I need a new handgun...lets talk guns today. :D

Anyone get to play with ptr cans.

 

Some dudes engrave Luis Vitton or whatever on their magazines.

I'm not gay.

 

Never shot one but really wanting to get a Vent II.

 

The tech looks amazing.

 

Following up on this. I bought the 92XI Squalo, am about 400 rounds into it and, I am not loving it for two reasons: 1) I'm not as consistently accurate as I was expecting to be with it as I am my Bul Armory Axe Cleaver full size (a gun that was 1/3 of the cost of the Squalo DOH!) and 2) it's got a couple of ergonomic quirks that really come to the fore after about an hour of shooting.

First, the accuracy. The guns shoots really nicely from a felt recoil perspective and it tracks well. However, when I'm really trying to call shots even at 5-7 yards I really have to work at it in comparison to the Axe. I can land shots in the IDPA A zone at 20 yards with both guns, but the groupings are worse with the 92XI. Additionally, shooting the Beretta feels like work to get rounds to go exactly where I want them to go. My expectation was that it being a full size, metal gun (and given all the reviews about how accurate it is) I'd get at least the same accuracy out of it as I do from the Bul (which I was immediately comfortable and accurate with) right off the bat. But I don't. Which is a downer.

Second, the ergos. Holding the gun in the store, the grip angle and texturing felt really nice and natural in my hand. While shooting however, I noticed a few things: 1) when I rest my thumb on the frame mounted safety it lands on the slide release just enough to prevent the gun from locking to the rear when the mag is empty. 2) The bowed out trigger guard really chews into my support hand finger when I try to get a nice grip around my dominant hand. I really wish the trigger guard had a double undercut.

Having said that, it is a pretty gun. The single action trigger is undeniably good and it is nice that it came with 3 magazines, but not so nice that it did not come with an optics plate. And that Beretta is perpetually out of stock of their factory plates which buyers of the Squalo are allegedly eligible to receive free of charge?

Ultimately, as this is my second Beretta, I may just not be a Beretta guy. They are pretty guns, with decent fit & finish, but they seem to be dated and while some (like the Squalo) have all the features that you'd be looking for, those specs are really just on paper. Because the platform is so dated, as the 92 is, the execution of those features is compromised (e.g., frame safeties, optic cut, etc.) and they feel tacked on versus integrated and this become obvious when you're using the gun.

I'm going to give it a go for a bit longer, but initial impressions are disappointing to say the least and in reality I should have probably just bucked up and spent the extra $1000-$1200 to get into a mid tier 2011 versus having to double up and convince my wife that the Beretta was actually for her... ergo I didn't actually buy another gun for myself.

 

I have a 92X Performance and wasn't getting along with it until I installed the Beretta provided grip with the hump on the backstrap. I don't see them listed on Beretta's website however, Lok Grips offers several versions. When I upgrade the grips, I'll order the palm swells to improve my purchase on the gun.

I agree the optics system is clunky and dated.

Regarding the trigger guard, I've found metal frame pistols require you to build up a callous on your knuckle to eliminate the discomfort. This even holds true for the Atlas pistols. An alternative is to wrap athletic tape around your knuckle.

Speaking from experience, if you're riding the slide stop on the Squalo, its likely you'll have the same experience with a 2011.

All that said, I'm not advocating for the Beretta, I like mine for fun but compete with a 2011.

 

Put an RMR HD on my Glock and hopefully will shoot it next week. Feels like a great mix of the RMR and SRO.

 

Thank you for this feedback.

My initial assessment of the Squalo could prove to be premature. I've spent a few more days at the range with it and my peformance is improving. I'm around 500 rounds now.

I appreciate the comment re: trigger guard. Being new to this, I guess this was something I needed to hear from another, more experienced shooter. Additionally, I continue to work on my grip to get my thumbs in the right spots while also not impeding the slide from cycling. So far, so good. I have time this week to give a proper double stack 1911 a try and am curious to see how that compares to my experience with the Squalo. I have an "intro to IDPA" at a local gun club coming up. I'd like to drop in to learn how the competitions are run, survey the equipment that folks use, and to get a feel for the crowd to see if it's something I want to devote time to. Initially I am thinking of using the Squalo w/out an optic as it should be legal in SSP (???) and it came w/ 3 mags so all I need is a holster and some mag pouches.

Thank you again for the experienced perspective - I greatly appreciate it.

 

I haven't been much on the PCC craze, but dang that Kuna is looking nice. Maybe in half a year it will be 800.

 

I just can’t fathom spending over $1K on a Springfield anything. While other companies continue to increase their footprint domestically and improve upon quality, Springfield continues to further outsource to Croatia and allow their product quality to suffer for it.

sorry for the rant but I just can’t fathom how they continue to be successful (or so it seems on the surface). There are budget minded products all the way up to the highest tiers of guns and more often than not you get what you pay for. Sometimes you can find great values, products that significantly outperform their price point. Sometimes you get really expensive guns that don’t actually perform well and only command such a price because they look different or maybe they came up with some really innovative idea that was simply executed poorly.

and then there’s Springfield, who commands a slightly lower to mid range price point while being at the bottom of its class in performance for just about every platform they make, yet somehow still sell a shitload of weapons. I just don’t get it.

