantastic. A lot of improvements over the standard 92FS. I especially like the grip feel and the dovetailed sights. It looks sharp… fresh lines… Just holding it again at the shop, I would love to add one to my collection. I like it that much.
Didn’t Colt have the same marketing program at one point?
I think Beretta’s people interned at Colt.
Beretta has just listed a ton of jobs on the NSSF site, one of them is a “social media manager” for facebook and blogs, maybe the are getting with the “new stuff” in marketing, we can only hope
Hm. I’d never heard of the 90-Two until seeing it in the case at a local shop. I didn’t even take a second look, as I thought the name was a ploy to sell a lesser gun to the uninformed.
It’s easy to overlook… Because it’s had absolutely no attention since it first came out and now people are finally noticing “Hey… that’s new.” But due to the complete lack of enthusiasm even from Beretta – no one cares. Which is a shame, because it really is a very nice handgun.
Its on my list of gun to get, maybe because its been reviewed very highly and not many folks have heard of it.
Small correction: If you’re in the military you don’t “get one for free.” IF you rate one (aircrew, SNCOs, officers, etc) then you get issued one on deployment or for annual qualification. Unfortunately you can’t check one out of the armory and go shoot whenever you please (though that’d be awesome if you could).
On their website they are calling it the 90Two Type F. That should distinguish it pretty well from 92FS. haha
I like that it has increased capacity by 2 rounds. I’d love to try one out sometime. I kind of like the 92FS.
http://www.berettausa.com/products/90two/default.aspx
God, I hate Baretta’s. When I started shooting, I was told they are the end-all, be all of firearms.
Accurate (at that weight, they oughtta be. An unloaded Baretta weighs more than a loaded G-17.
Deadly. (Weeeell… it’s a 9mm. Shot placement and repeated impacts. Lets not kid ourselves here.)
Functional (OK, who put the safety on the damn slide?)
In fact, they are a pain to take down and clean. When I bust my Glock down for a bath, all three pieces are out and on my mat in seconds. With a Baretta, you have to listen for that PING that indicates you have shot something tiny and irreplaceable out across your room, and now need to either find that piece, or find out what it was so you can get another one.
If I need to go through all that trouble… I’d better have an AR, and for the price, I can.
Seen it, shot it, not impressed, but I don’t drink the SIG Kool-Aid either. They’re nice guns, just not my cup of joe for the price.
On the other hand, you don’t have to pull the trigger to disassemble.
Definitely harder to field-strip than a Glock, though.
Nothing I’ve seen compares to the benchmark set by ths H&K P7’s, though. Those are scary-easy to take apart. Push in and twist, and out pops the striker assembly (good safety feature – you can render the pistol inert by removing the striker assembly – and there’s nothing to break or lose, like with those silly key locks have the manufacturers are incorporating). Then hold in the release button, pull back and lift, and the slide comes right off.
Would it kill them to come out with a .45ACP version? I had a 92G Elite II years ago, and it was a tack driver, but too big to carry, considering that it was essentially the same size as my double-stack Springfield. If I’m going to carry a gun of that size, it’s going to be a .45ACP or 10mm. I’ll put up with smaller calibers in smaller frames, but a full-frame gun should have a full-frame caliber.