Langdon Tactical Beretta 92XI Squalo: The Ultimate Pistol Upgrade

I am so excited I got private one-on-one time with the Langdon Tactical Beretta 92XI Squalo pistol. I first tried this gun this year at The Gathering at Clinton House Plantation and knew I wanted to spend more time shooting it. If you don’t know about Langdon Tactical , this business is run by Ernest and Aimee Langdon. The company upgrades factory guns with a better fit and finish and optimizes all the components that mass production and assembly can’t reproduce.

The Langdon Tactical Beretta 92XI Squalo

Ernest’s background is quite impressive. He spent 12 years in the Marine Corps, is a California POST-certified firearms instructor, and graduated from 40 formal shooting schools and four anti-terrorism schools. He is also a Grand Master in USPSA and a Distinguished Master in IDPA .

Very few firearm companies are owned and operated by people who compete, let alone have high classifications in shooting sports. As a fellow competitive shooter, I know what it takes to get these classifications. So, I have mad respect for anyone in the gun industry who tries their hand at competitive shooting.

Aimee has bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is a global business professional with over 18 years of experience in professional business development, sales, and marketing. She is also a four-time first-place winner of the Women’s Elite Tactical Games division and second in Tactical Games Nationals.

Their backgrounds and proven shooting skills, I think, speak volumes about their brand and products.

92XI Squalo

The 92XI Squalo is a Beretta 92 variant pistol designed for competition. It’s a single-action pistol equipped with the X-treme S single-action and flat-faced trigger and a pre-installed fiber optic front sight. It is also red dot compatible with the Beretta MRDS mounting system, which is specific to the 90 series slides.

Hogue exclusively designed the texturized grip for better grip control, adding some extra style to the gun. The gun comes outfitted with the Toni Systems flared mag well and the +4 base pad extensions installed on three Mec-Gar 18-round magazines. These base pads are USPSA legal for specific divisions' 140mm length requirement.

The extended “gas pedal” takedown lever is my favorite subtle feature on this pistol. I have medium-sized hands and can easily find my perfect grip with my support hand thumb riding on that takedown lever rest. There is also an oversized, adjustable, reversible magazine release. As a result, shooters can customize the orientation and set it up for a left-handed shooter.

A three-slot Picatinny rail on the frame allows you to mount your weapon light of choice. For example, the Surefire X300 Ultra and Streamlight TLR-1 fit well with this full-size gun. The Surefire extends slightly past the muzzle, while the Streamlight sits right behind the muzzle.

While this gun is competition-ready out of the box, Langdon Tactical tunes the factory Squalo to perfection—like improving a workhorse into a racehorse.

The Langdon Tactical Technology Difference

The Langdon Tactical Technology trigger job takes the Squalo to the most elite level. If you’ve competed for a while and are used to one specific kind of trigger—a tuned trigger or a lighter trigger pull—you can feel the difference between the factory Beretta and the LTT Beretta.

The trigger job includes a match hammer, an optimized performance trigger bar, and an 11-pound chrome silicon hammer spring that’ll last tens of thousands of rounds. LTT also includes a 12-pound hammer spring to tune the gun to your ammunition. What all of this means is the trigger has a short pre-travel and a shorter reset.

The single-action trigger feels much smoother compared to the factory trigger. Most competition shooters eventually modify the trigger in their competition gun, as factory triggers aren’t as crisp or clean to pull or fast to reset. If you get a chance to demo the Langdon Tactical pistol, take the opportunity to feel the trigger job—even if it’s just in dry fire.

Enhancing the Accuracy of the 92XI Squalo

While the 92XI Squalo comes red dot ready from Beretta, Langdon Tactical also improves upon this. The company’s Patented LOW RDO red dot mounting system mounts a Trijicon SRO 0.85 inches lower than the factory mount. The lower position of the red dot makes the gun more shootable with a more natural point of aim.

For example, if you’re used to iron sights and move to a high-mounted red dot optic, you will have to lower the gun to find the red dot compared to where you would naturally line up the iron sights.

When ordering the Squalo, you can choose an RMR cut with back-up iron sights or an EPS cut with low back-up iron sights.

Langdon Tactical also adds a stainless elite barrel for match accuracy (with high-quality ammunition). The company cerakotes the slide black to add more longevity and protective qualities to it.

