Originally Posted by
SoCalDep
First, congratulations on an exceptional $300 setup! That's rad.
Your post hits home for me. I've been dealing with lesser and greater elbow/arm stuff (some say tendenitis, others say lateral epycontolitis... and I've surely spelled it wrong... I'd spell it right if I ever reported it or got it diagnosed) since late 2012. There've been a couple years in there that I barely shot. Also, having recently retired I'm on a nostalgic kick and while I haven't dropped the pistol optic stuff (still shoot competition with Staccatos and such), I'm carrying and shooting iron sights more, trying to avoid strikers and polymer, and I'm planning on using some Berettas for competitions in the fairly near future.
As for Berettas I've talked about my admiration for the design and history with it. I fired a 92F or FS when a friend's dad took us to an indoor range. I was 15, which would have been around 1993 or so. Later I fixed a "broken" (not broken - put together wrong) M9 at an Army display booth at the Van Nuys Air Show around 1996... based on reading and researching how Berettas worked and how to field strip them. I remember that the Army guy was impressed and I scored points with my ten year old brother for being cool. I wasn't normally very cool.
Fast forward to my first real purchased by me pistol... A Para Ordnance P13 Limited. It sucked. It wasn't reliable at all. I traded it in and bought a Beretta Custom Carry (13rd mag compact model) in 1999. It was totally reliable. Man I wish I kept it.
By 2002 I was a 1911 fanboy before the term (Ha! - still am), but I got issued a Beretta 92FS. It's sitting next to me right now as I type because I was able to buy it from the county in 2013. At the time I didn't think it was cool, but compared to several of the other pistols issued that day, mine seemed to have a really nice trigger, so I was sorta ok with it. I bought a lot of Berettas over the years since to try to fill niches and be consistent.
I went the striker fire route for a bunch of reasons and was shooting M&Ps, but in October of 2015 I decided to go back to Beretta. I bought an M9A1. It eventually got a factory Beretta D spring, extended mag release, Wilson fluted guide rod and rear sight, steel trigger, and G10 grips. All of that was department-approved because we'd approved the Wilson Brigadier Tactical recently. Since Beretta didn't have the conversion kit at that time, any pistol with a safety had to (and still does have to) be carried "on safe", so when I went to the Langdon Tactical class in 2016 that was my setup. M9A1 with that stuff, carried on safe, on a duty belt with flapped mag pouches.
So backing up...
I graduated the academy in September of 2002. From that day... stuffing my 92FS into a Bianchi 3S that I still own and used a couple weeks ago to carry another important Beretta... I carried a bunch of full-sized Beretta pistols to include both "FS" and "G" models after they were authorized. The new "G" looks...kinda gross... but it carries fine. At least for me.
Back to 2016.
So drawing from safety-on I managed to get a FAST Coin... That was probably the greatest day of my shooting life. It was also simply what I trained. The safety sucks when you do it wrong. It's fast as anything if one knows how to do it. The LASD holster was designed to assist in deactivating the safety and it works great, but regular 6280s were no problem with the right technique. Problem was NO ONE taught how to do it right and everyone bitched about how it didn't work. My hands aren't big, and I've taught a lot of small females to run an on-safe Beretta like a champ. It's not hand size. It's technique. Even most instructors in my old department don't know how to train to draw an on-safe Beretta effectively from a standard 6280. Many of them simply shit talk the boomer pistol choice.
So where does that leave me...
I ended up getting a Wilson Centurion Tactical, then later adding "G" kits to several of my guns. When the LTT Elite was released, I bought one right away. Soon, since most of my guns were now "G", I'd become accostomed to drawing without deactivating the safety. When I got an old 92FS Inox and did some practice I realized pretty quick that consistency is important. It was then that my original issued 92FS got a "G" kit. I still have the original parts.
I retired in September. At "some point" prior to retirement, I was able to arrange to be issued a Beretta 92FS Compact L, Type M. It was one of a few "M" pistols purchased by the department for small-handed people who couldn't become proficient with a full size 92F/FS. I've heard a few stories about it but from my understanding/knowledge, no one ever selected one because if you did, that was the only pistol you could carry on duty.
I was able to purchase that pistol when I retired. I don't think it was ever fired before I tested it for accuracy and reliability. I ended up adding a D spring and I've been practicing manipulating the safety on the draw, which is not unsimilar to a 1911 if done right.
So to answer all your questions in one statement... Do nothing... Do everything. It doesn't matter. Just practice and be good. Excuses don't win gunfights, competitions, or coins.