Beretta 92S Issues

9outof10mms

9outof10mms

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I picked up a surplus Beretta 92S that’s in good shape for its age and use. Not much visible internal wear. Shot it for the first time this weekend and had some odd failures.

It shot fine with aluminum cases factory 9mm. When I shot factory reloads from North Georgia Reloading (115gr 1050fps) I had multiple failure to eject, failure to chamber, and just general clustering happening in the chamber (live round would somehow get tilted upward, preventing the gun from going into battery).

The factory reloads worked flawlessly in my other (newer) guns.

I’ve attached a pic of it failing to pull a round out of the mag and push into the chamber.
B139891B-1EC9-4B78-828F-07CC33FBEC99.jpeg

In the above picture, all it would take is barely a touch to the back of the slide and it would move forward to seat the round with no further issue.

The other problems were failure to eject: empty casing would rotate upward 90 degrees and not eject. Double-feed: a live round would get askew and the next round below it would try to feed.

When I was hunting for one of these guns, someone mentioned replacing the spring(s). Is that’s what is happening here—a weak old spring?

I’ve never shot a 92-model, so I don’t have anything to compare to. It felt a little “sloppy” (for lack of a better phrase) when shooting. Like the slide was too heavy for the gun to operate itself. It was otherwise accurate and a breeze to operate.

These issues were happening with new cheap-o mags as well as the original mag that came with it.
 
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It seems springs are readily available from Brownells, Midway, etc. Wolff makes springs of various weights to calibrate with different loads.
 
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I’d suspect a weak recoil spring, weak ammo, and a weak magazine spring for your problems in the order you listed them. Could be other things too. A stovepipe will often lead to a double feed if it’s not cleared properly. Did the double-feed happen with the new mag or just with the old one? It should be easy to compare the two by pressing down on the follower while empty.
 
9outof10mms said:
I picked up a surplus Beretta 92S that’s in good shape for its age and use. Not much visible internal wear. Shit it for the first time this weekend and had some odd failures.
Click to expand...

You may want to clean it out. Can't imagine that works too well as a lube.
 
Combat Diver said:
Beretta 92s are generally quite reliable platform. Since it is surplus suggest a new recoil spring and mag springs. Also that ammo is weak as standard ammo should be 115-124 grs at 1150+ fps preferable at 1250 fps.

CD
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I definitely suspect a weak load--I'm ok with that for target plinking. Like I said, it works fine in my newer handguns.

The mag springs all seem ok, but I will keep those in mind if the recoil spring doesn't do the trick.

I'm looking at these springs: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/3415430697/wolff-recoil-spring-beretta-92-96-full-size
What force would everyone recommend? Lighter or Harder?
 
I'm pretty sure the standard recoil spring for the 92 series is 13lb, but you might be wise to do your own research. As for the ammo, I've never had any luck with North Ga Reloading ammo. I bought some at a gun show and had issues with it, was gifted some more from a "friend" and had the same kind of issues. It was underpowered and caused ejection issues with a G17 and a P226. Both of these guns were new-ish, as were the magazines, so it was for sure the ammo.

I would definitely change springs on a Beretta with that much age on it. Springs don't last forever, are cheap, and will likely make the gun run reliably if you use decent ammo. 92 series Berettas are built like tanks, and will give you years of service if you do the little things to take care of them.
 
How about trying some WWB NATO? I think WalMart still sells it cheap.
 
Combat Diver said:
Standard 92 recoil spring weight is 13lbs as @chris69 stated. Go lighter if you want to shot a lot of that ammo.

CD
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Please excuse my elementary questions...

...so a "lighter" (meaning less than 13lb) recoil spring would be better for lighter-loaded ammo? I was thinking a heavier (greater than 13 lb) spring would provide more closing force for the slide. Or maybe I'm backwards and it a heavier spring would actually be harder for the weaker ammo to push the slide back...

If I went with a 11 or 12lb spring, would I be hurting anything and/or be limited to what I should be feeding the gun? It sounds like it would help with lighter load rounds, so as long as it can still handle normal loads (I've already been warned that these old 92's cannot handle +P loads, so those are already a no-go), I'm thinking I'd like to have the versatility of the slightly lighter (but newer) spring. No?

As I mentioned the only factory ammo I had was some aluminum-cased "Independence" stuff. It worked flawlessly, all 100 rounds. I guess my M&Ps are more tolerant of lighter loads since they've got newer/tighter springs.

Appreciate the help, gentlemen.
 
I guess the recoil spring is easy enough to change on the fly at the range. Pop the slide off and swap it out. Wouldn't hurt to try a few. Thankfully this isn't a $100 part!
 
You have gotten good advice. I just thought I would add this. Replace All springs with factory equivalent . I can tell you from our experience here, including this past week end, across the board Winchester White box is The Weakest 9mm you can buy commercially. We can prove this through pressure testing. They are indeed The Weak Sister of 9mm. Most often the cause for Failure to Feed is because of weak slide energy. Does not go back far enough to come in a strip the next round from the top of the mag.
Just our findings here.
A 92 is one reliable machine in stock form. Bring all springs back to New as Delivered and things should even out. Let us know Please.
 
Talk about receiving a POS Beretta pattern pistol today. Its going to require its own thread. Marked very similar to a 92FS as marked but then flags started going off. Its a Khyber Pass/Pakistani copy. Borrowed a M9 for side by side comparison of the parts.

CD
 
Combat Diver said:
Talk about receiving a POS Beretta pattern pistol today. Its going to require its own thread. Marked very similar to a 92FS as marked but then flags started going off. Its a Khyber Pass/Pakistani copy. Borrowed a M9 for side by side comparison of the parts.

CD
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Never heard of such a beast. Good to know.
 
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