Difference between 92F and 92FS...?

C

Cliff

New member
OK... this question has been bugging me for a while, so I may as well ask.

I have a Beretta 92F that I bought NIB back in the 80's. It even came with 2 factory hicap mags. :)

However, most folks when referring to their Beretta's seem to have the 92FS model.

What is the difference between the two models (if any)?

Mine has never given me a problem - quite the contrary... I had one stovepipe in the first 100 rounds. After that, the gun has had zero malf's with all kinds of different ammo.

Sooooo.... anything I should know about?

Cliff
 
The 92F is blued and 92FS is stainless model. I have got a Taurus 92FS, and it shoots very well. It was jamming quite a bit, so gunslinger took it apart and shined the chamber and put Sweet Shooter on it and you can shoot anything you want to through it. :)

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WHEN IT COMES TO FRIENDS THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
 
Cliff; I had a Beretta mod 92F (on the slide) manufactured in '88. From my Blue Book of Gun Values-"The Model 92FS incorporates a slide retaining pin engineering change not included in the Model 92F". I don't know if it's important to you or not but my '88 model had the old "locking block". It's not difficult to get the newer styled locking block. Mine shot just fine with the old one. Best Regards, J. Parker
 
The S in FS does not denote stainles finish. My Friend has a Beretta 92FS and it is Blued not stainless. Although the exact Difference between A 92 and a 92FS escapes me right.
 
There is a groove in the rear left side of the slide in the FS model. If the slide breaks in half during firing, the rear half of the F slide will fly off the frame and hit you in the face. In the FS model, the rear of the slide will be stopped on the frame, thus saving your face. The only slides that I have heard of breaking were used by Navy Seals in the Eighties. They were using very high pressure ammo. I read that it was much higher pressure than NATO ammo, which is already high pressure.
 
No4Mk1 is right about the slide stop. The composition of the metal in the slide was also different in the early US manufactured F models, they changed it to match the Italian composition when they came out with the FS.

Even an Early F model should be no problem if you don't shoot a lot of proof loads. If there is any question, the best thing you can do is get a recoil buffer and a slightly heavier than stock recoil spring, Wolf tuning kit #13190 is ideal http://www.gunsprings.com/

They also recently changed the design of the locking block, mostly to decrease the stress in the model 96 guns, pictures are at http://beretta.squawk.com/

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NRA, GOA
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"-Neil Peart
Vote in November.
 
the S in 92FS does not stand for Stainless Steel. stainless berettas are called INOX models. INOX is short for the italian word that means stainless steel.

the S in 92FS also does not stand for safety. both the 92F and 92FS have manual safeties that decock the gun when engaged and rotate the firing pin out of alinement with the striker.

the S in 92FS stands for slide stop (or slide safety). on the back right of the frame on the FS models there's a little round disk sticking up into the frame rails. this is to prevent the slide from flying back and hitting the shooter if the slide brakes.

on older 92F's the military was having some problems with the slide flying back and hitting the shooter. the military uses extreemly hot +P+ rated NATO ammo in the 92's and this caused the slide to brake this way. the newer 92FS will prevent this from happening. this happened very rarely but obviously it happened enough to require an upgrade on the guns.

the 92F which you own has very little risk of braking in this manner because the 92F's that had problems with the military used the really hot ammo that most shooters don't shoot on a regular basis and they had a lot of rounds thru them. i wouldn't worry about it much.

[This message has been edited by Russell92 (edited October 04, 2000).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Russell92:
the S in 92FS does not stand for Stainless Steel. stainless berettas are called INOX models. INOX is short for the italian word that means stainless steel.

the S in 92FS also does not stand for safety. both the 92F and 92FS have manual safeties that decock the gun when engaged and rotate the firing pin out of alinement with the striker.

the S in 92FS stands for slide stop (or slide safety). on the back right of the frame on the FS models there's a little round disk sticking up into the frame rails. this is to prevent the slide from flying back and hitting the shooter if the slide brakes.

on older 92F's the military was having some problems with the slide flying back and hitting the shooter. the military uses extreemly hot +P+ rated NATO ammo in the 92's and this caused the slide to brake this way. the newer 92FS will prevent this from happening. this happened very rarely but obviously it happened enough to require an upgrade on the guns.

the 92F which you own has very little risk of braking in this manner because the 92F's that had problems with the military used the really hot ammo that most shooters don't shoot on a regular basis and they had a lot of rounds thru them. i wouldn't worry about it much.

[This message has been edited by Russell92 (edited October 04, 2000).][/quote]
Russell92 knows his Berettas
I own a brand new 92FS and it is not Stainless Steel Everything Russell said is correct. I did a lot of research on the 92FS and its probable one of the few 9mm I would ever buy!



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"Bring 'Em on.... I prefer a Straight Fight to all this sneaking around"
Han Solo
 
Thanks for the replies, folks! Now I know. :D

My 92F was made in Italy. I remember hearing the stories about the slides breaking on the early ones, allegedly because the SEALS were running subgun loads through them. The explanations given here make perfect sense.

I've never run any +P loads through the gun - mostly just ball ammo, or 124gr. Hydra-Shok. Given those loads, I'm not too worried about slide breakage.

It may be a moot point, as my Beretta has been gathering dust since I acquired my SA 1911 V-12. For me, the ergonomics of the 1911 are just so much better... even if it doesn't have a "load on Sunday and shoot all week" magazine. :)

Cliff
 
US M882 ammo has a max pressure of 36,250 psi, which is over the std SAAMI limit of 35,000, but under the SAAMI +P max of 38,500.

Not all the guns broke with high round counts of "bad" ammo. In tests done in 1988 12 guns broke with normal mil-spec ammo (same as SAAMI +P) w round counts from 4908 to 30,545. All were Italian made, 9 M9s, 2 92F and 1 92SB-F. AFAIK, no US made guns have broken slides. First year of contract (1985) guns were made/assembled in Italy, 2nd year made there/assembled here, from 3rd year on made/assembled here.

Latest tests I know of show slides avg over 70K, so whatever was "broke" got "fixed". USN SEALs bought a bunch of Berettas (heavier slide Brigadier models) last year, so looks like they got over it?

1975 original model 92
1977 92S, safety from frame to slide
1979 92S-1, mag release moved
1980 92SB, firing pin block
1982 92SB Type M compact 8 shot
1983 92SB-F or 92F, squared trigger guard
1987 92G, decock only
1989/90 92FS, 92G double action only
1992 96F, 40S&W model

Can't remember where the 13 shot compact, short slide Centurion, heavy slide Brigadier, Elite, Border Marshal, etc models fit in.
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[This message has been edited by BrokenArrow (edited October 08, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by BrokenArrow (edited October 08, 2000).]
 
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