 

......and give the interwebz some time to give it a good shakedown.
It caught my inexperienced eye too. I have a Ruger PC charger that fills the PDW slot.

 

Why not just buy a proven platform like an Mp5? Can be bought for about the same, is dead nuts reliable, Stupid easy to suppress with the tri-lug. Having said that I do love the pcc stuff. My personal favorite is my B&T APc9 SD. Integrally suppressed SBR from the factory, uses Glock mags, and shoots like butter. Not a cheap alternative though.

 

Eh, at that price point, you’re getting an mp5 clone and I’ve yet to shoot one that I thought was done well. That said, B&T has a model that’s not that much more (GHM9 maybe?) and theyre damn good guns.

Stribogs seem to have a decent rep from what I’ve seen and I believe can be had for slightly under a thousand.

Scorpions are notoriously plasticky feeling and apparently don’t have the longevity of many of its competitors but damnit it’s actually one of the few PDW type platforms I actually enjoyed shooting, especially suppressed. And for how cheap they are (under $700 if you’re patient), frankly I still think it’s a good value.

I’m sure there’s other stuff out there I’m forgetting, especially considering this platform is probably tied with revolvers for my least favorite. But suffice to say I still don’t get the Springfield thing lol.

 

I have 2 Ap5K clones and they are dead reliable suppressed or not. Ive put well over 10,000 rounds through one and am just eclipsing 500 through the other which I just picked up on a close out from SHOT 2025 for $899.00. I would guess they ran a couple of thousand rounds through it there as it was a range demo. Original runs a binary trigger and the other a Super Safety. Stay away from Zenith and a couple other of the clone varieties and you'll be fine. Big plus is that they make 3d printed lowers that will take a Super Safety for an MP5. Talk about smiles for miles. The MP5 has a huge cult following so parts are relatively cheap and you can get every option that you could dream up with aftermarket parts. There is a reason the MP5 and variants have been in production for 60 years. Excluding the cost of magazines, which are dropping thanks to some aftermarket stuff, they are just amazing little weapons. I'm all for new models of guns but the Kuna seems to be just another model that will eventually fade away.

The GHM is a direct blowback operation so not really a comparison to the Kuna and MP5 as they are roller delayed operation. Suppressed it does shoot pretty softly but not quite as soft as the MP5 or B&T SPC9SD (not the APC9 as I previously said). None of these shoot as softly (recoil impulse) as my AR9mm home build which uses a hydraulic buffer and properly weighted 9mm BCG . I put it together using an 80% lower I milled, and short upper I purchased already built from an online retailer. Total cost on just the build was around $700.00. Now I made it mine and probably doubled that figure with sight and stock and Timney trigger but don't we all do that when we buy a gun/motorcycle? HAHA

My advice on PCC stuff is build your own if you can and buy once, cry once for the higher priced variants. Middle of the road PCC stuff is just meh for me. Next PCC for me is going to be a TP9 SD. I'm becoming quite the fanboy of B&T as their stuff is truly Swiss engineering at its best.

Totally agree on the Springfield thing.

 

for the PCC another option is the CMMG rifles/pistols. I bought a banshee9mm last year, shooting a lot of 147/155gr 9mm subs through it with a can (started with a dead air Ghost 45, bought a Wolfman that will pretty much live on it). Radial delayed blowback, with some small mods to make it more fun (G$ trigger, hydraulic buffer, A5 buffer tube/spring, LAW folder, Magpul drum, etc). Still developing some loads but pretty sure I"ve got it down now. Just put the LAW folder on it last week, need to run it with that but so far so good.

 

Nice, if you want another 9mm can try the Resilient rs9. It is super quiet. Puts my wolfman to shame. It's an ugly duckling though.

 

IF, and that's a big IF, I ever get one, it will just be an SP5. Like I said, the whole 9mm PDW/SMG platform isn't really my jam so it wouldn't be until way down the road after I've added a bunch of other stuff to the collection. And even then it would be partly for the vibes and pretty sure the MP5/SP5 is still the biggest vibe lol. Plus I get an industry discount on HK that makes it a no brainer. But there's at lease 2 or 3 other HKs I want first and I only get to use that discount twice/year.

 

Sacrilege! Revolvers are great, I've got one in the pipeline from Bud's as we type, Cimarron Angle Eyes .44 cap & ball with a 45 Colt conversion cylinder, probably going to add a Ruger Old Army to the collection also.

 

Meh. They just don’t do it for me. They don’t shoot anywhere near as well as semiautos and don’t have enough character in my opinion to be enjoyable. Guns I like either shoot well or have a lot of character or both. Revolvers are just clunky noisy rocks lol.

one day I might add a proper case hardened colt SAA and a replica of the hand of god (from 3:10 to Yuma) to my collection but that’s likely to be literal decades from now, if ever. I still have a lot of functional shooters to add to my collection before I start collecting just for the sake of collecting.