What's going on with my 92FS?

Z

ZeroTX

New member
Hi guys,

I'm new here and have a question that I suspect some of you can weigh in on. First, I have a Beretta 92FS that I bought brand new (at Academy) as my first gun around 1998, I think. I've since bought a couple of others and shot a few rounds through the Beretta, including qualifying for my CHL. It really doesn't have too many rounds through it, maybe 2000-3000 at most. After each trip to the range I clean it, oil it, and put it away in a climate controlled area.

Anyway, my last couple of times out with the gun I've found that it has had a few occasions of not locking back after the last round and even a few occasions of stove-pipes.

The ammo I've been using is some kind of cheap South African stuff I bought on a website several years ago, but I was really under the impression that you could run just about anything through this model gun. These aren't reloads or anything. I usually practice with a little but of +P defensive ammo, and I can't recall at this moment if I ever had a failure-to-lock or a stove pipe with that ammo.

Anyway, I just was wondering if I need to do something different maintenance-wise on this gun and if there are any other suggestions regarding these failures. These were enough to make me start considering a .357 Magnum as my home protection gun, because what a horror it would be to need it and have it fail to feed.

Thanks for any input.
 
Try some Remington or Winchester or Federal ammo. I have a 92FS and it's functioned with everything I've fired in it, Win, Rem, Blazer and hand loads.
Never shot the off brand stuff, don't believe in it.
 
Agree with pete2. Mine gets a steady diet of reloads and is flawless. I don't believe in buying new ammo with the exception of rim-fire.
 
This seems pretty simple to troubleshoot. Try some American made ammo, Federal, Winchester, Remington, and see what happens. If you still have issues, it could be magazines as Chris suggested.
 
Last edited:
Yep, probably ammo. Even guns that cycle nearly anything can only cycle properly loaded ammo, and it's a safe bet that South African ammo might have some quality assurance issues.
 
With no more than 3,000 rds thru a new gun.....its probably ammo related..

However, I'd also suggest you take the mags apart...and clean them ...
 
I just bought some Winchester white box FMJ that I'm going to run through it and see how it does. If I get anything less than 100% success through it, then I want to look further into this.

Now that I think about it, I think we ran some of this South African stuff through my dad's Glock 26 and it had some issues, too.
 
New mag springs might solve the failure to lock back issue, I use and would recommend the wolf +10% powered springs. As far as the stovepiping a new recoil spring might help, Beretta recommends changing the recoil spring every 2000-3000 rounds I believe anyway. Both are cheap enough where it is worth a try.
 
I'll echo the sentiment that it's PROBABLY ammo related, but new magazine and recoil springs are not a bad idea. I consider them to be wear and tear parts, like brake pads. Just part of routine maintenance.

Papershotshells
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!! I may just invest in a new 17rd Beretta mag since they make those now. Where is a good supplier for mag springs? I have a couple of military surplus 15rd mags that I frequently use. Perhaps they need new springs.
 
I also have a couple of cheap aftermarket mags that I don't like using because they rattle. My original mags with this gun are 10s because 1998........
 
Fer Pete's sake, buy real magazines!

They are quite available and not that expensive by today's standards. Be sure to get Beretta or MecGar ones and you will have no more magazine problems.

Bart Noir
 
South Africa is a long way, but isn't one of the major advantages of 9mm the fact that it's used world-wide? In the event of a full-on ammo ban, 9mm will be available (legally or not) from elsewhere.... good luck with that .40S&W.
 
As for the cheap magazines, remember, when I bought this gun, high-caps were not available anymore, so all you could buy were leftover stock unless you were an LEO, so the cheap aftermarket magazines were very popular and only about $15.
 
As for the cheap magazines, remember, when I bought this gun, high-caps were not available anymore, so all you could buy were leftover stock unless you were an LEO, so the cheap aftermarket magazines were very popular and only about $15.
Click to expand...

This is true, but my calendar says it is the year 2013. Not 1998 anymore.
 
My guess is this South African ammo is loaded to a low enough pressure that the slide isn't reliably going back fast enough or far enough; that would explain both the failures to eject properly (the stovepipes) and the slide not locking back after the last shot. If this is the problem, new mags or stiffer mag springs won't help this specific situation, but they sure won't hurt either (especially considering you have those awful 10-rounders; besides being an abomination ;), they don't tend to work as well as standard-capacity mags).

Next time you go to the range, try a few different kinds of ammo - including your South African stuff - and compare the ejection pattern. Self-defense loads should throw the brass a healthy distance, hot range loads like Sellier & Bellot will throw it decently far, lower-pressure range loads like Winchester White Box will throw it far enough, and (if I'm right) your South African loads will barely get the brass clear of the gun.
 
ZeroTx,
Midway and even Beretta have some good to better prices on mags. I just bought 2 40S&W Beretta mags for my Px4 storm Subcompact for less than $25 a piece from Midway on Black Friday.
 
My gunsmith replaced all of my magazine springs and the recoil spring, cleaned it and oiled it up. I shot 60rds of 9mm FMJ through it (various brands) and even let a first time shooter use it and zero malfunctions... dunno if it was the lubrication, the recoil spring or the magazine springs, but either way it seems to be fixed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top