Beretta M92FS Elite CQB - ArniesAirsoft

Author

Herr_Heckler

Registered: August 2005
Posts: 46

Review Date: 1/9/05

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �77.00 | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Heavyweight, range, power, accuracy, trademarks, fit and finish, safety.
Cons:	Voracious appetite for gas, price

Off the bat let me say I am not a fan of Berettas in general or the 92/96 series in particular. I did enjoy reading about it's adoption as the U.S. Military's issue sidearm but the gun's looks never grew on me. As far as airsoft replicas are concerned I never sought out the reviews nor cared to read about it whenever I stumbled on one. So why in heaven's name do I now own one (a Western Arms brand no less) and have gone as far as writing about it you ask. Fair enough question. When I first saw the Western Arms M92 Elite CQB at a local store, out of pure, unadaulterated curiosity I asked the storeowner if I could peruse it. To quote everyone's favorite Vulcan scientist I found it "fascinating". BUT I didn't buy it...then.

Fast forward a week and a paycheck later I was back at the store. I had the CQB in my hands again, loaded it with 134a and fired a few rounds in the indoor range of the store. Within minutes, as though in a trance, I was handing my credit card to the storeowner and seconds later placing my John Hancock on a charge slip. I was out the door with a brown box tucked under my armpit and hoping that the neighbor's cat would be lazing around in our backyard when I got home. I was also hoping, nay PRAYING, that my wife would forgive my sudden spending spree seeing that I had bought another Western Arms GBB just a few weeks earlier. Well the cat wasn't there but my wife did forgive me after a fashion. Anyways, enough about marital servitude...back to the gun.

Why did I buy it and why am I now writing a review? It's a paradox (need a link to dictionary.com?) really. This review is just my attempt at rationalizing my purchase of this GBB. Kinda like seeing a shrink, only cheaper.

Genesis: I'm sure I was drawn by the rich history of this gun. Waitaminit...this gun has no history. The CQB, although related to the M9, was not (I think) a military issue or civilian retail variant. For one, it's not in the Beretta International website for real steel pistols. Also, it seems that it carries traits from 3 distinct real steel 92's...the basic Vertec configuration, the Brigadier and the Elite II. The Vertec is characterized by the handgrips flatter rear, thinner grip panels, integral rail and shortened barrel. The Vertec's flat slide is replaced with the Brigadier version that has a stylized hump near the middle. Finally, instead of the round hammer, the CQB has the triangular Elite II hammer.

So what I've got here is not a storied Beretta but a hybrid version concocted by WA with the blessings of Pietro...or maybe not. Be that as it may I got nothing to brag to my friends about at least historically. Shall we count that as strike one?

Packaging: Plain brown box, foam cutout (so environmentally indifferent), manual (of the 92 Elite series), flier of the CQB, some target sheets, some bb's, loading tool and 2 allen wrenches. That's it. Nothing fancy. No posters or catalogues. No fancy cover art of the CQB in action. All documentation is in Japanese so nothing to read about. And we're talking about one of the (if not "the") most expensive 92 replica in the market here. Steeerike two! This can't be good.

Exterior and Feel: When I picked it up again...whoa! It's almost as heavy as my BOBTAIL. Definitely MUCH heavier than my WA MEU, Tokyo Marui SIG P226 and KSC Mk23 SOCOM Hardkick. Now I remember. At the store I was stunned by the sheer heft of the gun. And the weight is not magazine induced. The slide you say? Nope. It's plastic and light as well. Not the handgrips like the BOBTAIL. Without taking any core samples I'm hazarding a guess that the lower reciever is metal impregnated which could also account for the very crisp serial number stamping. Only later did I notice the small "HW-BLACK" label on the side of the box. HW means heavyweight...indeed! Now we're talking...heavy aaaah, heavy is good.

It's also studded with trademarks all courtesy of the license agreement with Mr. Pietro. Non of those fancy wannabee logos found on the KSC and TM versions. Also, due to the agreement, you will find references to this and other variants on the Beretta International website under replicas. The serial nos. as mentioned are deep and very authentic looking. The logo on the grips are also nicely replicated. Sadly, I find the other trades a bit shallow totally opposite the quality found on the serial nos. Still, they are all there and none are invented...including the ASGK logo. Finally, you'll be hard pressed to find any seams on this replica.

