Читать книгу Gun Digest Book of Beretta Pistols. Function | Accuracy | Performance онлайн

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The evolution of the Model 92 took place quickly, and of necessity as it faced the most modern high-tech handguns the free world had to offer. Gene Gangarosa, Jr. is a handgun authority who has written an eminently readable book on Beretta pistols, and several great articles. He encapsulated the 92’s development as follows.

“In 1976 Beretta introduced their 9mm Model 92 pistol. It made a big hit worldwide with its 15-round magazine and double-action trigger. In its first version the Model 92 featured a sear-blocking manual safety lever located on the frame’s left side in the manner of a Colt Government Model. Later that year, to appeal to military and police forces, Beretta introduced its Model 92S, a Model 92 with a hammer-decocking manual safety lever on the left side of the slide. An upgraded variant of the Model 92S, the Model 92S-1, appeared in 1978 in response to U.S. armed forces interest in issuing a 9mm service pistol. This added an ambidextrous safety lever, enlarged sights and grooved grip straps to the Model 92S, and placed the magazine release behind the trigger guard. Beretta placed the Model 92S-1 changes into full production in late 1980 when the company introduced the Model 92SB. In addition to all the improvements of the prototypical S-1 variant, the SB version also incorporated fully checkered grips, safety levers reshaped to the current configuration, an overtravel shelf on the trigger and a firing-pin lock. Further changes made to the Model 92SB, in response to continued U.S. armed forces testing, led to the Model 92SB-F, evaluated by the U.S. Army in 1984 and adopted in January 1985 as the M9. Beretta also released this variant for commercial sale and police issue as the Model 92F. Changes included a black enamel ‘Bruniton’ finish, squared combat-style trigger guard, chrome-lined bore, slight flaring of the frame’s bottom front portion, fourth-finger rest on the magazine bottom, relieving the grips’ upper rear corners to allow easier access to the safety lever, and enlarging the grips screws’ screwdriver slots. In 1990, following several slide separation incidents in the U.S. armed forces’ training and experimentation, Beretta incorporated a ‘slide retention device.’ This quick fix consists of an enlarged hammer axis pin, which, if the slide’s rear end separates during recoil, engages in a groove machined inside the slide’s lower left rear portion to keep the slide on the frame. With the slide retention device fitted, Beretta designated the pistol Model 92FS, advancing the gun to its current configuration.” ⁽⁷⁾