God, what can I say? Beretta is prolly the gun that originally got me interested in guns. Way back in the late '80s, I was into airsoft guns in a big way. One day I was up at Jeffrey's Toys in San Fransisco looking at their airsoft guns. They had a special section set aside for their expensive airsoft guns, and nestled in with all those was the most beautiful replica gun I have ever laid my eyes on.
The gun was made by Modelgun Corp, and they called it their "MGC M93R High Grade Custom". Basically this thing is a replica of the Beretta M93R, which is little more than a highly customized M9, or in the civilian crowd, the 92FS. It has an extended barrel, muzzle brake, and folding stock. Even without all the trick additions, this was absolutely beautiful.
And it fit my hand so well. Everything was in exactly the right place, the balance was wonderful. This was definately the first airsoft gun I had ever found with a heft that closely approximated the real thing. I was stunned.
So, good consumer that I am, I bought it.
But this was just the beginning. I started seriously obsessing about real Berettas. I watched for them in movies and TV. I read about them in magazines and books. I read performance comparisons between them and other guns. But always my eye was drawn back to that lovely 92.
When I bought my first handgun, I was actually idly shopping for a nice Beretta. My mind was open, I was willing to buy something else, but I really wanted a Beretta. I held a number, tried them out at rental ranges, and they never disappointed. But I couldn't really shell out US$700 for a handgun. Oh well. Got the P89 and I've been happy.
But as soon as I got the chance, I snatched up a 92. And this is it. Frankly, I don't care a hill of beans that it's a commemmorative model that I bought, I just wanted a pre-ban 92 and this was it. Also, it didn't hurt that it was the same price as the post-ban 92s that I could find.
The gun is all the beauty that I came to expect. The thing nestles into my hand as if Pietro Beretta made it just for me, my fingers lying along that curved butt, and right when they need to bend... the grip bends too.
Admittedly, I cheat. I went out and bought a Pachmayr grip for this gun as well, I liked my P89 grip so well. And I like it on this gun as well. Pachmayr be good. Sure, the stock grips are good, but they just can't hope to compete with Pachmayr.
I haven't worked up a load for this gun yet. I'm not even going to try my P89 loads in this'un. The recoil spring feels noticeably stiffer than my P89 spring, and I can just see it jamming with one of these light loads. But the main reason I developed those loads for the P89 in the first place is to avoid breach flare. Somehow, with the stiffer spring, I don't think that'll be a problem with the 92.