Beretta 96A1: Hard-Hitting Workhorse

I have become pretty interested in .40 caliber lately. The ballistics are great, the recoil can be a challenge, and the round wears guns down. For most people, this is a list of reasons they don't like the .40 caliber. Personally, I like a challenge in terms of shooting, and I like to wear my guns a bit. So, for the rest of you folks out there, why would you have any interest in the Beretta 96A1? Well, hopefully I can spill some of my knowledge and experience and let you decide.

BALLISTICS

It is almost common knowledge now that .40 caliber has a good reputation as an effective bullet against human attackers. After all, it was designed to be, and this is one of the great things about it. From the start, it was designed to be powerful and pack a punch in human attackers, even through barriers. In much of my testing, I have found that the .40 caliber hollowpoints from Remington, UMC JHP's and Golden Sabers are terrific loadings. They penetrate deep and expand reliably. Even the classic Winchester White Box JHP is terrific. In fact, it is the only loading in the White Box lineup that passes the FBI protocol. Many haters of the .40 would say that the 9mm is "JUST AS EFFECTIVE" as the .40 caliber ballistically.

However, this is proven to be untrue when testing through barriers and testing loads on an apples to apples basis with the same barrel length and comparable projectile weight such as a 124gr 9mm to a 165gr .40 caliber. Needless to say that I enjoy the ballistics of the .40 caliber and I think it offers enough of an advantage for me to the point that I am willing to make certain sacrifices.

As far as the Beretta 96A1 is concerned, it has a barrel length of almost 5 inches, which makes it almost perfect for firing the 180 grain projectiles. Bullets being velocity based means that the heavy 180 grain projectiles can use all the help they can get. With this pistol, pretty much every 180 grain projectile should have better expansion and penetration. This is not guaranteed, but I think that it is safe to say that sticking to 180 grain self defense loads with this pistol will get you the best performance instead of going lighter and faster.

RECOIL

The .40 caliber projectile is not some kind of new invention that came out of a mad scientists' mind. It is basically a lightened 10mm load. This means that it is still quite high in pressure. Not as high as 10mm, but still enough to give your hand a hard time if you decide to shoot alot of it out of a gun that wasn't originally designed to handle it. The extra power you get in +P 9mm will be felt in recoil, and the extra power you get in .40 caliber will be felt in the same way. There is no free lunch when it comes to physics. However, I feel that the Beretta 96A1 handles the .40 caliber as well as the M9 handles the 9mm in recoil. Honestly, I don't notice too much more snap or felt recoil with normal factory loads. My reloads are much hotter, but they still seems to be handled with ease by this pistol. You get a bit of a bite in the hand but the pistol slaps itself right back on target. So much for not being a controllable caliber, huh?

HOW IT WORKS

Being that Beretta designed the 96A1 to withstand a steady diet of the high pressure .40 S&W cartridge, you might assume that there are a few things in the gun that are noteworthy. First thing you will notice about the 96A1 is that there is a blue buffer in the frame.

This piece can come out when you remove the takedown system, and can be replaced. This piece is supposed to prevent the slide from doing as much damage to the frame and itself as it was doing in the original 96 series. Think of it as a sacrificial piece that is there to prevent the fun times from stopping too soon. Pretty nice of Beretta to be so considerate, huh?

When talking to a Beretta representative, I was told that the 96A1 was specifically modified to withstand the .40 caliber by ways of thickening certain parts like the front of the slide and the breechface, while the locking block is the same as the one you see on the 9mm pistols. Also, apparently the heavier springs and weights of the pistol components all help the locking block maintain a cozy service life matching what the 9mm would have. However, regularly replacing the recoil spring is the suggestion in order to save the locking block long term. Roughly every 5,000 rounds is the quote I was given.

So, it seems that Beretta is pretty confident that this pistol is an outstanding advancement in terms of a pistol that is built to handle the .40 caliber pressures with ease. It may be light, but the pistol seems to be well engineered from the start. I will have to see if the claims of longevity are really true. Thankfully the parts for the pistol are not too expensive.

FEATURES

The features of the Beretta 96A1 are identical to the features you see on the other 92/96 series of pistols. There is nothing wrong with the slide mounted safety on the 92/96 series of pistols except that people can't understand them or figure out that we have G conversions that turn it into a decocker only now. Lately, with technological advancements, there are less and less reasons to call pistols like this archaic and obsolete. Polymer is just another option and good material for building boom sticks, but different doesn't mean that it is the wave of the future.

​Minor differences such as the magazine capacity being only 12 rounds are considered to be the downfall of this design. This is one part that I think people get a little too bent out of shape about. The standard comeback that no one wants less bullets makes little sense in a world where reloading a semi-automatic is a task that takes seconds rather than minutes. Once you get above 10 rounds in a magazine, I think the argument of capacity is kinda ridiculous. Are we going to have the same argument with people carrying a Bond Arms Derringer? I doubt it. How about someone carrying 6 rounds in a Kahr CM9? Nope. Of course I am not saying to only load 5 in a magazine that holds over 10, but I am saying that when the difference is one or two or three rounds, I fail to see what all the bitching is about. It seems that little thought goes into the argument and insecurity from inexperience takes over. Don't be that guy that gets soaked into the argument.

SUMMARY

I have yet to really slam alot of ammo through this pistol, but I can't wait. The 92/96 platforms have always had this feeling of being true workhorses that are ready to go to war. Having this pistol in .40 caliber just makes me like the idea of using this pistol that much more. I will be doing a full review on this sexy beast in the future. Until then, don't discount this pistol or block the .40 caliber from consideration.