Beretta Reimagined

Beretta 92F

This is my 92F Beretta.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.  I bought it more years ago than I would want to recount.  It was my first semi-auto in centerfire.  I took most of my training classes with it.  I shot a lot of IDPA with it.  I've come to like the double action first shot feature.  It's an excellent pistol.

The other day I was hanging out at the Design-2-Part Show in Akron.  The companies present were promoting their functionality.  It could be custom electronic circuits, laser tempering metals, perhaps you needed metal sub assembly components.  It was open to the public and I enjoy looking at practical technology.

 

Imagine my surprise at the Steinmetz booth.  Steinmetz is a custom molding company.  On the table was a plastic 92F Beretta, with a functioning magazine release.  It felt so real, that I kept wanting to work the slide after I dropped the magazine before examining it.

I have an older ASP 92F Beretta red gun and it doesn't feel as real.  The Steinmetz rep tells me they don’t sell them, but make them for other companies.  The military, he explained, uses them for training.  Makes sense.  Not everyone going into the service has a handgun background and some of the basics, like dropping the magazine, reloading from your belt, drawing from the holster, establishing a good grip, can all be practiced in safety off the firing line.

If the spirit moves you, you can find this type of training aid at this impossibly long HTTP address https://www.beretta.com/en-us/product/beretta-92a1-blue-gun-inert-training-tool-E00554?srsltid=AfmBOorgsfTCp84FW78v7Qlr7W2qma0_G7ZlhdBFiVDHh5MlPWAr_Ct8

I never thought I find a gun, even a plastic one at a technology manufacturing show.