Beretta 92a1 feeding and ejection issues

I recently bought a used Beretta 92a1 as a Christmas present for my adult son. He prefers metal framed guns and I’ve had great experiences with Beretta 92/96 series guns over the past 30 years. Took it out to the range today and we both had multiple issues with weak ejection/ brass to the face and failures to feed on the second to last round on the magazine. This occurred with two different shooters, four different Beretta 17 round magazines and two different type of ammo (Remington 115 grain and browning 124 grain - both brass cases FMJ). Tried the same mags and ammo in my Wilson CENTAC and had no issues.

The gun did shoot POA/POI and was accurate as you would expect for a commercial Beretta.

Field stripped the gun but nothing is really jumping out as being out of order.

The gun is going back to either the dealer or Beretta (or both) but I’m curious to hear PF’s thoughts on the potential causes?

I may try it tomorrow with some 15 round mags and different ammo.

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Interested in thoughts of others. It sounds like something is slowing down the slide velocity?

Lubrication?
Burr or something inside Gun?
Recoil spring?

Ok, so I cleaned and relubed the gun. First thing I noticed was the takedown was “funny.” When the offside button is pressed and the takedown lever is rotated it will move all the way down to the 6 o’clock position but then pop back up to the 5 o’clock. When the slide is released it does not come off or go forward as normal. It stays in place until the takedown lever is rotated from 5 o’clock to the full 6 o’clock position.

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Extractor tension seems ok. Recoil spring seems fine. The gun appeard to have had few if any rounds through it so the wear on the interior locking surfaces is incongruous with the condition of the rest of the gun.

There are no actual burrs but the area of the frame where the barrel barrel feet and locking blocks contact the frame has unusual wear patterns and sharp edges on both the frame and one side of the takedown lever. In particular the pocket for the locking block just ahead of the trigger has extremely sharp edges.

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The left side wear on the interior of the takedown lever:

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Gun is marked as made in Utaky in 2017

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I wish I could be more help but the takedown lever of my 92A1 exhibited similar behavior with no ill effects. The port side rear frame rail also exhibited a higher level of wear than the rest with no negative effects.

I think I'd definitely try a new recoil spring just in case.

I hope you can get it resolved without much hassle. Mine proved very reliable and I'm sure your son will be happy with it.

It looks like a recoil spring issue to me.

So it does seem be a slide friction issue. Lube it up and I bet it will settle in after 500 rounds.

The gun was clean and lube when I got it but I cleaned and lubed it again. I loaded up three 15 round Beretta MP3 coated magazines and 3, 18 round Mec-Gar magazines with Winchester 115 practice Amman’s 115 grain Speer lawman +p. There were no malfunctions but ejection was weak with the standard velocity ammo.

Then I switched back to the Browning’s branded 124 grain FMJ. I’ve shot several hundred rounds of this ammo through blocks and SIG P320’s without issue. However the first batch of this ammo I shot was head stamped with the browning deer logo, this batch is marked “USA.”

I had a weird malfunction where around fired but did not cycle extract or eject. I thought it might be a squib but a check of the boar showed no obstruction. A couple of mags later I had the same malfunction but got a face full of gas. When I took a magnified photo of the brass case I noticed that there was a pierced primer. I looked at some of the other brass from the Beretta and it seemed to show some cratering. At this point I have fired probably hundreds of thousands of pistol rounds and seen an equal number fired and I’ve never seen a pair of primer on a handgun around before.
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Vs other brass from the sane gun/ammo

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I went through 92 LE armorer school in '99, so my info is a little dated. I did take care of about 35 of them for a few years. For the amount of rounds you estimate it's fired, that wear pattern is not normal. We saw wear like that, but symmetrical, not just on one side or rail, and it was guns that had 15-20k rounds on them. I would send it to Beretta and let them sort it out. I understand their customer service is pretty good.

@LangdonTactical @e_stern

The takedown lever behaviour is normal.


The other stuff is not... what does it do with the Speer exactly?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by e_stern

The takedown lever behaviour is normal.


The other stuff is not... what does it do with the Speer exactly?

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It ran with the Speer +p but that was after I cleaned and re-lubed it. It was also with 15 round mags.

My dealer had a second used 92a1 in stock and swapped out the gun. I’ll test the replacement tomorrow.

The behavior of the takedown lever is normal for a 92A1. The cratered look of the primer is totally normal for a 92. Everyone I have does that, but the pierced primer is something else. You might try a new recoil spring if you haven't all ready. The gun looks like it may have some timing issues. Perhaps a new firing pin spring too.

Ran the replacement gun today with all the aforementioned mag types and ammo. No issues. This one’s going under the tree.

Pro- this gun seems to have better extractor tension. Con- the trigger out of the box isn’t as nice as the first one but I have a spare D spring and TJIAB makes a nice birthday present.

Thanks for all the replies.

Sounds like you've got it sorted out. My only suggestion, since it was not mentioned before, would be to remove the extractor and clean out underneath it. I learned that from someone on this site, and my son's used 92F had a lot of gunk in there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCM

Ok, so I cleaned and relubed the gun. First thing I noticed was the takedown was “funny.” When the offside button is pressed and the takedown lever is rotated it will move all the way down to the 6 o’clock position but then pop back up to the 5 o’clock. When the slide is released it does not come off or go forward as normal. It stays in place until the takedown lever is rotated from 5 o’clock to the full 6 o’clock position.

Attachment 46204

Attachment 46205

Extractor tension seems ok. Recoil spring seems fine. The gun appeard to have had few if any rounds through it so the wear on the interior locking surfaces is incongruous with the condition of the rest of the gun.

There are no actual burrs but the area of the frame where the barrel barrel feet and locking blocks contact the frame has unusual wear patterns and sharp edges on both the frame and one side of the takedown lever. In particular the pocket for the locking block just ahead of the trigger has extremely sharp edges.

Attachment 46206

Attachment 46208

Attachment 46207

Attachment 46209

Attachment 46210

Attachment 46212

The left side wear on the interior of the takedown lever:

Attachment 46211

Gun is marked as made in Utaky in 2017

Attachment 46213

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As I like to say, that gun is dry as a popcorn fart. I would bet if you lubed it properly, frame rails, locking block and barrel rails in the frame it would run just fine. It is an all-metal gun and it needs lubrication.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LangdonTactical

As I like to say, that gun is dry as a popcorn fart. I would bet if you lubed it properly, frame rails, locking block and barrel rails in the frame it would run just fine. It is an all-metal gun and it needs lubrication.

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As noted, the gun was lightly lubed when I got it. The photos were after cleaning and before re-lubing to best show the wear pattern.

Regardless, lube doesn’t account for the pierced primers.

If the gun was for me I might have messed around with it longer. The replacement 92A1 is running fine with the same mags and ammunition types.

I chose this gun over the other used 92a1 because the trigger pull was nicer but a TJIAB will make a nice birthday present.