Unbelievable

T

Trimation

Moderator
Get this. I take my buddy to the gun shop cause he wants to get a gun. He has his heart set on a Beretta 9mm. He shot one like 5 years ago and loved it so he has to get one. Well, I convince him to go down to the range and shoot a couple of different guns to make sure that is the one that he wants to spend his money on. We get down to the shop he rents a beretta first and after 4 shots the gun whole slide cracks and we can't even get the chambered round out. We have the range guy come out and he takes it in to the gunsmith, the guns is just screwed. Needless to say, he will not be getting the Beretta. I couldn't believe that. I mean what are the chances. I know the Beretta is a decent gun. must have not been very well taken care of. Thought I would share that story with you guys.

Trimation
 
Many moons ago, I worked at a small range. You have to understand range guns take alot of abuse until they break...ALL GUNS WILL BREAK if they live their lives as range guns. Some break sooner, some later, ALL break :(
 
Hmm

We get down to the shop he rents a beretta first and after 4 shots the gun whole slide cracks and we can't even get the chambered round out. We have the range guy come out and he takes it in to the gunsmith, the guns is just screwed.

Never seen this happen with a Beretta, even rental ones with thousands of rounds through them. Sounds very odd. What model was it? Was it an early 92 or a newer 92FS? Where did the slide crack? Did it break apart or was it just a hair line crack? Not flaming, just interested in getting more details on an unusual incident. :confused:
 
We had a rental at the range where I worked that had probably 175,000 rounds through it. Very popular rental gun.

The locking block sheared off the bottom of the barrel.

All guns will break eventually. You're running cartridges through them that generate 10s of thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch.

Eventually something will give.
 
I had the chance to buy a former range rental gun for only 150 bucks. It was a Kimber. I passed. It didn't feel good. No, the gun was looking great and felt great in the hand... but this deal didn't "feel" right. I said no. This was when I was 1911 shopping and had the cash even.
Not 3 days later I found out that another guy picked it up and had the gun just come to pieces on him the second time he was out shooting it.
 
At the range I work at every Thursday, our Glocks have been the worst performers in the last month. The 17, 19 annd 21 have all gone down for broken slide stop springs, chipped extractors.

Glocks are great, reliable guns too. Rental guns get tons of abuse, and very little care.


Bowser.
 
show him more than just Berettas... but let him decide...

HOPEFULLY he will make a good decision...

don't push "combat tupperware" or a sig, or whatever... just let him try it, and make decisions... DON'T give him your personal opinions, unless they are safety or quality related...

I HATE "Tupper guns"... but have helped friends decide to get one...

I just steer them clear of cheapo guns... or things with KNOWN defects...
 
I actually didn't recommend anything. i don't have enough experience to do that. All I did was say that he should go shoot different guns to help him make a decision. I would be a hypocrite if I started telling him what he should or should not get.


Trimation
 
Tri, glad to see your enthusiasm has extended to bringing your friends 'into the fold'. You're doing the right thing - having them rent one of everythign to form their own opinions. I consider the $80 I spent on a day of rentals and ammo to be the best investment I've ever made.

That said, the situation Mike had was one I witnessed at my local range also. The 92 rental they had came back to the counter with a broken locking block.

I would encourage your friend to not think badly of the Beretta. As mentioned here repeatedly, these rental guns have the crap kicked out of them, and receive very little maintenance.
 
Kermit, all guns break??? Haven't you read TFL?

I've read many posts by GSCs that shoot 50 rounds every other month that if you get the right brand of weapon, it will never ever break. If you buy a [fill in blank] it will last at least a zillion rounds.
 
At the range i used to go to a guy who worked there
told me that the 92fs , were getting slide cracks after
about 3k rounds . It seems to be a common problem .
 
Speaking as someone...

...who has had a couple of guns last many tens of thousands of rounds, let me share a few things:

1) Lubrication. Some guns need more, some less; all need some.
2) A worn recoil spring will allow malfunctions and cause a gun to batter itself to death in short order. Check and replace (if necessary) on a regular basis.
3) Guns last longer when shot with lighter loads. +P ammo or heavy bullet loads can destroy a gun a lot faster than normal fodder.
4) If it's a wheelgun and it starts displaying the slightest bit of endshake, take it to a good smith to look into the possibility of shimming the cylinder. A little bit of endshake can turn into a lot of endshake in very short order once the cylinder has some free play in it.
5) It's an imperfect world; screws fall out...

6) Lastly, all good things must come to an end. Guns are machines that, if used enough, will eventually wear out. (Fortunately, most of us can't afford to shoot a good quality service auto that much.) When it's over, let it be over; don't risk your digits by trying to eke a few more range trips out of a worn-out gun.
 
IMO, The assertion here is correct that all guns break, especially used and abused rentals. Some gun types break more than others though.
In 4 years of working in an indoor range fulltime I witnessed failures from nearly every popular manufacturer.
Beretta, Glock, Sig, Colt, Para, S&W etc. Nearly all were rentals.
Warning be really careful buying old range guns. The place I worked at would sell them at regular used prices and they weren't deals. Mostly just used up old clunkers. I always tried to talk people out of buying one of them. That kind of stuff happens with really CF business owners.
 
Well, I bought a used S&W 22A range gun about a year ago for $99. Thing is totally beat to crap, looks like hell. Shoot great though, and I've never had a problem with it. This is a used .22 - can you just imagine how many rounds it has through it? Guess I got lucky...
 
Beretta slides do break; that is why the M9 and later Berettas have the slide capture feature. They also break locking blocks fairly often.

Jim
 
maxinquaye,
I didn't mean to say all rental gun purchases are bad, i would just say use caution. The nonreputable owners of the establishment I worked at did some questionable things IMO. Like passing off a Rental Gun as hardly used even though it looked like it had been in ww2. Somethings are just crappy, I mean a Glock lease gun that was purchased for $100 used to fire 30K rounds probably earned 1500$ in rental fees, they would want to sell for 450$. this is in the mid 90's when you could get a new glock for 475-525. Somebody eventually buys it. In some of these cases these rentals had parts replaced in factory refurb before sale the but still.

I also agree with Jim Keenan that the beretta 92 of the mid 90's was our biggest problem gun on the range. It was the one that needed repair the most frequently.
 
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