Beretta Nightmare

S

spnkyspnky

Inactive
I purchased a Beretta FS96 Brigadier INOX about 6 months ago and have had a serious problem that is still not resolved. My girlfriends brother owns the same and as soon we got home he showed me how to clean it. The gun was beautiful and I couldn't wait to take it to the range. After firing about 150 rounds I went home and field stripped it to give it its first cleaning. When I took the slide off I noticed some scoring and chipping on the inside of the slide. I'm no expert, but this could not be right. I took the gun back to the store to show the gunsmith and he said he had never seen anything like this and it should go back to Beretta immediately. About a month and a half later with no word on my 96 I called Beretta service and was put on hold for 40 min. and then told I would have to call back and speak to someone else. The next day I called back and waited on hold for another 30 min. before anyone picked up. I was the told by the "Service Manager" that the tag on my gun said that the slide was not "up to spec" and it was replaced, but he did not have any other information for me and I felt he was very unprofessional. If you have any doubts call them and try to get someone on the phone (1-800-636-3420). He told me the gun would go back to the store the next day, but IT TOOK ANOTHER MONTH before it came back. When we took it apart at the store they indeed had put a new slide on, but did not look at it again after they test fired it. It was a new slide, but this one had marks on it too. I asked the smith what he would do if it was his and he said that he would get rid of it and not buy another Beretta. I'm not in that position so we sent it back a second time, 3 MONTHS AGO AND IT JUST CAME BACK LAST NIGHT!!!!. Guess what SAME PROBLEM!!!. My question is: Does anyone have similar marks? or have you had any horror stories with Beretta?. Don't get me wrong, I like the feel of the gun, and was sold on the marketing of they're product. But there is no excuse for rude behavior in the service end, but there are a lot of great products out there to choose from. I would not choose to do business with them again.
 
I don't know if you are only dealing with Beretta USA or not. I have heard similar storys from people dealing with them.
Perhaps you should go directly to the source, Beretta in Italy. I have heard nothing but GOOD things about them. After all, they do have several hundred years of tradition to guide them. It may take a while, but, you have already been given the run around for quite a while. A little longer to set things right may work in your favor now, especially dealing with the Italian branch.

Here is a link to the Beretta contact page....just make sure you don't use the Beretta USA contact.

http://www.beretta.com/contatti.htm

and their home page in case the other comes up in Italian!

http://www.beretta.com/default.htm

Good luck.
 
Interesting. I've had nothing but good to say about my Beretta. Like BobR, I would be very persistent. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
 
Only time I had to send one back, turn around was two weeks and I was very happy w the service.

A guy here blew up a 40 barrel with some bad cheap ammo. Beretta fixed it, billed the ammo company, he had his gun back in 3 weeks.

Must be you? ;)
 
Scoring under the slide but you don't really say where, so I'll give it a try. Is the scoring, for lack of a better term, running on the center 'rib' under the slide from the firing pin/decocker area forward toward the front of the slide, about 1 1/2" in length? If so that's caused by the hammer being cocked back and riding on the 'rib' during cycling. I'm not going to say what's 'normal', but I have a safe full of Beretta that have that mark, so it's normal for me. My Bruniton guns show the mark a bit more than the Inox models but I keep a drop of BreakFree on the 'rib' and the mark doesn't seem to change, 150 rounds or 15k. I've had a few dealings with Beretta USA customer service with nothing but praise for them. Hope that helps.

Darryl
 
Rib

The scoring looks something like this [|||| || | ||||]
near the inside rib close to the tip of the barrel, I think it will get worse. When I saw it the first time it was pretty bad, and I has only put 150 rnds. through it. After they replaced the slide the first time they probably only put a few rounds to test because it wasn't so bad. But, I don't think the opened it back up to check it. The same thing happened after they replaced the slide the second time.
 
