Thank you, sir. My apologies for running my internet pie-hole when I should have kept it zipped.
Thank you, sir. My apologies for running my internet pie-hole when I should have kept it zipped.
I've periodically run a 96G top end on an old 92, and while I probably won't ever put enough .40 through it to really prove anything, I've used a 14# recoil spring, and a stock "F" mainspring (vs the "D" spring I normally like), to try to reduce wear on the frame. The gun ran well in that configuration, although IIRC I never used it with anything other than 180-gr loads.
Based on what BLR has posted in the past, I think using up as much energy as possible cocking the hammer would have to be a good thing on a 96.
Dave: Could you spell out a bit more why you think a D spring would accelerate wear? I don't quite follow the point--is it that the mainspring is going to slow down recoil?
Not Dave but, Yes. The heavier F spring will slow down the slide as it comes back and cocks the hammer like a flat bottom firing pin stop in a 1911. The more energy it takes to cock the hammer, the less energy is left when the slide nose box hits the frame.Originally Posted by Jeep
With the 9mm, the D spring is fine, but having gone through three 96D Brigadiers in a five year period I can understand why the 96A1 with its recoil buffer system is the only 96 in current production.
To the OP, $450 is a very good price for an Elite, you might want to consider dropping in a 9mm barrel. It should fit and function just fine.
This is the best advice you're likely to get on this issue. Your 96 won't spontaneously explode on you after a box of rounds, but it won't have anything remotely approaching the service life of the 92, there's no getting around that. Since you don't know the history of the pistol, the best thing you can do is change out every spring in it and replace at regular intervals as needed. If you handload, using lighter loads for range practice would be a good idea. I'm not a user of the ShokBuff, but it probably wouldn't hurt in the 96.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
HCM and worked in the same agency, but my 96D ran like a champ. I put 2500-3000 rounds through it at FLETC, quaked with and shot it often, ran it through Instructors school and several other schools. Probably 7 to 8k with no breakages or problems. I had over 200 96Ds to perform preventive maintenance on. I changed one broken extractor, and a few trigger return springs (we eventually replaced all trigger return springs with a wolf captured plunger spring), and one trigger bar spring in about 3 years.
That is not to discount HCMs experience. I know a Border Patrol Armorer who said they had a lot of cracked frames at his station. The 96 will wear out faster. Just like a Glock 22, the makers shoe horned a more powerful round into a 9mm designed frame. But my office did not have any cracking issues reported. It was a big, heavy gun, with low capacity given its size, but I never felt unsafe carrying it on duty. Would it be my first choice for duty now? Hell no. But it did not stop me from buying a 96D brigadier off a co worker a few weeks back... Nostalgia got me.
I would stick to what you have been told. Buy 4 or 5 recoil springs, I would change them 3-4k rounds. They are $8 apiece. Just swap them out and be done with worrying. Buy the wolf trigger return spring and should last forever. Buy the current generation locking block for $30 and drop it in, and don't worry about it. That's what I did for my 96.
I think your gun will run fine for a while. Will it eventually break? Yep. All guns will eventually break...
And take HCMs advice on a 9mm barrel. I dropped my 92fs barrel in my 96d gun, and it ran flawlessly with 9mm mags.
“A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” - Shane
Just to add, I never had a malfunction with any of the three issue guns - all were parts breakages including one trigger return spring. Some of that was because I actually shot and the dry fired the snot out of those guns.
I am by no means a beretta hater - I shoot them well and have three of them including an Italian made NCHP trade in. They just aren't a good match for the .40 round.
That said I will eventually buy a 96D brigadier for nostalgia myself. I still have all my holsters and no, my old river belt does not fit, thank you very much!
Shelby county TN SO traded in a bunch of them around 2003 or 2004. I tried to buy one at the time but they were not on roster in occupied CA and were being phased out of service so I couldn't get an LEO letter either.
PS- not only will the 9mm barrel drop in, but the 11 round 40 mags will hold 14 rounds of 9mm and function just fine.
Last edited by HCM; 03-01-2015 at 07:02 PM.
This is not helping me stay away from the dirt cheap 96 Vertec at my local gunshop guys...not helping me at all.Just to add, I never had a malfunction with any of the three issue guns - all were parts breakages including one trigger return spring. Some of that was because I actually shot and the dry fired the snot out of those guns.
I am by no means a beretta hater - I shoot them well and have three of them including an Italian made NCHP trade in. They just aren't a good match for the .40 round.
That said I will eventually buy a 96D brigadier for nostalgia myself. I still have all my holsters and no, my old river belt does not fit, thank you very much!
Shelby county TN SO traded in a bunch of them around 2003 or 2004. I tried to buy one at the time but they were not on roster in occupied CA and were being phased out of service so I couldn't get an LEO letter either.
PS- not only will the 9mm barrel drop in, but the 11 round 40 mags will hold 14 rounds of 9mm and function just fine.
One of my 3 is a 92f Vertec, a pawn shop find. Suffice to say after shooting it recently, NickA is, at this very moment scheming to get his his hands on it....
I would not pay serious new gun money for 96, but if I find a deal, I would jump. We had a retired agent pass away. He had two NIB 96D brigadiers in the safe. Serial number show 2003 manufacture. A co worker bought them both from his widow. I traded him a used M&P .40 for a NIB 96D... I think I did well. I can replace the M&P with a used trade in for $350 from buds...
I keep an eye out for police trades from Summit, Cdnn, Buds, etc. Used 96 pop up on occasion for $300.
“A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” - Shane
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