I pick up a fairly inexpensive Beretta Centurion about a year ago, it's used with holster wear and I've been happy with it.

I carried a M9 in the Army a number of years and I'm well aware of the magazine problems associated with it , the pistol I picked up came with a magazine from Italy that has work 100%
I take it out about twice a mouth and with well over the hundreds of rounds I've fired, the pistol has never gave me any problems at all.

I came a cross this website where by a gentleman had conducted a test on his Glock:
http://www.theprepared.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90  

So, I thought, that is a very good idea, I should push the pistol a little hard to see its capably, or maybe its limitations.

Well, I set off today with a bucket of water, play sand, another bucket of mud and a lot of anticipation.

I loaded up the 15 round magazine and fired all off no problem, the gun sits by my bed side, clean and lube, ready for action.
I loaded the magazine back up and load it in the pistol, charged the weapon and in-gauge the safety, so the pistol was in the "red" condition.

I then drop it in the bucket of water:


Once again, the Beretta fired them all off no problem.

Now I thought that I would first put it back in the water then I would buried it in the play sand, like if a soldier was to storm a beach, he would first come across the water, then may have to low crawl through the sand, before he was to use it, well it sounded good to me so that I did the test like this.

Once again I put the pistol in "red" condition the drop it back in the water and wait for all the bubbles to stop:


Next,the play sand, I pact it on the pistol as hard as I could:


Dug it out:


Using me right thumb, deactivated the safety, pulled the trigger and click, I pulled the trigger a few more times, 4th time the weapon fired.
It didn't go back in to battery, I tried cycling the slide by hand and it was impossible to move:



I had to push back the slide at the muzzle end, more like a Karate chop, but the slide was just frozen.
I removed the magazine, and with a few more Karate chops I was able to cycle the slide.
I lock the slide to the rear, activated the safety and inserted the magazine.
Now, I've always use the slide release to charge a Beretta, so not to accidentally activate the safety at the wrong time,well the slide release was also frozen, I couldn't get it to move to save my life, I had to use both thumbs to drop the slide and charge the weapon.
Ok, time to deactivate the safety, well, I'll be, the thumb safety was the same way, I couldn't get it to move with just one thumb, had to use both sides of the safety with both hands to deactivate the safety:


Moving right along, I pulled the trigger and the pistol fired, but again wouldn't go back in battery:



At this time I had to disasmble the weapon and see what was going on:






I didn't see any sand in side the locking blocks, or around the hammer, I assembled the weapon, and I cycled it by hand a few times, seems ok, load up the magazine and the pistol would fire but the slide just wouldn't cycle, every shot I had to cycle the slide by hand.
I then dissembled the Beretta and flushed the upper and lower out in the bucket of water.
Reassembled and loaded the pistol and fired, well, now it start to cycle but not all the way, I'm getting failure to feed and the slide isn't going all the way back, the empty casing in not ejecting:





Well, looks like the sand test is a failure, but I have to get it working again for the mud test.
I dissembled the weapon, and sprayed WD-40 on everything and the magazine as well, load the magazine back up, and it fired all 15 rounds 100%, no problems.

Maybe the mud test will be better!





Well as you can guess, it was the same exact story.



failure to feed:


Failure to go into battery:



The pistol was dead, couldn't move the slide, safety and it take a good two min.'s to get the magazine out, it was suck in the frame.

Wash it out in the bucket of water just to have it failure to feed and cycle:




Same story, sprayed it all out with the WD-40 and it ran like a top.

Do you think I'm expecting to much from my Beretta?

 

Wow.  That is a lot to expect from any gun.  It's good to be able to get a gun for enough of a deal to be able to put it through a test like this.

yeah, I didn't pay alot for it, $300 bucks a year ago.

Interesting... I'm going to have to try this

I don't think a gun has to be able to do all that. But it is comforting if it can.
 

Great post/test OP. I'd love to see that on video but the pictures are the next best thing!    Beretta 92 series weapons are extremely reliable in almost all conditions but the sand test is a lot to ask for any open slide design.    I wouldn't hesitate to trust my life to one though––-not at all.

No, but yes. Results do not suprise me. It will be the same with any all metal and/or tighter tolerance gun. If the stuff/gunk particles are smaller than the fit/part tolerances of the slide/frame the stuff/gunk will get between them and jam things up. And, the poly guns ride on about 2" of metal/metal rails to slide contact total, plus usually have greater/looser tolerance. That's far less surface for stuff/gunk to jam things up, more space on either side of the rails for stuff/gunk to clear out of the way and looser tolerances to allow the stuff/gunk to just fall away or not build up enough to jam. Thanks for sharing.