When you hold the slide upside down, looking down into the 'U' channel, are those marks centered near the bottom? If so, they may be machining marks left over from the coarse milling of the slide. They result from chattering at the end of the tool head used, are perhaps a head near the end of its useful life. I agree that it is unsightly, and certainly not up to the level of fit and finish one would normally associate with Beretta. But, I do not feel that it would be cause for concern with regards to structural soundness, or safety. I've seen similar marks on many other guns too.
 
Don't know anything about Berettas, I am wondering if you are suffering from new gun owner itis. Most handguns show definite wear marks that are particular to that model and are normal.

If you can, speak to some other Berreta owners and compare notes. This kind of question comes up on Glock Talk all the time.
 
If you have marks that are covered by bluing, don't worry. If you are getting metal shavings, that's not good.

Sounds to me like you need a Glock, HK or Sig to cure this ailment.

I don't shoot alot like I used to due to time constraints. I find I really like the uniformity from pistol to pistol on the Glocks.
 
Quote:
I find I really like the uniformity from pistol to pistol on the Glocks.

Ofcourse they tend to be a bit more uniform... it's much easier to pour plastic than machine real metal... ;)

Darryl
 
A Tenifer Beretta?

Now a Tenifer Beretta, that would be perfection. It's that Tenifer process that makes the Glock so good... a Tenifer Beretta and 'perfection' would be redefined.

Seriously, the Tenifer process is one area I'll give to Glock and wish that Beretta could match.

Darryl
 
DarkStar, the closest thing to a tenifer beretta is a hard chromed beretta. tenifer and hard chrome are probably the strongest finishes made, they even can kinda look the same if you polish up the tenifer just right (and remove the black oxide finish from the slide). my Beretta 92G Elite is hard chromed. the finish is amazingly durable and looks great!
 
Sounds normal to me. Every beretta ive even seen has had that slide marking. Take it to a good smith and ask his opinion. Remember, they are free.




Tim : )
 
I was just talking to my best friend of 22 years. He is the range master for the US Border Patrol. We got into a discussion on the Beretta because that is there duty side arm. He was telling me all of the problems that they are having with the gun. Most of the time they are minor things (if there really is such a thing when your life depends on the gun) but one thing that stuck in my head was that the frames were breaking. He had an Officer come in the other day with a cracked frame. They issued him a new gun and sent him on his way. Two days later, the officer was back in there with another cracked frame. I would understand if he had been smacking the gun against the rocks but he hadn't even been back on duty. He had taken the gun out to the range to do a little shooting because Qualifications were coming up and he wanted to get used to the way his new gut shot. He got home and took the slide off for cleaning, and there was a visible crack in the frame. I find it amazing, that a company with such a good reputation can build a gun like this and sell it. I have heard some good thing about them but most of my experiences have been bad. During the gulf war, my team wouldn't even think about using them. Best of luck..
 
I have a Beretta 92FS as my on duty weapon. I've had this same weapon for over 10 years and have shot........gee I don't know.....thousands upon thousands of rounds through it. I have yet to see a cracked slide. Several other officers have Beretta's....92 and 96's....have never seen or heard of a slide cracking with them either. In my National Guard Unit we have the 92's......we are an M1A tank unit....with the Beretta's as our sidearm. In all the shooting and qualifying with them I have never seen or heard of a slide failure.......neither has the armorer.
 
I have a Baretta 92F and it dissplays some of the marks sinilar to yours. I have had NO functioning problems with the pistol and I am convinced that these marks are due to the normal break in process because of the tight machining prcesses used on these pistols. Does your pistol misfire? if not, then it is not really a problem- as i see it. If there is a warranty issue then I would love to know about it. Cheerz,
Tight Groups
 
Its interesting Steve, We had so many problems in Saudi with the sand getting into the gun and causing malfunctions, but the Beretta was never built for that type of environment so I would place the blame on the DOD. As far as the duty gun, its baffling. What type of ammo do you use in your duty weapon? The Border Patrol is now using 155-gr. federal ammo. They are not light loads either. I like the pistol and I haven't heard of any problems with the civilian versions. Kind of interesting; something to look into.
 
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