Using Beretta 92 Slide Release: Damage?

M

Model12Win

Moderator
Hi all! I am wondering if using the slide release lever to close the slide during a reload will eventually cause damage to a Beretta 92 pistol.

I have had slide releases (slide stops, whatever you are inclined to call them) wear out in different pistols by using them to drop the slide to chamber the first round of a new magazine on a couple different pistols.

I understand some recommend the slide release on Beretta 92s because the slide mounted safety/decocker can be accidentally engaged by using a "slingshot" or "overhand" technique. I know in the service the little training I've received on the M9 they taught us to use the slide release lever.

So I am just paranoid about causing damage to the slide release, or worse the frame, if I use the slide release too much. Is this going to hurt a Beretta in any way, should it be done to avoid accidentally manipulating the safety?

Please share your thoughts. Thank you!
 
I've heard of people claiming it rounds them off after a while.
Honestly I don't think that's a problem and if it ever is the slide release is like a 12 dollar parts.

I wouldn't worry about it.
I just pull back on the slides, When I got a hi-point c9 which lacks a release I have no other choice and it just made more sense to pull back since it's universal.

but If you wanna use the slide release I don't see anything wrong with that.
 
I have also read comments from folks who think the weapon will shatter or melt from using the slide stop to release. Then I think of the 1911's we had in the Army and the untold thousands of times they slammed the slide home as well as the semi auto pistols of my own and at the PD that were loaded or just released in this fashion and I dismissed the perceived problem altogether.
Of course I have only 50+ years of experience to refer to.
 
Kinda what my brother has done with his Beretta 92 for the last 20 plus years...............his still works just fine.:D
 
Unlike a lot of makes, Beretta DA/SA pistols are all designed to be able to use the slide release as part of their manual of arms.
 
Gats Italian said:
Unlike a lot of makes, Beretta DA/SA pistols are all designed to be able to use the slide release as part of their manual of arms.
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Beretta also incorporated a design feature -- uncommon in most semi-autos -- to let the shooter manually insert a round in the chamber and then let the slide slam home without damaging the extractor. It's a point design point Beretta discusses in some of its literature.

Most semi-autos are designed to be able to use the slide release as part of their manual of arms -- it's certainly possible if not a stated or suggested technique. Some gun makers, like Kahr, recommend using the slide release in their user manual -- and warn against using the sling-shot method (saying slingshotting may send the slide forward with insufficient force!)

I'd argue that if the slide "stop" wasn't designed to also function as a slide "release" there'd be little need for that little tab on the rear of the lever.​

The US Military changed their handgun training some years back, when it was found that many personnel using handguns in Iraq and Afghanistant were not releasing the slide cleanly under combat conditions (a problem probably made worse by the fact that a lot of them were wearing gloves because of the in some areas, or rocky terrain) and they'd have to rack the slide a second time-- sometimes with the same lack of success -- before they could re-engage. And they were down a round or two in the process. While the hand-over method can be used with many semi-autos, those with large hands can sometime decocker a Beretta 92 or M9 using that method.

The old argument that slingshotting is a gross motor skill while pressing the slide release/stop lever is a fine motor skill has been pretty much disproved by physiologists. Then, too, the folks making that old argument were seemed to realize that pressing the trigger while aligning the sights requires two fine-motor skills and had to be done at the same time!!

Use the method you like -- but don't use the old arguments and rationales.
 
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Getting it to release automatically like a glock does work.. but you really have to slap it in on the 92.
I didn't realize that was something they intended.

It's a lot easier to pull it off on a glock.
 
I use mine all the time, no issues. There are slide stops (not designed to do this), and there are slide releases (designed to do this) .... Beretta's is a slide release.
 
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Unlike a lot of makes, Beretta DA/SA pistols are all designed to be able to use the slide release as part of their manual of arms.

Just curious, document a few of the "lot of"?
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Good question, Cheapshooter. I don't know of any pistol equipped with a slide release (slide stop) that it isn't intended (or at least expected) for the slide to be released with the slide release lever. If the maker doesn't intend (or expect) the slide to be released with the lever (as opposed to using the "sling shot" method), why do they make the lever so prominent in size and configuration (some are even checkered) and ergonomically positioned (so that it can be accessed with the thumb)?
 
