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Thread: The Achilles' heel of the Beretta (Broken locking block)

  1. #51
    Hokey / Ancient JAD's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    Kansas City
    Quote Originally Posted by azerious View Post
    . I see this as standard maintenance. .
    Is the number of cycles before a significant risk of failure predictable?
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  2. #52
    Member
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    Nov 2012
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    Republic of Texas
    Are those tool marks on the surface of the radius cut or peening from use?



    I'm no engineer but if those are tool marks, wouldn't that be a stress riser vs. a smooth finish? It kind of defeats the purpose of putting a radius there, doesn't it?
    Dave Berryhill

  3. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Berryhill View Post
    Are those tool marks on the surface of the radius cut or peening from use?



    I'm no engineer but if those are tool marks, wouldn't that be a stress riser vs. a smooth finish? It kind of defeats the purpose of putting a radius there, doesn't it?

    Here's some photos of the locking block on my 2012 vintage 92FS at near 2400 rounds of wear .The resolution's not the best, but hopefully this helps out .









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  4. #54
    Member
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    Feb 2011
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    The Sierras
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Riehl View Post
    Any chance I could get one of the broken blocks? I'd happily pay for it.

    And I'd love to take a look at the slide.
    Hi,

    I don't mind sending you one of the broken blocks, either the cracked one or the one that actually sheered, whichever one you want is fine.

    However, the slide is a little tricky since I'm using this gun on a regular basis as my primary training gun. Therefore, I wouldn't want to be without the slide for several weeks.

    P.M. me your mailing address and I'll get whatever block you want out to you if you think it's useful even though you don't have the slide. Let me know what you'd like to do.

    God bless,
    David

  5. #55
    If a locking block failed when firing, can you get hurt? I guess they all fail when firing the last shot before failure. What does the pistol do in your hands when one side fails?

  6. #56
    Vending Machine Operator
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    Nov 2014
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    Rocky Mtn. West
    I'm no expert, but I don't think the likelihood of injury is very high. Most of the locking block is down in the guts of the pistol with only the two "wings" exposed to the air. I think if a block breaks it just locks the gun up.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rmiked View Post
    If a locking block failed when firing, can you get hurt? I guess they all fail when firing the last shot before failure. What does the pistol do in your hands when one side fails?
    State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan

  7. #57
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    Dec 2011
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    Dunedin, FL, USA
    When the block breaks, it could damage the slide. I have never heard of an injury from a block failure, but more than one slide has been damaged enough to be un-serviceable upon locking block failure.

  8. #58
    I see the locking block as a maintenance issue only. Like the recoil spring, it has a finite life. If a block can last 20,000 rounds, would the barrel chamber and rifling grooves also be worn out? Beretta sells a barrel assembly including locking block, plunger and pin completely assembled for $129. I am new to pistols but for example a 300 Win Mag rifle might start showing group sizes opening up (throat erosion in chamber) at 1500 rounds depending on quality of barrel and how "hot" loads are. It is common for shooters to replace barrels. Many of you know this. Is this phenomenon applicable to semi auto pistols? Being a rookie with pistols I would guess that the chambers are not as tight to allow for fast cycling. However, after seeing a high quality AR platform (e.g. GA Precision GAP 10) shoot 0.5-0.75 MOA, I understand amazing precision is not necessarily mutually exclusive with fast cycling in semi auto platform. I have digressed here but the maintenance issue has me wondering IF the barrrel would need replacement by the time the locking block would (20,000 rounds). My point about Beretta 92 series pistols is I think the design is amazing, reliable, and effective. I see the locking block as just maintenance.

  9. #59
    My understanding is that a Beretta barrel will normally last for well over 20,000 rounds and the newer locking blocks are lasting much longer than the older ones. Since most pistols fire far fewer that 20,000 rounds in their lives, there should be no problem.

    However, for high-round count guns, what you say makes sense--particularly if they are used for more than training purposes.

  10. #60
    Member Scal's Avatar
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    Feb 2015
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    The 404
    So looking elsewhere on the web, I see that Chris Bartocci, who is a Beretta Armorer and SAR writer mentioned an endurance test that he shot with an M9. One thing that came up on the endurance test write up is that pitting on the locking block will be visible before cracking, and in the case of the endurance test, that was approximately 4000 rounds prior to failure. The pitting indicates a need to replace the block. I do see pitting on the pictures of the blocks that David B showed, but I am not sure that is precisely what Mr. Bartocci mentioned. Does anyone here know specifically what and where you need to inspect to detect this?

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