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What a wild summer so far. Work has been insane - yep blame me if your local Walmart store had issues from 6pm to 12am. I have been running a server upgrade project completing an average of 70 stores per week. My live-in MIL decided she was ready for an assisted living facility, then another medical problem whacks me upside the head. So what do you do when faced with a stress filled summer, why buy guns of course.
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My summer started with a visit to my favorite LGS looking for some old style metal guns. He has several models of used Beretta's 92 series. I asked for his best deal and Don showed me a like new M9. Let me have it for $489 OTD. It came with a box, manuals and 2 15 round mags, I purchased a 17 rounder as well. Well this M9 exceeded my expectations, no wear, likely shot very little if at all, slide is butter smooth. My M9 weighs 29.5oz with no mag, it has a 4.9" barrel and is 5.4" tall, 8.5" long, 1.14" wide at the slide and 1.33"wide at the grips. I did replace the stock plastic grips for some OD green VZ style grips. I also replaced the Hammer spring with a Beretta "D" spring. The trigger pull is 8.5lbs in DA and 4.5lbs in SA. This M9 was made in 2014.
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A month later a large shipment of police surplus Model 81's hit the stores. I ended up choosing Classic Firearms as my choice for ordering. Slow shipping but nice quality pistols. This one was rated good to very good, no hand select. What I got was an 81 with one mag in excellent condition. No wear anywhere, no scratches, grips are perfect. Just a dirty barrel bore and a nasty dirty magazine interior. The magazine had a large Italian dust bunny riding the spring and the walls and spring were covered in brown gunk - not rust, just some kind of dried out grease or lube. Total cost OTD was $232
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This not so little Cheetah came in a shipping box wrapped in bubble wrap. My 81 weighs 20.5 oz with no mag, it has a 3.8" barrel and is 4.8" tall, 6.1" long, .99" wide at the slide and 1.39" wide at the grips. The stock trigger pull is 10.5lbs DA and 4.2lbs in SA. The trigger pull is Beretta smooth, 5/8" long with 1/4" reset. This 81 was made in 1981. As you can see from the break down , these are very similar in design. The M9 breaks down grandma easy with quick reassemble. The Cheetah is a persnickity cat , it breaks down similar to a M9/92, but during reassemble you need to ensure you keep the barrel locked to reinstall the recoil asm. You do this by keeping finger pressure on the muzzle while assembling the recoil asm and while reinstalling the slide to the frame. It takes a few times to get it down, but now is easy.
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So how do they shoot. These two targets show a 10 yard run with the Model 81 Cheetah using Herters brass range ammo and a 20 yard run with the M9 using my reloads. (115grn Xtreme plated RN, under 4.1grns of Titegroup, COL 1.125 with a medium crimp). They shoot great. The M9 performed as expected , but that 32acp kitty cat is surprisingly accurate and similar in recoil to shooting CCI stingers out of a semi auto. I am very impressed with these two Italian handguns. My hope is to purchase a good condition used 84 in the next year or so. Maybe another police/military surplus bunch will come in. Ciao fellow Taurus members.
My summer started with a visit to my favorite LGS looking for some old style metal guns. He has several models of used Beretta's 92 series. I asked for his best deal and Don showed me a like new M9. Let me have it for $489 OTD. It came with a box, manuals and 2 15 round mags, I purchased a 17 rounder as well. Well this M9 exceeded my expectations, no wear, likely shot very little if at all, slide is butter smooth. My M9 weighs 29.5oz with no mag, it has a 4.9" barrel and is 5.4" tall, 8.5" long, 1.14" wide at the slide and 1.33"wide at the grips. I did replace the stock plastic grips for some OD green VZ style grips. I also replaced the Hammer spring with a Beretta "D" spring. The trigger pull is 8.5lbs in DA and 4.5lbs in SA. This M9 was made in 2014.
A month later a large shipment of police surplus Model 81's hit the stores. I ended up choosing Classic Firearms as my choice for ordering. Slow shipping but nice quality pistols. This one was rated good to very good, no hand select. What I got was an 81 with one mag in excellent condition. No wear anywhere, no scratches, grips are perfect. Just a dirty barrel bore and a nasty dirty magazine interior. The magazine had a large Italian dust bunny riding the spring and the walls and spring were covered in brown gunk - not rust, just some kind of dried out grease or lube. Total cost OTD was $232
This not so little Cheetah came in a shipping box wrapped in bubble wrap. My 81 weighs 20.5 oz with no mag, it has a 3.8" barrel and is 4.8" tall, 6.1" long, .99" wide at the slide and 1.39" wide at the grips. The stock trigger pull is 10.5lbs DA and 4.2lbs in SA. The trigger pull is Beretta smooth, 5/8" long with 1/4" reset. This 81 was made in 1981. As you can see from the break down , these are very similar in design. The M9 breaks down grandma easy with quick reassemble. The Cheetah is a persnickity cat , it breaks down similar to a M9/92, but during reassemble you need to ensure you keep the barrel locked to reinstall the recoil asm. You do this by keeping finger pressure on the muzzle while assembling the recoil asm and while reinstalling the slide to the frame. It takes a few times to get it down, but now is easy.
So how do they shoot. These two targets show a 10 yard run with the Model 81 Cheetah using Herters brass range ammo and a 20 yard run with the M9 using my reloads. (115grn Xtreme plated RN, under 4.1grns of Titegroup, COL 1.125 with a medium crimp). They shoot great. The M9 performed as expected , but that 32acp kitty cat is surprisingly accurate and similar in recoil to shooting CCI stingers out of a semi auto. I am very impressed with these two Italian handguns. My hope is to purchase a good condition used 84 in the next year or so. Maybe another police/military surplus bunch will come in. Ciao fellow Taurus members.
