Carrying a pistol for self-defense is one of the most personal decisions within the firearms community. From caliber to carry position, everybody has their own idea as to what works best. Among the top debates is whether a pistol should be carried in a cocked-and-locked or hammer- down condition.
The cocked-and-locked crowd typically champions the 1911 as their pistol of choice, citing the ease of disengaging a thumb safety for the tradeoff benefit of a consistent trigger stroke. The other camp believes the additional capacity of guns like the iconic Beretta 92 are worth a long double-action shot out of the holster.
Now the two camps have an option they might be able to agree upon: the Beretta 92XI, an all-metal semi-automatic that runs like a 92 but comes to target like a 1911.
The nomenclature is a little deceptive, as it might lead you to believe this is another iteration of the 92X from the company’s Performance family; however, a deeper dig will reveal that XI is a Roman numeral, nodding to “11,” making this the “Beretta Ninety-Two Eleven.” This is a direct attempt to appeal to John Moses Browning’s fan base. As such, the 92XI is single-action only and features an enlarged ambidextrous safety that is disengaged in the downward position. Those who have trained with a 1911 should find that their drawstroke carries over without needing much reconditioning.
I thought—and others have said—that the frame on the original 92 needed some work. If you wore anything smaller than an extra-large glove, you likely had an issue getting your fingers all the way around it. To solve this, several years back, Beretta tested the waters with its Vertec grip. It was so well received that nearly every new Beretta now carries it, including the 92XI. Gone is the arched backstrap, which slims the package and changes the grip angle to better align with American tastes. The sidewalls were also thinned and combined with thinner pistol stocks, substantially reducing its circumference. Careful engineering allowed this work to not interfere with the typical Beretta magazine pattern. Therefore, current 92 owners will enjoy cross-compatibility; plus, Beretta includes a pair of 18-round magazines with each 92XI. During the redesign, the texturing was also changed slightly. The frontstrap and backstrap serrations are now crosshatched, providing a familiar feel, yet improving the shooter’s grasp.
Many might say the 92 didn’t need its trigger improved, but when a pistol is undergoing a redesign, it pays to make updates. A study of trends in competitive shooting showed the Italian manufacturer that straighter, wider triggers were becoming popular, particularly if they were situated further back in the trigger guard. These concepts led to the Xtreme-S trigger system. As the internal components are finished with a diamond-like carbon coating, the press is smooth without any creep or over-travel. (The trigger on our test gun broke at just shy of three and a half pounds and reset with less than a tenth of an inch of forward travel.)
Taking all of the controls off the slide makes the 92XI easier to handle and creates a blank canvas for new features. Among these is a fiber-optic front sight that can be nudged in either direction or entirely replaced—this is nothing like the rounded blade that was machined into the initial design. This is paired with an unburdened blacked-out rear notch that is also drift-adjustable. This latest generation is also cut for an optic; however, the required plates are sold separately. Familiar cocking serrations can be found fore and aft, and the entire slide is finished in a silver Cerakote for a striking two-tone profile.
Berettas typically eat everything you feed them, so I prepared a buffet of range fodder for our test. Among the trio was Federal’s Tactical HST round, which can be found on the gun belt of thousands of lawmen worldwide. For something on the heavy side, I included Winchester’s 147-grain Target & Practice round. This load features a flat-nosed, full-metal jacketed bullet and is one of the softest shooting options on the market. To stress the firearm, I also decided to work in Liberty’s new Overwatch ammunition. This featherweight, monolithic bullet flies faster than the speeds typically associated with 9 mm Luger and purports to possess barrier- defeating properties and enhanced ballistic shock.
I started with some group testing and found the pistol provided excellent accuracy with the tightest clusters going to the least-expensive ammunition. This is no doubt the product of its target-crowned barrel and the aforementioned trigger improvement.
Getting off the bench, I put the pistol into a universal holster and proceeded to my steel-target pit. Working on draw speed, I was able to land single hits on a 12-yard IPSC target in as little as 1.26 seconds. When I compare this to my draw time with a conventional 92, I found that the time it takes to disengage the safety is marginal—arguably, on my faster draws, this was even eclipsed by the shorter trigger stroke.
While I enjoyed the single-shot drills, the design truly earned its salt in controlled pairs. Having the trigger pull remain the same for both shots shaved off a fair amount of time over having to press out a long double-action shot followed by a shortened single-action shot. It also tightened my groups, as both trigger presses were identical. I finished off the day with a few reloading drills and found that the internal beveling expedited that process and the elimination of the old lanyard loop made it easier to slam a fresh magazine home without leaving a mark on the heel of my hand.
My day concluded after I had exhausted a little more than 300 rounds with only one failure to fire, which I believe was the result of a bad primer. Outside of that, the 92XI ran with impunity, just as I have come to expect from this platform. I think that both the cocked-and-locked and hammer-down fans are going to find a friend in this introduction, as it faithfully blends the best concepts of both designs.
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