167 at Master Class Chronicles has just started an informal evaluation of his Beretta 96D. Unlike their 9mm cousins, the .40-cal 96F/96D full size and Centurion pistols were plagued with reliability and durability issues but he explains exactly why he chose this gun in one of his early blog entries. It will be genuinely interesting to watch how this gun performs during 167‘s journey toward earning his Master classification in IDPA. Good luck, dude…
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
I’ve been tracking (and commenting) this on the http://www.pistol-forum site. I commend him for his self-challenge, but personally think that he’d be far, far better off with a 9mm 92D as opposed to a 96D-far better durability, less expensive ammunition, and much easier cartridge to master.
Best, Jon
Jon-100% agree:) But I like a challenge.
Thanks for the mention ToddG, my total page views have doubled in a single day.
I’d see if you can track down some shokbuffs for that 96 dude. run that instead of the heavier spring.
also you can throw a FS hammer spring in if you want to help with the slide velocity. it’s not a big difference, and it will make for a harder trigger pull. but it will extend the life of the gun.
You mentioned “were plagued with reliability and durability issues”. Something that doesn’t seem to be discussed much is that they’re related: When guns or mags start wearing out things move out of alignment and reliability problems result. The main clue that a gun or part of it is wearing out is that reliabiliity tails off, maybe subtly at first but then more and more. Since it happens very slowly it is very hard to perceive unless you’re keeping written records of jams and round counts, and it is the rare pistol shooters that does that. I don’t. I’ve been sticking to Glocks. Very durable.
167-PM sent regarding Trausch grips for you on the pistol-forum site.