I recently picked up a new Beretta 92A1 with the intention of swapping out many of the parts with Wilson or Beretta upgrades. My gunsmithing abilities would be on the low end of amateur but after watching a bunch of YouTube videos I was ready to give it a try.
The first change I did was switch to the G conversion/decocker only and made it through this with no problems...good thing Beretta sends an extra spring tough because those little bastages are hard to find when they go flying. I also installed a 16# hammer spring (thought 20# was stock) and got rid of the lanyard and installed a mag guide.
Wilson short reach trigger, hammer, oversize mag release, trigger conversion unit, steel guide rod and a couple of springs will be in today and I'll begin changing those parts out next.
I'll end up spending less than what some of my Sig's cost me and so far it has been fun doing this. I'm hopefully not going to need to do any polishing of surfaces to make parts fit because that is definitely out of my league.

The round WC mag release is notoriously difficult to make fit. I think its out of spec as I've had varying degrees of success making it drop in.

The squarish ones seem to be drop-in.

quote:

Originally posted by PGT:
The round WC mag release is notoriously difficult to make fit. I think its out of spec as I've had varying degrees of success making it drop in.

The squarish ones seem to be drop-in.

Going with the square one. I heard that the round one required trimming of the grip and the WC dark cherry grip is on my to do list.

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Originally posted by joatmonv:
I have a Brigadier that I did a D spring replacement on and it shoots great. Great pull and it's laser accurate.
So here's my question. I would to have the sights replaced, guide rod and a bunch of other things done. Wilson Combat or try to do it myself?
The WC packages look intriguing and getting an action tune would probably be nice.
Thoughts from Beretta shooters appreciated.

Pretty sure I read on the WC site that they will not work on any handgun that has been modified by anyone other than WC...don't know how detailed WC defines that

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Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:

quote:

Originally posted by joatmonv:
I have a Brigadier that I did a D spring replacement on and it shoots great. Great pull and it's laser accurate.
So here's my question. I would to have the sights replaced, guide rod and a bunch of other things done. Wilson Combat or try to do it myself?
The WC packages look intriguing and getting an action tune would probably be nice.
Thoughts from Beretta shooters appreciated.

Pretty sure I read on the WC site that they will not work on any handgun that has been modified by anyone other than WC...don't know how detailed WC defines that

I read that too. Kinda leaning towards Allegheny and maybe I'll just have him put all the parts on and do a tuning on it.
I'm gonna YouTube a few things and see if I can possibly do it myself. May be a little more than I want to tackle.

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:

quote:

Originally posted by PGT:
The round WC mag release is notoriously difficult to make fit. I think its out of spec as I've had varying degrees of success making it drop in.

The squarish ones seem to be drop-in.

Going with the square one. I heard that the round one required trimming of the grip and the WC dark cherry grip is on my to do list.

No, the round one is the easiest to clear grips. The body itself is slightly out of spec I think as I've done a few and they're all a bit oversized and hard to snap back in the frame.

The square ones need grip mods only on Hogue aluminum panels.

Just finished installing the Wilson Combat extended mag release (smooth/with WC logo)and I will say that it is a drop in fit with no modifying grips.
Now....it is a drop in fit when I finally got everything lined up right and I should have paid more attention when removing the old mag release. All you need is a screwdriver to take the grips off but you really need to pay attention to how the little blocks and spring is inserted...the little spring can go flying and no extras supplied so try to have a pretty clear/open area. It really isn't that difficult to do with a little patience.
Next is hammer and trigger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3V4Xa3mh94

If you can detail strip a 226 or 1911 you can work on a Beretta.

Last year I bought a used 92A1 that had been sent to Wilson for one of their packages including frame checking, trigger work and their trigger bar.

Last month I bought an Elite I and decided to work on it myself. I'm not really sure if I saved any money but since I like doing this stuff and it only took a couple of hours I think it was worth it.

My first recommendation is to consider buying or making the proper punches. The main pins in a Beretta are metric and are 1.5, 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter.

You can get away with a 1/16" punch for the 1.5mm pins but 1/16" is slightly larger than 1.5mm and you might end up enlarging a hole you don't want to. Brownells has the proper punches but they aren't cheap ($12 to $15 each, they also sell a set). You can also sand down a 1/16" punch and use that. You will want a hook shaped tool to put the trigger spring back in place. Brownells sells a took for that but I made a tool instead.

A member on a beretta forum took apart his Beretta that had been worked on by Wilson and posted photos of the hammer, sear, and hammer strut. I followed the photos and used Flitz to polish the contact areas. As always, as long as you don't change any angles and don't go crazy you'll be fine. Fitting the Wilson trigger bar took minutes (there are videos by MosinVirus on YouTube that are worth watching). A Dremel would be faster but since I don't own one I did everything by hand.

In terms of trigger pull my 92A1 was good but it was immediately improved, in my opinion, by replacing whatever Wilson put in (a D spring I guess) with a 19lb 1911 mainspring. The Wison trigger bar comes with their 12, 13 and 14lb mainsprings but I prefer the 1911 mainspring to all of them.

Taking apart a Beretta 92 is easy. The hardest parts to reinstall for me were the sear and sear spring and the trigger spring. The sear in particular because I decided not to remove the ejector and that was primarily because I don't have a tool to stake one of the pins in that area of the frame back on. Not a big deal if it isn't restaked, I guess, but I was able to get the sear back in without taking the ejector out. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heKAnIMSwy4 is the only video I've seen that shows restaking the 2 pins. The same video also shows the use of a slave pin to reinstall the trigger and trigger spring. I haven't seen that in any other video and it works well. I made a slave pin out of a dowel.

I did watch several videos more than once before I did any of the work so technically it took quite a bit longer than 2 hours.