Features: It has the Magna-Blowback system which I gather is supposed to increase the "blowback" experience...we'll see. It has working METAL slide lock, working METAL disassembly lever, METAL trigger, hammer and mag release button and the coup de grace...a working METAL safety AND decocker lever. TM only has the safety function on their Beretta replicas. KSC I think also has a safety/decocker. Another unique feature is a dual spring recoil assembly. It has an adjustable hop-up but being of an older design requires disassembly and is rather fragile as the storeowner warned me against excessive torquing. It fires in both double action and single action mode and has a capacity of 25+1 rounds. Sights are typical 3 dot combat sights which are zeroed out of the factory. Like the real steel M92's issued to the military, it has a lanyard ring at the handgrip base. Finally, it has 1913 rail which should accept most weaponlights and lasers out there even real steel ones for those that wanna increase the "cool" factor and not necessarily play night games.

Function: Gas up the mag and load it with 25 bb's. In an interesting bit of redundancy you can use the included loading tool or pull down the follower and load bb's from the top one at a time making sure they're staggered. Unlike newer mag follower designs that have an angled tip to aid staggered stacking, the Elite's follower is a level. Once filled you can insert the magazine but WORD OF CAUTION!!! Before letting go make sure it has engaged the magazine lock inside the grip otherwise you risk seeing it drop to the ground. Being an older design, it does not have the newer replaceable plastic feeding lip. Dropping it could render it useless or at best unreliable. A minor niggle here with the loading tool, the plunger stick thingie is a trifle short. You'll always end up with 1 bb in the tube even though you've pushed the plunger all the way in. Maybe I'm just to used to the KSC loaders. But, like I said this is minor and the loader itself is a bit of a redundancy.

With the mag inserted, rack the slide back to chamber a bb and cock the hammer. Here's where it get's really interesting. You can carry this around in this condition if you like but do note that it is now cocked and loaded. If someone borrows it and starts mucking with the trigger that person could very well set it off and send a bb flying at a random direction. The safer way is to use the safety lever to drop the hammer and lock the slide. When you wanna shoot, just pull it out of the holster, flick up the safety lever and pull the trigger. Like the real steel version this works in both double and single action. Albeit the trigger pull using double action is a trifle long and heavy so accuracy is compromised.

Let's go back a bit to the safety as I find it a very interesting design on an airsoft replica. Not unique I think, but definitely interesting. As mentioned it works as a decocker and slide lock but it's functions don't end there. In safe mode and during the act of decocking, the lever also activates a hammer block that prevents any sort of contact between the hammer and the firing pin. ALSO, it disengages the trigger from the hammer. You can pull on the trigger all you like but it will not cause the hammer to cock and release. I think this is the way it works on the real steel Beretta and I'm amazed WA took the effort to replicate all of these safety functions on a replica. This is one safe GBB that only an absolute idiot can discharge prematurely. Before leaving this topic there's just one more item that needs emphasizing. TIGHTEN those allen screws on the lever and use some form of threadlock on them. If they work loose you could very well loose a lever as well and those are dang hard to find in a playsite. Ignore this at your own risk.

Going back to the mag, the fit is rather loose and there is a considerable amount of play within the magwell. In use, the mag DOES NOT have enough gas capacity for a magful of BB's. Slow, deliberate fire will leave 2bb's (1 chambered, 1 in the mag) while rapid fire may leave as many as 4 to 5 rounds unfired. The WA mag design has a valve follower that releases gas when there is insufficient gas pressure on the valve to counter the follower. Your last shot will most often include a LOT of gas being released and can be quite disconcerting.

The slide however is nice and suitably tight and when released forward emits a very metallic sounding "ka-chink". You may notice that manually racking the slide may fail to engage the slide lock. DON'T WORRY. When I got this, the storeowner, his dad and I fiddled with it for a while. Then we just decided to load it with BB's and test fire it til it was dry. It engaged EVERYTIME due to the shock of the blowback of firing. Since I've bought it it still engages consistently when fired and inconsistently when manually racked so I'm not compalaining. I'm just mentioning it here so that prospective buyers can expect this "quirkiness" and be assured. As for the slide's open top design, it does seem to make the slide appear flimsy compared to the solid block of a 1911 slide, however unless I'm mistaken this has a function in real steel. This allows loading the gun from the top by directly inserting a round into the chamber with the slide racked back. Whereas, for other autos you will need to pull out the mag and load it with a round to get the same results.

