1985, Jeff Cooper Comments on the Beretta M9 Pistol

Kind of follow up to the 80's review of the Glock 17, we have Jeff Cooper's commentary on the then-new M9 pistol, the Beretta 92F in civilian nomenclature in the November/December 1985 issue of American Handgunner, starting on page 61.

Cooper and friends fired a few thousands rounds thought the new service pistol, attempting to wrap their brains around the new design.

The pistol mounts a curious two-sided hammer-dropper on the top rear of the slide.  When this switch is depressed it drops the cocked hammer safely on a live round.  Why it is desirable to be able to do this on both sides of the weapon is not clear.  Dropping the hammer on a live round is not the sort of act one needs to perform in a hurry, and might just as well be handled by a skate key.

The trigger pull in the cocked mode is best described as fair-to-poor, and in the unlocked mode as unsatisfactory.

A curious feature is the placement of the slide-stop so far to the rear that it is normally depressed by the firing thumb when shooting.  This, of course, prevents the slide from locking open on the last shot.  The slide-stop should properly be placed on the right side of the weapon, since her again is a device which is never needed in a hurry.

I often don't agree with Col. Cooper.  This is one of those occasions.  Clearing a double-feed pretty much requires locking the slide open, which would be pretty difficult if the slide-stop were on the right side, and the users hands were wet and/or bloody.  Even besides that, I'm one who charges and empty pistol by thumbing down the slide-stop.  I don't have any problem with the Beretta slide-stop.

There is also a paragraph or two about how the Berettas can be fired by pushing back the exposed trigger bar, which runs along the right side of the frame, but this is so much more difficult than pulling the trigger, that I believe that it's mostly an attempt at fear-mongering.

The unanimous and independently reached impression of those who shot the piece here at the ranch is that it was not designed by, or for, shooters.

Mmm.  Well, the Beretta 92 was an evolution of several older models of similar pistols.  I think it's fair to say that the 92/M9 pistols were designed by shooters who used pistols differently than Cooper, and therefor had different ideas on how pistols were used.

There is, of course discussion of how the 9mm is inferior to .45ACP for the purposes of the pistol's intended goal of self-defense, which is true, when we consider ball ammo, and 1980 defense ammo.  And. . . this also will come as no great surprise.

. . . the old 1911 Colt is the best thing in common use at this time.

And then Cooper closes with some very damning words.

In 1860 the Union Army was sent into combat with a 44-caliber cap-and-ball single-action revolver, a defensive sidearm far superior to that which we have adopted in 1985. . .  When we went to war in 1941 the United States headed its young men the best personal fighting tool the world has ever seen.  Times, however, have changed.