The Beretta 92 is one of the most iconic and popular 9mms in history. Its very easily recognizable and hundreds of thousands of them have been built over the years. In fact, by now, were probably talking millions of them in one variation or another. Despite how common they are today, despite all the roles the pistol has played in the military and law enforcement around the world, and even despite all the movie appearances the pistol has made, it all had to start somewhere. That somewhere was in Italy circa the mid 1970's.

By 1975, the Beretta 92 design had been worked on for a few years and was now ready for production. The first production Beretta 92 pistols rolled off the assembly line in the May of 1976 and continued for a several years before the 92S was introduced with the new slide mounted decocker. During that time, approximately 52,000 copies of the original 92 were produced. Of those 52,000, the first 5000 or so of them were of the original slide design, which featured an extra step down at about the mid point. The step slide model, as it eventually became to be known, was only produced from the spring of 1976 to early 1977, so possibly less than a full year. That makes these early versions very difficult to find and they tend to bring extra money once they are found. As with anything, it was cheaper and faster to manufacture the slide without the extra step, so it was dropped quickly. I honestly like the overall look of the straight slab slide better. However, Im all about rare features, so I think this is damn cool. Furthermore, it does make the front of the slide a bit slimmer and it also makes the final step down towards the muzzle less pronounced. Not surprisingly, weight is slightly less with the reduced thickness.

What we have here is one of the last step slide models produced. The date code is AC for 1977 and the serial number is 04697. Condition is not perfect, but not bad either. The aluminum frame and steel slide have their share of minor dings, scratches, and handling marks, but certainly nothing bad. The original black plastic grips are in nice condition and there is no bluing loss or holster wear. Quite frankly, for a 40+ year old service pistol, it looks great.

You will certainly notice some differences between this pistol and the garden variety Berretta 92FS or M9 today. The biggest difference is the presence of a slide mounted safety. The original design was meant to be carried cocked and locked. As mentioned above, this changed with the next variation, the 92S. Second, you will notice the mag release is located at the bottom of the grip rather than by the trigger guard, which is common with European pistols. That wasnt changed until the 92SB came along in the early 1980s. Third is the sights. They were very small and had no white dots. This also changed with the introduction of the 92SB. Fourth is the smooth front and back strap. Once again, the serrations began with the introduction of the 92SB. Youll also notice the rounded trigger guard and the blued finish. These two features stayed with the Beretta 92 up until the 92F was introduced in the mid to late 1980s. They then went to the more durable but less pretty Bruniton finish and a squared off trigger guard. I guess you could say the 92F was the first tactical 92. Finally, Ill mention the grip frame. You may notice that it just points straight down near the bottom. Once the 92F came along, the grip frame started curving in towards the front of the gun and the standard magazines had a thicker baseplate.

Ill talk about the grips for a minute, as Beretta 92 grips changed quite a bit over time. These plain looking black grips are the originals. Later, the original 92 had smooth wood grips. Beretta went back to black plastic with the introduction of the 92S. However, the plastic grips then had the Beretta logo on them. Once the 92SB was introduced, Beretta returned to wood, but they were very nicely checkered with the Beretta medallions. Wood grips were pretty much standard equipment up until and during 92FS production. Strangely enough, Beretta is now back to black plastic again. All that being said, the original 92 grips were just plain ugly black checkered plastic with no logos. As I mentioned, these are in real nice shape.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy the pics and share your thoughts.
























Here it is with my 1978 model. Gone is the step slide...

Beretta should have stuck with the frame mounted safety.

Was the Taurus offering, with the frame mounted safety, harking back to an original Beretta or something of their own design?

Nice. A friend of mine picked up a 92S from some online dealer in Ohio earlier this year. We went to the range one day and shot it against my M9A1, and the 92S gives up very little to the newer guns. The biggest difference is of course the location of the mag release, other than that it's really just differences in sights and checkering. His old gun shot just as well as my almost new one, and never hiccupped once.

Ugh, I am trying so hard not to get back into Beretta's, but everywhere I turn there they are. I wish I had never traded the ones I had, man, I miss them. The new Langdon tactical is really calling me. Beautiful gun and pictures, thank you for sharing!

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Beretta should have stuck with the frame mounted safety.

Was the Taurus offering, with the frame mounted safety, harking back to an original Beretta or something of their own design?

The PT92 was a copy of the Beretta 92...

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Beretta should have stuck with the frame mounted safety.

Was the Taurus offering, with the frame mounted safety, harking back to an original Beretta or something of their own design?

They didn't have a choice. The Army required a way to safely decock the pistol so they ended up with the 92F and 92FS.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Beretta should have stuck with the frame mounted safety.

Was the Taurus offering, with the frame mounted safety, harking back to an original Beretta or something of their own design?

They didn't have a choice. The Army required a way to safely decock the pistol so they ended up with the 92F and 92FS.

Not exactly how it went down. The Army did require that, but Beretta had abandoned the safety long before the army trials.

The Italian Police wanted a decocker, hence the 92S being released in the late 70’s that has just recently become popular here due to cheap surplus pistols being imported. The safety was dropped two models prior to the 92F.

Only the original 92 has the safety (other than a few specialty pistols, like the Steel I and Combat, of course).

quote:

Originally posted by bac1023:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Beretta should have stuck with the frame mounted safety.

Was the Taurus offering, with the frame mounted safety, harking back to an original Beretta or something of their own design?

The PT92 was a copy of the Beretta 92...

It was; the models I was seeing at the time differentiated the 92FS from the PT92, at least casually, with the frame mounted safety on the Taurus. The mechanical blockage of the firing pin with the slide mounted safety made sense, but the frame mounted safety was more intuitive, ala 1911.

Its also important to point out that the original example posted is an early "step-slide". Awesome pair, as usual!

Nice, thanks for the history and photos!

With this info, my idea of a perfect 92 would be a step slide with G model decocker and rounded trigger guard frame, modern dovetail sights sent to Langdon for action work.

Oh well, perhaps a 92Elite LTT will be in my future at least.

Very nice Beretta! I had a polished blue “SB” that was similar. I still regret selling it 20 years later.

Great write up and what a fantastic pistol! Thanks for sharing. I've been all over on Beretta's lately. I wasn't a fan in the 90s, until the Vertec came along. It went away.... then I put a standard 92fs back in the safe just because. A while back I picked up a Wilson 92G Brigadier and love it! I'm thinking the newer M9A3 might be in my future....not sure why, certainly don't need it...but there's just something that keeps drawing me back...

Bac1023, you didn't by chance sell a Beretta Steel 1 recently, did you?

I fought the impulse to get an "S", and maybe I shouldn't have..

Thanks for posting. Here is my 92SB type m

Nice looking pistols and your collection never ceases to amaze. It would have been nice for Beretta to make a 92 with the safety/decocker on the frame as Taurus did. I don't know the longevity/ruggedness of the Taurus design but it would be a neat set up on a Beretta.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
I fought the impulse to get an "S", and maybe I shouldn't have..

Just saw one sell on gunbroker the other day. It was not a trade in. Like new with box. Very nice. I purchased one of the trade ins from aimsurplus last year. Pretty happy with it, especially for something like $275.

I’ve always loved the look of the 92. Probably something to do with seeing it in movies and TV shows. I keep telling myself no but I have a feeling one day I’ll see a deal on one and it’ll follow me home.

My circa 2000 92fs is my favorite handgun that I own and the last personal possession I would ever part with.

Love it. Beautiful pistols you have there.

I too prefer a frame-mounted safety.