Two hundred fifty years before the frisky American Patriots launched the Revolutionary War, Maestro Bartolomeo Beretta was making gun barrels for the Arsenal of Venice. Beretta’s first bill of sale dates back to 1526, making it the oldest gun company in the world and one of the oldest continuously operated companies in history. The Beretta family has continuously controlled the company throughout its existence. One thing that Beretta is known for is redesigning and improvements to existing guns. They are quick to refine the classics. It is this company characteristic that gave birth to a handgun that hit my “Oh, hell yeah” button. This future new addition to my collection is the Beretta 92X Performance. With that, I humbly offer – The Beretta 92X Performance Handgun – A Classic Refined.

The Beretta 92X Performance Handgun – A Classic Refined

To many, a casual glance at the 92X will register as a version of one of the most popular pistols of all time. The general design holds across many versions, including the M9, which saw service in the US Military for decades. I see this same gun in the holsters of LE and the military around the world as I travel. However, even a casual glance will make you double-take. There is something different about this gun; it took a second to register.

This is not the same 92 that sits in holsters and safes around the world.  This mechanical wonder is a high-speed competition gun created to satisfy two requirements: speed and accuracy. The 92X is a heavier, all-steel handgun built to serve those in the competition realm. It is far from an exclusive in that field, as pretty much any serious shooter will probably want one. Design-wise, the gun has a thicker and wider Brigadier slide than most are accustomed to with the M9.

A Steel Frame

The Vertec steel frame and the Brigadier slide take the weight of the 92X Performance to 2.9 pounds, which increases the pistol’s stability and reduces muzzle rise when shooting. It comes with forward cocking serrations as well as a fiber optic front sight and a rear sight that is fully adjustable for windage and elevation.

Other excellent features include an extended beavertail and complete rear checkering, which can also be found on the front of the frame. This design feature improves the pistol’s handling as well as its grip. I found it to be a great balance, and the gun felt solid in my hands. The 92X has a raised frame profile near the magazine release that enables the shooter’s hand to sit as high as possible on the hilt, which itself is also oversized to allow a deeper hold.

Fantastic Design

Once again, everything about the design is built around enabling the shooter to run this gun very fast. The magazine release is oversized and reversible, and an adjustable version is available aftermarket. The safety on the frame is ambidextrous and is available in three different size profiles making it adaptable to various hand types and different IPSC divisions.

The trigger is something that really stood out to me. They have included their new Extreme-S trigger mechanism, the best trigger I have experienced in a Beretta pistol. You are even able to regulate the pre-travel and extra travel via two screws located inside the frame, next to the upper section of the magazine well.

Fast Shooting Gun

An area that is a central focus in competition shooting is cycle time. A gun can be dead-on accurate, but if it is slow or pokey to cycle, it will not be in competition circles for long. Beretta has included a skeletonized hammer with a competition standard hammer spring to keep this in the fast gun category.

The Extreme-S trigger mechanism serves the main purpose of keeping the striker automatic safety latch active, but it also decreases trigger reset by up to 40%. This can cause some seriously fast split times.

Something that really caught my eye was the “Match” take-down lever. This is a fantastic redesign of a common everyday gun part that turns out to be brilliant. It has been redesigned to ensure a precise reference point for the second hand. The lever has quickly gained the nickname “gas pedal,” but I doubt it will be the standard Beretta nomenclature.

The slide lock is a low-profile design and is described by Beretta as a “stealth lever” type.  In a nutshell, they keep it out of the way. It has a frame safety as well as a drop safety. The trigger press on the double action hovers around six pounds, with the single action around three pounds.

Of course, looks matter, and the 92X is a sexy blaster. It has an appealing and refined dual tone look, obtained by using a Nistan finish to treat the frame surface and slide with the contrast provided by the black burnished barrel. It’s easy to clean and looks very nice to boot.

A Real World Test Drive

Since the gun has the word “Performance” in it, I thought it would be a good idea to give it a spin. My first trigger time on it came at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous in Driggs, Idaho. This three-day event brought some of Athlon’s busiest contributors together with a great group of manufacturers.

Beretta was present, and I quickly made my way to them. While they had some great guns to try and discuss, the 92X had my attention long before I woke up that cold October morning. The team on site was kind enough to give me a firsthand breakdown of the gun and quickly got it loaded up so I could shoot it.

First impressions matter, and mine were all positive. I have shot more than my fair share of Beretta 92 models over the years and even taught a class on shooting it. I know the 92, and you, Mr. 92X, are no 92. What I mean by that is that while it has the same classic design and look, there is a great deal that is different about this gun. It is heavier, which makes it much smoother to shoot.

The bigger Brigadier slide and the steel frame sucked up the recoil, which, in turn, allowed me to stay on target more. We were running Hornady 115gr critical defense, and the gun was still showing little signs of jumping. The second thing I was taken with was the trigger. While it had a SA/DA press, it was very smooth. More importantly, though, the reset was super short. The byproduct of a short reset is quicker follow-up shots and much less opportunity to mess up your shot with a long trigger press.

East to Acquire Sights

This model’s mag release is oversized and nicely textured to facilitate quick mag changes. The fiber optic front sight is a welcomed addition to the gun as my “older than 25” eyes could easily pick it up. The rear site is blacked out, which is a feature I like. It is described as a “micrometric notched-bar rear sight dovetailed into the slide.” What this means is that the gun can be seriously zeroed to a specific shooter.

The 92X Performance in the Wild

The Rendezvous had a range with an almost silly amount of steel spread everywhere. I focused on a 10-inch plate set at about 20 yards and began to quickly turn it from spray paint white to lead grey as the rounds stacked on top of each other quickly. After pushing mag after mag through the gun and speeding up my trigger press each time, I came to a conclusion. This gun was faster than I was. I was running it fast, but I could almost feel the gun yawn because it is capable of much greater speed without losing accuracy.

It was then that the steel at 125 yards began to call my name. After three shots to walk myself in, I easily dropped the next eight on the 24-inch target. I would like to credit my masterful shooting skills, but the gun’s stability and accuracy allowed me to get the hits.  This little dance between close and far steel continued for some time. I walked away from the Beretta booth with a grin, yet I was still half-cursed because a new gun would be added to my must-have list.

First, a disclaimer. I am not a competition shooter. What I am, however, is a defensive handgun instructor who appreciates speed and accuracy. That is exactly what the Beretta 92X brings to the plate. If you are looking for a go-fast gun for competition, personal protection, or even just fun on the range, you need to take a serious look at the 92X!

For More Information Visit: Beretta.com.

Beretta 92X Performance Specs