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I shoot PPC with a Beretta 92FS. Always use the slide release to chamber the first round, for probably 100+ matches. The only thing I've replaced is the recoil spring, once.
 
Many slide stops are not that prominent. They still protrude and are checkered so you can manually release the slide if you care not reloading. Pull slide back, push lever down, ease slide forward. I have several that are not slide release levers ..... The only ones I'm sure are, are the Berettas.
 
I usually prefer to slingshot everything as a general rule. Some slide release levers are challenging to use.

As an aside, this is part of the reason that I much prefer the Taurus frame-mounted safety to the Berretta one that's on the slide.
 
I was only underscoring the design fact that many so called slide locks are practically useless for anything more stressful than administrative (most striker pistols) handling or are located so as to be useless (SIG P22x).

The Beretta DA/SA pistols' slide locks are shaped and textured to be used as a slide release, and such use is "okayed" in the manual.
 
Unlike a lot of makes, Beretta DA/SA pistols are all designed to be able to use the slide release as part of their manual of arms.
Just curious, document a few of the "lot of"?
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He wrote "UNLIKE a lot of makes..."

In the manuals for the guns I own, pulling the slide to the rear and releasing it (i.e., NOT using the slide release) when loading the first round is the most common method mentioned. That is what is recommended by CZ, S&W, Kel-Tec, Ruger, SIG, Glock, Sphinx, and FN.

Kahr says do NOT slingshot the slide when chambering the first round, but use the slide stop instead. FN (at least with the FNS line) says to slingshot the slide, but also says you can use the slide stop lever to release the slide. I haven't seen ANY manuals that say DON'T use the slide stop or slide release to chamber a round.

What a part is called DOES NOT DICTATE how it must be used, particularly when that part can be used in two different ways, only one of which requires human intervention.
 
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I don't know of a "lot of makes" where the maker recommends against the use of the slide release. I only know one where the maker deprecates the use of the slide stop as a slide release, and even they don't absolutely prohibit it.
Good question, Cheapshooter. I don't know of any pistol equipped with a slide release (slide stop) that it isn't intended (or at least expected) for the slide to be released with the slide release lever. If the maker doesn't intend (or expect) the slide to be released with the lever (as opposed to using the "sling shot" method), why do they make the lever so prominent in size and configuration (some are even checkered) and ergonomically positioned (so that it can be accessed with the thumb)?
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Glock deprecates the use of the slide stop as a slide release. The slide stop isn't prominent in the standard models although it does have some texturing.

The owner's manual does list both manually operating the slide and pressing the slide stop as methods for dropping the slide, but in the Armorer's Course it is typically mentioned that the slide stop is a slide stop, not a slide release, and in the Instructors Workshop the instructor and the course materials both make it plain that Glock's intention is for the slide to be operated manually, not dropped by the slide stop.
Just curious: which semi-autos that you have are ones that don't have slide release levers?
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Besides the Glock which has a slide stop, not a slide release lever, there are guns like the Walther PP, PPK & PPK/S, the Kel-Tec P32, the CZ-52 and others which have no external part designed to release the slide when it locks back.
 
Thanks so much, gang.

I know for a fact that on the Bulgarian military Makarovs, using the slide release too much can and will round the edges of the release and will cause the slide to not lock back eventually and the slide to close when putting a magazine in on its own. This happened to me personally.

Slide releases are cheap for the Makarov but eventually I have heard this can wear down the actually cut in the slide where the release engages to hold the slide open on an empty mag. Too much wear there will cause those problems mentioned above but cannot be fixed with a new side stop. This happened within 500 rounds of shooting my unissued Bulgarian Makarov, and is a known problem for that pistol.

Having that happen to one of my guns scared me from using the slide release on any of my others, but I greatly prefer to use the slide release. It feels much faster and more natural for me, and like I said it is how I was trained on the M9 in the military.
 
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