Finally, Langdon Tactical installs a steel guide rod to add non-reciprocating mass to reduce muzzle rise and decrease felt recoil. All of this is to say that this gun shoots flat, is accurate with good-quality ammo, and has excellent ergonomics.

Holosun 507Comp

There are many red dot optics geared toward competition shooting that would pair well with the Langdon Tactical Squalo pistol. The RMR footprint is popular. So, as long as your optic of choice is designed with this footprint, it will be compatible with the RMR cut gun.

I mounted the Holosun 507Comp optic to my test & evaluation pistol. It has a large 1.1-inch x 0.87-inch objective lens for enhanced shooting performance and Holosun’s new Competition Reticle System (CRS).

The CRS is a multi-reticle system with four components: a precision 2MOA dot, an 8MOA circle, a 20MOA circle, and a 32MOA circle. It also has multiple combination settings to suit individual shooter preferences.

For more information, please visit Holosun.com.

Holstering the 92XI Squalo Pistol

Competition holsters should fit the sport and division you intend to shoot. For example, a hooded or level III retention holster is recommended for 3 Gun shooting. Similarly, a race holster might give you the fastest draw time for shooting Steel Challenge in the Open division. For USPSA, IDPA, or Steel Challenge, I recommend the Race Outside the Waistband Holster from ANR Kydex Holsters.

I used the QLS mounting system for my Safariland ELS belt. But it comes with the RTI hanger to set it up to your belt and chosen sport. IDPA has specific rules that do not allow an inner belt to be used.

This holster is molded specifically for the Beretta 92FS model pistols and is optic cut for no interference from your red dot optic. ANR Design holsters also come suppressor sight ready up to 0.45 inches tall.

The grey Kydex color matched the gun and grip colors well. However, there are many color options to choose from when building your holster.

Does the Quality of Ammunition Matter?

The 92XI Squalo by Langdon Tactical is a competition gun that deserves to be shot with competition ammunition. Therefore, I tested 115-grain to 150-grain competition ammunition that people might find in stores or buy in bulk online.

While I like Blazer ammunition for budget practice ammo, it isn’t my first choice for someone to compete with. What is most surprising to me is that the Blazer 115-grain 9mm performed the second best compared to match-grade ammunition.

The Federal Gold Medal Action Pistol ammo is match-grade and performed the best out of the Squalo. If you plan to use this ammo for USPSA, the power factor is right at 126, with the minimum requirement being 125.

The softest shooting ammo was the Syntech Action Pistol ammo and cleared power factor, coming in at 131. This ammo and the Fiocchi were similar in accuracy. The Super Vel 124 grain was right in the sweet spot for velocity and shot a 129 power factor.

It will be difficult to send this gun back to Langdon Tactical. The trigger job is among the best three triggers I’ve felt, like how well my single-action double stack 1911 feels.

If you already have a Beretta 92XI Squalo at home and are reading this, you should be shipping your gun to Langdon Tactical right now. It is the best upgrade you can make.

For more information, please visit LangdonTactical.com .

Langdon Tactical Technology Beretta 92XI Squalo Specs

Caliber 9mm Action Single action only Firing Mechanism Hammer-fired Barrel Length 4.7 inches Overall Height 5.4 inches Overall Width 1.5 inches Overall Length 8.5 inches Weight Unloaded 33.3 ounces Capacity 22 rounds (18-round magazines with +4 Toni Systems base pads) Sights LTT Patented Low RDO with co-witness/suppressor height sights Slide Black Cerakote Slide Guide Rod Steel Guide Rod Mag Well Toni Systems Flared Mag well MSRP $1,899.00

Optional Add-Ons: Barrel Porting: $95.00 Cut & Crown Barrel: $70.00-$115.00

Performance

Ammunition Average Velocity (5 Shot Average using the Garmin Chronograph) in Feet Per Second Accuracy (5 Shot Group 15 Yards) in Inches Federal 150 grain Syntech Action Pistol TSJ 877 2.00 Blazer 115 grain FMJ 1135 1.50 Federal 147 grain Gold Medal Action Pistol FMJ 859 0.75 Fiocchi 124 grain Range Dynamics FMJ 1088 1.75 Super Vel 124 grain FMJ 1041 3.75

Note: I didn’t count the round I 100% flinched on under the group I shot with the Federal 147 grain ammo. That was all me.

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