Beretta 92 slides-lighter is better?

[CraigS]

Wife and I have been shooting our EIIs for a long time now. About 5 years ago I started shooting idpa and put together a new M9A1 and I am generally in the middle of the overall results. I see a fair number of the CZ all steel guns and have shot a mag through a couple of them and the weight sure seems to help reduce muzzle rise. I have been thinking about the Beretta 92X Defensive but hard to justify the price. Recently idpa changed rules and now I can shoot w/ a weapon mounted light. So I am ready to try that next month. The extra weight has to help some, and the light is in the perfect place. Then I started thinking what about a Brig slide? Maybe I should go back to my old EII. But overall my impression is that I see more slide lightening for competition than going heavier. Wilson Berettas use a Brig slide but LTT uses a lighter Vertec slide. A Brig slide would make the gun heavier but I am not sure that adding weight to the slide is better. I think the trend is to make the slide lighter so there isn't so much weight moving back and forth. Do any of you have knowledge/thoughts on this question?

[shootist26]

I used to own a Compact L and I always thought it shot much better than my full size 92. The sights tracked noticeably better and I felt the slide cycled faster due to its shorter length and lighter weight. However I sold it for other reasons before I really vetted it in competition/training, so I'm really just going off intuition and feel here

[jbrimlow]

For recoil management, I would follow the maxim that "If it moves, make it lighter, if it doesn't move (much), make it heavier."

So, the following are usually good from a recoil mitigation perspective:
--lightening the slide
--adding a bull barrel
--heavier frame
--weaponlight
etc.

That said, I'm not sure which of the above slide options are going to make a noticeable improvement, mostly because I don't know what the weight difference is and where it's removed from. If the change is noticeable, you may find you prefer the heavier slide (or lighter frame, etc).

Lots of little things can matter if you're a proficient enough shooter to notice. I don't know a better way to find out than get to some testing though.

[Stony Lane]

Weight of 92 slides:
Compact- 11.0 0z.
Regular- 11.7
Vertec- 11.9
Brig. - 12.6
92XP Brig.- 12.7
LTT RDO (SRO) - 13.1

I can't tell much difference when shooting, maybe others can.
Ammo selection is much more of a factor than slide weight.

[CraigS]

Thanks guys. This is good info. This makes lots of sense to my brain,
"jbrimlow said For recoil management, I would follow the maxim that "If it moves, make it lighter, if it doesn't move (much), make it heavier."
Stony's weight chart is interesting.
Weight of 92 slides:
Compact- 11.0 0z.
Regular- 11.7
Vertec- 11.9
Brig. - 12.6
92XP Brig.- 12.7
LTT RDO (SRO) - 13.1
Only .7 oz difference between a Vertec and a Brig. Wife and I did some practicing today. I had put my Crimson Trace light/laser on my M9A1 and she had her EII. I only remembered I wanted to compare them as we were ready to leave. We each had a mag w/ 6 rnds remaining so I did 3 double taps w/ each gun. I think it would take some slow motion video to decide if there is a difference. There is probably more difference depending if I remember to really strengthen my weak hand grip or not, than there is between the two slides. Thanks for your insights.

[Suvorov]

My Elite is a softer shooting gun than my other guns, but I’m only shooting 9mm so it’s not that big of a deal. The slower cycling rate of the slide is also noticeable and it has more of a “shake weight” feel to it (I can sense the slide coming back and going forward) especially with lighter loads. As someone who is balls out at .25 splits I don’t think it will ever be an issue but I imagine some shooters might feel slowed down or not like the cadence.

I would think that a Brigadier slide on a frame with a mounted light would definitely make for a controllable gun and a good match setup. I wouldn’t however like to carry one on my hip for hours on end.

[JCN]

For recoil management, I would follow the maxim that "If it moves, make it lighter, if it doesn't move (much), make it heavier."

I’ll make the counterpoint that Gen 5 Glock 22 (40SW caliber) slides are heavier than 9mm to reduce recoil.

Sig P229 (40SW) slides are also heavier than 9mm slides.

My Shadow 2 with full weight slide was milder recoil than when I had a 2+ oz reduced weight slide.

With that in mind consider that if you have the same power cartridge and one slide is heavier it won’t slam back as quickly…

So paradoxically, by lightening the slide you could make it more violent.

YMMV.

My favorite vision timing to recoil to triggering is 0.15 splits.

Anything faster than that recoil wise doesn’t help me. When I shot an open gun that had 0.12 resonant splits it was too fast for my mechanics and I actually slowed down the slide (larger comp side ports) so I could time it better.

So too fast can be too fast….

[balance]

I’ll make the counterpoint that Gen 5 Glock 22 (40SW caliber) slides are heavier than 9mm to reduce recoil.

I was under the impression that manufacturers sometimes make the .40 slide heavier than the 9mm slide in order to control slide velocity while using the same weight recoil spring.

[GJM]

As I recall, Ernest Langdon told me he came full circle, from thinking the Brig 92 slide was better, to preferring a lighter slide, back to the heavier slide. That was all iron sights, and a dot might change the answer.

[JCN]

I was under the impression that manufacturers sometimes make the .40 slide heavier than the 9mm slide in order to control slide velocity while using the same weight recoil spring.

What is your impression of the difference between your statement and mine?

By the way, the heavier P229 40/357 slide also uses a heavier recoil spring than the lighter slide and spring 9mm.

The P229 is an uncaptured setup which means changing springs is easy. They wouldn’t spend $$ on making a different slide so they could use the same spring costing pennies. And they didn’t do that anyway…

Don’t know about the Gen 5 Glocks.

But a previous gen Glock 22 and 17 used the same spring with the same weight slide (eventually they went stiffer with the 40 RSA) so I wouldn’t necessarily attribute any intelligent design to slide weight and spring. It’s a “maybe” thing.