New Wilson Combat Beretta 92G Brigadier Tactical

[ToddG]

Todd, you may know the history on this. YVK recalls you saying, or writing, that Beretta tested shorter barrel lengths and settled on the Compact/Centurion length slide, which is still pretty long, as the shortest they could go in slide/barrel and maintain reliability. Does that sound like something you said?

That's correct. The Cent/Compact slide was as short as they could make the gun due to the design of the locking block and the length needed for it to do what they wanted.

And I found out yesterday that Beretta made a 92G Vertec Centurion!

That truly surprises me. When I left ('03 I think) the guy in charge of such things was desperate to hit the delete button on the Vertec. If a Cent was made, I've never seen or heard of it and I'm absolutely certain it happened after I left.

[TCinVA]

There are some interesting things going on at Beretta these days...and hopefully some of the stuff we got a peek at a little bit ago is indicative of more interesting options hitting the market.

[LHS]

The last time I talked to Ernie, he mentioned that there had been a rare few compact Vertec G slides made, and he lusted after one.

If Bill can get Beretta to make a 92G Vertec Compact, I will be in hog heaven. If it's slicked out with the M9A1 Compact frame, all the better. I don't care about the rail on the compact, but the beveled mag well and checkering are nice. Now if CT would just make green lasergrips, my life would be complete.

[GJM]

The last time I talked to Ernie, he mentioned that there had been a rare few compact Vertec G slides made, and he lusted after one.

If Bill can get Beretta to make a 92G Vertec Compact, I will be in hog heaven. If it's slicked out with the M9A1 Compact frame, all the better. I don't care about the rail on the compact, but the beveled mag well and checkering are nice. Now if CT would just make green lasergrips, my life would be complete.

If anyone has the horsepower to get a Centurion length, Vertec Beretta made, my money would first be on Bill Wilson.

[PPGMD]

G -- As the person who turned Super Dave's desire for a tactical Elite into a written spec at Beretta, and as the guy who came up with the idea to call it the 92G-SD (I told Beretta it meant Special Duty but I think we all knew it really stood for Super Dave), I can absolutely assure you that the Brig slide was chosen because Dave wanted a removable front sight. At the time, the engineers at Beretta insisted there was no way to produce a standard sized frame with a removable sight.

I am curious has anyone pinged Dave since these were launched. After all it is basically his spec relaunched.

I see him at matches sometimes, but I figured some of your know him better and talk to him electronically on the interwebs.

[HCM]

Durability, not reliability. Specifically, the heavier slide flexed less and changed the way recoil energy was delivered to the frame so there was less frame cracking with the Brig slide. Even with the Brig slide, Border Patrol would regularly see cracked frames in less than 10k rounds. Admittedly, BP used some ridiculously hot .40 S&W ammo.



Each to his own, but most of the people I know who shot Berettas seriously dislike the Brig slide in 9mm. It's overly heavy which simply unnecessarily slows recoil impulse. It has more front sight movement per shot. The Brig slide was used on the E1 and E2 for exactly one reason: changeable front sight. As soon as the Vertec slide came along most folks preferred that slide. My guess for why the Brig slide was chosen here -- and I have no inside knowledge -- is that it was more a matter of the Brig slides still being produced and Beretta not being willing to restart production of the Vertec slides. In my personal experience having shot a lot of rounds through a lot of Berettas, and having dealt with countless LE/mil who've shot out barrels and cracked frames, the standard slide is not a weak link in the chain for 9mm.

The other main benefit of the regular sized slide is holster availability. While many of the big holster companies list Brig-compatible holsters in their catalog they're rarely produced because the gun has fallen so out of favor in the past decade.

re: price of this pistol ... I'm amazed people are surprised. Doing a limited run of specially configured pistols involves significant costs completely separate from the value of the individual parts. There's also some supply-demand economics here and it seems that Wilson Combat has correctly guessed that they'll have no problem selling these guns at the price point they've set. I honestly don't recall what a new E2 cost back when they were in production but $1200 for this gun as spec'd out seems like quite a deal to me.

IME the 96D Brigadiers were reliable but you are correct regarding their durability. I went through three 96D Brigadiers in four years shooting that 155 grain USBP ammo. It was "sporty". We were required to keep weapon logs and exchange any gun for a new one once it hit 10k. About that time, I had picked up a standard 96F top end for my 92. It was noticeably snappier than the Brigadier resulting in me picking up a 96G Elite I - a gun high on my "regret selling" list. I still have several brigadier holsters in the garage so a new 92G brigadier would be nice.

[JSGlock34]

My new Wilson Combat 92G Brigadier Tactical...



...and its new scabbard, by Blackbeard Tactical...

[Suvorov]

My new Wilson Combat 92G Brigadier Tactical...

Dude,

I am quite jealous.....

[GJM]

From Bill Wilson:

I just got notification today that the 92G Brigadier Tactical has been approved for USPSA Production division and will be listed on their approved list next week.

[farscott]

[snip]

I think that's pretty much it, as stated above I just built my "personal" dream gun and hopefully the project is successful enough to justify building my dream Centurion in the future

Based on how these are selling, I am looking forward to the WC Centurion.

Any plans for a WC 92D model?