This is what I like to see. Thanks for sharing. Nice pistol too. I'm so tempted to try this with one of my guns.

Yes you do  expect too much.
(Especially with a cheap, $300 used Beretta.  Not a fair test.)

The Beretta was thoroughly tested in 1985 when it won the US military contract.

Here are the facts:

"The average reliability of all M9 pistols tested at Beretta U.S.A. is 17,500 rounds without a stoppage.
• During one test of twelve pistols fired at Beretta U.S.A. before Army supervision, Beretta-made M9 pistols shot 168,000 rounds without a single malfunction.
• The Beretta 9mm pistol was the most reliable of all pistols tested in the 1984 competition which resulted in the award of the M9 contract to Beretta.
• Two-thirds of all M9 pistols endurance tested at Beretta U.S.A. fired 5,000 rounds without a single mal function or, at most, with only one malfunction.
• The average durability of Beretta M9 slides is over 35,000 rounds, the point at which U.S. Army testing ceases.
• The average durability of M9 frames is over 30,000 rounds. The average durability of M9 locking blocks is 22,000 rounds."

And two  links ––  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beretta_M9

http://www.berettausa.com/products/beretta-92-fs-made-in-usa/

That IS a lot to expect from any handgun in my opinion. That is a nice pistol that I would be proud to own. About the only thing I can think of that would fire being packed in sand and mud like that, is the venerable AK-47. In 99.8% of the time, even in combat, a pistol is not going to be subjected in that much sand or mud unless something seriously bad has happened to you. I've owned Beretta's before and put many, many rounds through them without 1 single malfunction albeit using Beretta magazines only. They are great guns and I would own another in a heartbeat. Thanks for posting this OP. I don't have the heart to do that to one of my pistols...

Is it too much to expect?  Probably... can a modern handgun pass it?  Yes.

Remember the famous glock torture test that Big Bore did (Adco)? The glock passed with flying colors.

Big Bore Glock Torture Test

Thanks for the pictures and the write-up. I enjoyed reading it.

Yes, thats what I was talking about, compared to Glock in that test, I feel my Beretta failed.
What do you think?

For me, the test didn't do anything to discredit the Beretta.  

Time to sell it and get a glock. You knew that was coming, figured I might as well say it first.

The Glock design (short rails that limit metal on metal contact with the slide and frame and that have loose tolerances) can take more of the abuse and neglect these unrealistic tests demonstrate. It's very much like the AK in this regard. If that's your deal go with it.

good test/post dude

glad you did it... glad you like the gun... glad i dont own berettas (well a 21a :D) and sad that the m9 is our new 1911... still props for having the balls to do this to a gun!

That's a tuff test for any firearm, and i wonder if the military well switch it out.

Hey op can i post a vid of beretta vs glock torture test.

sure, if you have info please share it.

I don't want to turn this into a Beretta vs. Glock but I just want the most reliable semi-auto pistol I can get.
It just so happens that I have a new in the box, never fired Glock 17 perhaps I should run the same test on it.
I know it wouldn't be a fair comparison, between the two, with the Glock being new but what a better way of braking in a new pistol?
Anyone have any video or pics of this same test on the Glock?
I can't believe that I'm the only one to do this.

If that's the case, I guess my CZ would fail miserably, the whole bottom of the slide is one big, close-fitting rail LOL

Nice testing OP, I guess you know your guns limitations now. I'd never bring myself to do that to my pistols, but that's just me.

Run your glock through the 2,000 round challenge (you can search those words in this forum to find the thread about it).  Then it will be nice and broken in for your water/sand/mud test

The two thousand round challenge sounds interesting, but expensive, I plan on running a water/sand/mud test on the Glock first thing tomorrow.
Can't wait to see how it turns out..

I'm not a big fan of the Beretta for all the usual reasons, but it seems like it should've done better than this. Any idea how many rounds that recoil spring has on it?

I look forward to the Glock test. Thanks for doing this!

Never tried mud, but I did do a sand test on a 2nd Gen Glock 17 several years ago. After pouring sand on the G17, it fired once and the trigger would not reset. After unloading the pistol and shaking it off real good, it continued to fire. The gun was terribly gritty and it took quite a bit of cleaning to get it working smoothe again. All in all, when doing something like this to a firearm, it will either work reliably, or it won't. Personally, I don't really look at these extreme abuse tests as being a deciding factor on how I view a handgun. It is amazing that some pistols may function after this type of test, but I really wouldn't expect a handgun to do so, regardless of who made it.