Grips, as mentioned, are the flat Vertec style with the thin panels. In my hand it fits acceptably and points level. I can't really describe it but somehow the 1911 and Sig226 grips feel better to me. It's not uncomfortable or ungainly, just, different for some reason. It's effect on me is that I seem to find it harder to acquire the target with this pistol compared to my 1911's and 226. I've only skirmished with it once and perhaps more field time will change this. I do realize that not all hands are created equal and I'm sure there are those that will like this grip and others who will not.

Range is exceptional in that it seems to match my MEU and 226. I must mention that this is with the hop at factory setting so WA deserves credit for it's out-of-the box capability. Accuracy is suitable for skirmishing even though it does not have the tight barrel of the newer crop of WA GBB's. When emptying an entire mag I did not see any fliers to the side just some shots that went farther than others. Again, a good sign of the hop up system quality. Since I don't have a chrono I can't say what fps it pushes but here's a relative measure...I fired it pointblank onto the side of an aluminum soda can and it punched (not ripped) a hole into one side. None of my other GBB's can do that including the KSC Mk23 hardkick, the 226 and the SCW MEU. This could be due to a high-flow valve which can also explain it's gas consumption.

I've already used this in a skirmish and I must say I'm not in the least disappointed. I can honestly say that I will not think twice about using this in games. However, I did experience 2 malfunctions during the game. Both instances resulted in premature gas release. For some reason it released the gas as though it was about to run out when I had in fact just filled it. I've heard that this can happen when the valve freezes due to rapid fire action, but in my case I was firing slow, deliberate shots and in one instance it was my first shot. I could not replicate the incident when I got home and I will definitely buy a spare mag next payday. In both instances I was left high and dry with a magfull of bb's but no gas.

Disassembly: The Beretta system is similar to the 226 in some ways. Remove the mag then raise the safety lever. Push the slide back and hold then push the button on the right side inwards to release the disassembly lever. Turn the lever clockwise until it points down. Release the slide forward and off the railing. You will end up with the upper and lower assemblies. One thing worth mentioning when you've removed the slide, take a look at the recoil spring. It has a dual spring design which I hope someone can someday explain the purpose to me. It looks really cool and to my layman sensibility serves as a dual stage damper to the recoil. I've yet to check it out if this the real steel configuration replicated in the GBB...if it is, cool. Reassembly is just a bit, uh, different. Those used to 226's, Glocks and 1911's will expect that sliding the slide in and turning the release lever clockwise will do, it won't. After inserting the slide until it stops, you'll then have to push the barrel and slide together until the barrel stops. THEN you can turn the release lever and you will notice that the spring guide will also retract a bit. You will know that the position of the slide/barrel is correct coz the lever will turn with minimal effort. If for any reason, turning the lever is hard don't push, release the slide/barrel and try pushing both backwards again.

So, am I a Beretta fan now? Nah. I still find it's looks a little to "different" for my tastes. I like the clean, slim lines of the 1911, the blocky robust lines of the USP series and the round but likewise robust 226. It is NOT an ugly gun mind you but I definitely did not get this because of it's looks. I have no regrets about getting this GBB for my collection. I also find myself using it for plinking at home as much as my other GBB's. For the price I paid for it, considering it's a WA, I'd have to say it was a steal since the quality is at par with even the newer models even if it's sans SCW or tight barrels. Except for it's voracious appetite for 134a I really can't find anything to complain about. You can display this or play with it and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Since the gun is new, I'll update this review in a few months in regards to durability. Suffice to say I bought this as an experiment out of sheer curiousity...I'm glad I did even if "curiousity" supposedly killed the proverbial cat. In this case the cat's 9 lives are intact...speaking of cats, I wonder if the neighbor's cat is in our yard right now... Wink

Original review and pics on my site HERE