I don't have a trigger pull gauge but I think the Elite I did is the equal of the Wilson gun.

The Wilson trigger bar isn't required. I read it causes the hammer to move farther back in the DA trigger pull which can increase reliability with lighter springs (at the cost of a bit heavier trigger pull). Since I shoot IDPA and other matches (and it was already in my 92A1) I decided to use it.

In terms of sights I have replaced many sets myself but these days I prefer to have sights fitted by a pro. I have sent several slides to Springer Precision and their work is great. This time, I sent my slide and sights a member on a beretta forum who is a gunsmith and was recommended there. Even though it's probably not necessary I'm also having the extractor and firing pins springs replaced.

Thanks to piedrarc for fueling my new addiction to Berettas.

cyberiad is definitely spot on in recommending a purchase of proper punches because that is what is used the most for the upgrade installs...you might be able to use a cheap brand for the large punches but the 1.5mm (I used a 1/16")can bend and break off...luckily it didn't break off in the frame.

I finished up the hammer install last night and it was a drop in kind of....I also used a WC Trigger Conversion Unit instead of the trigger spring and the conversion unit/spring was wider than the opening in the trigger so I first used 1000 grit sandpaper on the conversion unit and that was so slow going I finally broke out the Dremel and then used the 1000 grit paper and polishing compound to make it smooth...you don't need to take off much but the conversion unit needs to fit in the trigger slot so that it moves freely or the trigger won't function properly.
The Wilson hammer was next and it took less than 10 minutes to switch and was the easiest mod of them all.
After all is done I would say that none of the modifications are extremely difficult and most people should be able to accomplish them with a little patience and just a few basic tools. My eyesite isn't the greatest for closeup work, my fingers are big, and my patience is not the greatest for this kind of work so if I can accomplish this then just about anyone can.

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Originally posted by cyberiad:


Thanks to piedrarc for fueling my new addiction to Berettas.

Thumbs up!

I ran 103 rounds through my Beretta yesterday and I'm going to remove the Wilson Combat Short Reach Trigger and Trigger Conversion Unit (standard power) and re-install the stock trigger and trigger spring.
Anyone else tried the short reach/skinny triggers and then went back to stock ones?

WC has worked on one my guns and I was very pleased with the communication, professionalism and the work. Will be sending them more - highly recommended.

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Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
I ran 103 rounds through my Beretta yesterday and I'm going to remove the Wilson Combat Short Reach Trigger and Trigger Conversion Unit (standard power) and re-install the stock trigger and trigger spring.
Anyone else tried the short reach/skinny triggers and then went back to stock ones?

Yes, welcome to the club.

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
I ran 103 rounds through my Beretta yesterday and I'm going to remove the Wilson Combat Short Reach Trigger and Trigger Conversion Unit (standard power) and re-install the stock trigger and trigger spring.
Anyone else tried the short reach/skinny triggers and then went back to stock ones?

Would you mind explaining what made you want to switch back to the stock trigger? I've been thinking about getting the WC short-reach trigger.

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Originally posted by henryarnaud:

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
I ran 103 rounds through my Beretta yesterday and I'm going to remove the Wilson Combat Short Reach Trigger and Trigger Conversion Unit (standard power) and re-install the stock trigger and trigger spring.
Anyone else tried the short reach/skinny triggers and then went back to stock ones?

Would you mind explaining what made you want to switch back to the stock trigger? I've been thinking about getting the WC short-reach trigger.

I'll try to explain as best I can and hopefully I won't call handgun parts by the incorrect name.

My finger feels great resting on the trigger but I just don't like where my finger ends up at the end of the trigger pull. It is like my trigger finger is moving just a bit too far back on the pull and causing me to pull the muzzle down and shoot low. I don't believe that the WC trigger changes the pull distance but only changes the depth/thickness of the trigger so the difference in distance can't be much more than a hair.
I rotated between shooting my 92A1,P224, and P226 (all 9mm) and only felt the odd pull (to me anyway) on the Beretta....best grouping of the day was with my P224.
I'm sure the Wilson Combat Trigger is a fine product but the skinny trigger just doesn't seem right to me on my Beretta.

quote:

Originally posted by Mastrogiacomo:
WC has worked on one my guns and I was very pleased with the communication, professionalism and the work. Will be sending them more - highly recommended.

I have only heard nothing but good things about Wilson Combat and I am very happy with all of the other upgrades I installed...the short reach trigger just might not be for me on a Beretta.

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:

quote:

Originally posted by henryarnaud:

quote:

Originally posted by SummersAtTheLake:
I ran 103 rounds through my Beretta yesterday and I'm going to remove the Wilson Combat Short Reach Trigger and Trigger Conversion Unit (standard power) and re-install the stock trigger and trigger spring.
Anyone else tried the short reach/skinny triggers and then went back to stock ones?

Would you mind explaining what made you want to switch back to the stock trigger? I've been thinking about getting the WC short-reach trigger.

I'll try to explain as best I can and hopefully I won't call handgun parts by the incorrect name.

My finger feels great resting on the trigger but I just don't like where my finger ends up at the end of the trigger pull. It is like my trigger finger is moving just a bit too far back on the pull and causing me to pull the muzzle down and shoot low. I don't believe that the WC trigger changes the pull distance but only changes the depth/thickness of the trigger so the difference in distance can't be much more than a hair.
I rotated between shooting my 92A1,P224, and P226 (all 9mm) and only felt the odd pull (to me anyway) on the Beretta....best grouping of the day was with my P224.
I'm sure the Wilson Combat Trigger is a fine product but the skinny trigger just doesn't seem right to me on my Beretta.

That makes sense. Seems like it may be one of those things I'll have to try for myself.

Thanks for explaining.