I'm not expecting the OP to do this, but to really prove anything I think somebody would have to use multiple Berettas and repeat the tests numerous times.

No idea, but when its clean it run's 100% no problems

Yeah, 10 new Beretta M9/92's would really prove what the Beretta's are capable of, but I just want to know the capability of the weapons I run.

My Beretta was dead after the sand test, couldn't even move the slide, I even disassemble the pistol, flushed it in the bucket of water, and still couldn't work.
Only after I disassemble it again and hosed it down with the WD-40, then it ran like a top.
Can't wait to see how the Glock handles it.  

Bless you for doing this, thank you.  How do our troops in the sandbox keep sand out of them?  I did a carbine course at a sandpit and sand got everywhere; can't imagine living in it!

thanks. Can you or someone post the video in the thread i just have the link. sorry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srg4nwVv6go

You know, I was expecting it to do better as well, at lease in the sand, but I don't know, maybe I'm expecting to much.

For me, it was more of a fine dirt, and it gets everywhere! MRE's, in your mouth, ears and most of all your weapons, I remember a "Sand storm" once, I was on a "OP" and all my weapons that once had a nice coat of CLP then was just covered in mud, the dirt inside of my M240 was so thick you could make mud pancakes with it.

 

Thanks tusken raider. If you guys watch the vid some might be surprised with what happens.

I liked it. I own both? Good thing we are in a drought here in Ohio.

Gentleman,
Just completed the test on the Glock 17, lots of info.

Test subject:
New in the box





load up the magazine and since it was new I fired the first magazine just to be safe and verify there was no problems.
Pistol fired all with no problems.
Loaded up another mag, charged it, submerged it in the bucket of water:





waited for all the bubbles to stop, removed and fired, again no problems.

So far, so good. Now moving on to the sand test, load up another mag. submerged it in the water, waited for the bubbles to stop, removed it and placed it in the sand, buried it, packed it down:



dug it out:



Held my breath and fired, and to my dismay, it fired a second time, then a third, again and again until the slide lock back and I looked and was just shock, it worked!
When I took it out of the sand I didn't think it would have work, I didn't think the trigger would reset or the slide would go back in to battery, but wow, no problem!

Ok, moving right along, the mud test:



Pack it in the mud:



dug it out:


Fired the first round had a stove pipe:


the second round the slide didn't not go back in to battery, cycled it by hand, fired another round then had a failure to feed:



worked the slide ejecting that round then I fired the pistol, then the trigger wasn't set, I looked in the chamber and the spent round wasn't ejected, the slide didn't cycle so again had to cycle it by hand, fired the pistol and again I cycled the action, I had to cycle every round until it was empty:


With the slide locked back I flushed it out in the bucket of water, I worked the slide back and forth and it seemed ok, did a function test, no problem, load up another magazine, charged it and fired, the pistol cycled, fired another, then another, but then had a stove pipe:



worked the slide ejecting the spent casing and was firing again, and again and again, then somewhere around the 10th shot I had a failure to feed:


I worded the slide, ejected the round and fired the rest of the magazine with no problems.

load up another magazine, and with no problems it ran locking the slide back to the rear.

End statement:

The Glock was very fast to recover and also it dealt with the sand and mud with better results.
It wasn't frozen after each test, it didn't die.
All the malfunctions the pistol had, i was able to over come the problem fast and get the pistol back into action.

Your Glock did better than the Beretta in this test, hands down. They are both great pistols by many standards and are high quality handguns. If you feel more comfortable with the Glock, it easy to understand why and the G17 is an awesome pistol. IMO, if you are going to use either of these guns for defense purposes, make sure you completely clean them. The Glock will be easier to strip down for a complete cleaning, the Beretta not so much (specifically the slide).

I would like to see this done with a Glock, as they are the "holy grail of reliability" Meh. I have never been a Beretta fan anyways.

And no, I dont think a Glock would pass this test either.

Cool tests.  Thanks for posting.

That's awesome that you did the Glock, too. Thanks so much for doing this. Very enjoyable read and thread.

What's next???

Great test, and good to know that you should always keep your guns clean after a day in the sandbox, lake, snow etc..

Thanks for the test.

HK45?!

Since this is the Beretta forum, what about a PX4? It would be interesting to see if the newer Beretta handles it better than the older one. Or a 1911 or S&W revolver.

ETA: Oops, thought this was the Beretta forum Still interested in the PX4

The 1911 would be interesting

You're mission, should you choose to accept it...

Very interesting test, thanks for sharing!  Especially for doing that to a brand new Glock!  I'd definitely be interested in seeing how a 1911 handles this test.