By
ken_mays
I visited the range and put about 250 rounds through the 92X Performance.
The trigger measures about 6.5# in DA and 3.3 # in SA. Weight of the gun without a magazine is 2 lbs, 13 oz.
The reliability was perfect with both included magazines. I was shooting reloads, 115gr Brazos coated LRN atop 4.6gr Titegroup. Accuracy of this load in this gun was mediocre, about 2" at 15 yards. I didn't have any other ammo with me to test with. I don't know if they had any special accuracy requirements for this gun; I did detect slight movement of the muzzle when the barrel is in battery, so that's not great.
Shooting impressions: Sights provided a good picture. I'm going to nitpick the front fiber sight a bit and say that the fiber was placed higher than I like. I'm used to Dawsons, which are easier to align vertically. I found myself looking for the top of the black front sight to get alignment for precise shots, only to find glowing dot there. So I'll probably replace that. The rear sight was easy to adjust, I had to dial it a few clicks up and over to get my hits where I wanted.
I disliked the "gas pedal" style takedown lever. It's only large enough to get maybe half the tip of my thumb onto it, and the edges and corner are far too sharp for comfort. I'm going to look into swapping it out for a standard 92 part. I shot most of the time with my thumb underneath it.
I also wasn't fond of the slide stop's angled tab. Its proximity to the safety lever and its downward rake of the tab meant it was more difficult to find and hit than it should have been. I'm not really sure why they didn't use a standard 92 part; maybe they were worried that people who ride the safety would accidentally hold it down with the tip of their thumb.
The thumb safety was OK: it had a good tension on and off, and the extended "shelf" was easily reached by the thumb, although I would have preferred it to extend further back. Beretta says they will offer 3 different sizes of safety lever, but I haven't been able to find out what they look like yet.
The safety did make slide manipulation a bit more of a challenge than I'm used to on 92s. Between the location of the serrations (low on the slide) and the prominent safety levers, it makes grabbing the "sweet spot" more of a challenge -- if you grab too low, your fingers will be blocked by the safety. I'm glad they included forward serrations, they're probably going to see a lot of use on this gun.
The frame serrations were a bit of a help, but not what I'd call sharp enough to be really useful, and the slick nickel/tin finish wasn't helpful here. I would skateboard tape over the frontstrap if I were going to do much competing with it... not that such a heavy gun is all that hard to hang onto in 9mm, but I like my grip to be locked in.
The built-in mag funnel was well done. No lanyard loop, and it looks like you can get to the mainspring housing pin without taking the grips off. I thought the beavertail might prove to be a problem due to its sharp corners, but that was pretty much a non-issue.