All 92SBs (1980) had a blue finish. The matte Bruniton finish started w the model 92SB-F (also marked 92F) in 1983.
IIRC, all the slides that broke for the military were Italian made. First year of contract guns were made and assembled in Italy, the second year made there/assembled here, three and on made/assembled here.
Used to be you could tell by the cardboard box color (silver/Italian, blue/USA) and the serial # prefix (BER was made in USA). For the 9mm anyway; not sure about the 40s.
The barrel finish on the Italian made guns seems more consistent to me; some of the USA barrels are pretty bad. Slides and frames are much closer IMO.
The USA made guns are avging over 30,000 rounds between stoppages w mil-spec ammo (loaded to 36,250 psi, same as SAAMI +P) when pulled from the line and tested randomly, so no problem there.
[Edited by BrokenArrow on 12-27-2000 at 01:18 PM]