Has anyone actually owned a Beretta M9 .22LR or M9A1 .22LR pistol?  Or shot one a lot somewhere?

Comments solicited on quality, durability, accuracy, and function.  Or anything else worth mentioning, i.e., what ammo did it run on or choke on?

Beretta doesn't make it.  The pistol says Umarex makes it on the side of the dust cover/slide.  Germany.  Usually their pot metal guns are not much to brag about.


http://www.beretta.com/en-us/m9-22lr/

or even better


http://www.beretta.com/en-us/m9a1-22/

I have one, and should be shooting it for the first time sometime next week. 

(Same as up in Rimfire Pistol, but put here since first post here seemed a little lonely.  Better photos.)

Looked at a 92FS-22 sand color and a M9-22 black today.

Nice trigger pull.  DA pull nice also.

But a Glock shooter is easily impressed by a single action trigger.

May look at them again.  Still deciding.  Big grip.

Adder:  I did talk to a Beretta TechRep before looking again.

-steel barrel (true)

-aluminum slide (true)

-polymer frame/handle/grip (true)

-steel insert that makes the "slide rails" in the handle's plastic body (Turned out wrong info.  NOT steel.  A mystery metal.  Not magnetic.)(Who Knows What It Will Mean)

-both short and tall front sights to adjust elevation if needed (Plastic with white dots so deep they shadow.  Have to be filled level with white finger nail polish or are useless)

-one (1) magazine (true)(normal in some brands, but crummy when you have to buy a second one)

The 92FS-22, M9-22, and M9A1-22 are all the same except for color (black/sand) and markings on the slide.

Maybe better than now discontinued S&W .22 Umarex made.

Random collection of steel and PLASTIC small parts where on 9mm they would be all steel.  

For example, Safety left side lever is steel, but right side lever is plastic.

Just wish "Umarex" not on dust cover.

Adder 2:  Spent money on the M9-22 version.  Black one, no rail.

Stripped and lubed whatever a Glock shooter thought needed lubed.  Filled level the deep idiotic white dot holes in the front and rear sights with white finger nail polish.  That way light from other then level 6 O'Clock does not make a shadow and move impact here and there.

Shot it at 25 yards rested over a bench on a soft pad two handed.  10 rounds of four ammos all on the same black 2"x2" square for impact comparison.  Sights were the factory front #2 and rear as assembled by Fritz Inspector 13 in Krautland at Umarex.

Target:







All in all, a bunch in the aiming square as taken out of the box.

The four ammos were fired in order of the 1-2-3-4 numbers on the target.  These were the first 40 shots out of the gun.  The Rem40RNHS compared to the CCI Blazer 40RNHS puzzled me.  In the off chance it being the first 10 rounds out of the gun using the Remington OR, and I say OR, the cold rained on old timer shooting it took 10 rounds to learn the trigger, I reshot the Remington as the fifth group on a separate target:



No clue on why the difference.  But a lot of difference.

For grins, I shot a magazine of Federal Auto Match into the dirt berm.

Summary:

Remington 40 grain Golden Bullets, 100 plastic box, HSRN:  fired and cycled 30/30 rounds.  Low impact on target, both groups.  I would discount the first group of 10 shots as the first 10 out of the gun.  The second tight but low group was not an accident.  Just lower than Blazer.

CCI Blazer 40 grain RNHS, 50 box:  fired and cycled 15/15 rounds.  Smallest group centered on center of black 2x2".  I'll take it.

Federal Auto Match 40 RN 1200fps claimed, bulk pack 325 box:  Fired all 30 rounds once chambered.  One stovepiped failure to eject.  4 or 5 short strokes where the slide did not cycle far enough to pick up a new round out of the magazine.  Distinctly weak recoil/noise/power.  Sucky in this gun.  Larger group than holds although 7/10 went into the black square.  Beretta manual says it works with high speed and standard speed .22LR.  No Way!  It won't even cycle with nearly high speed.  In fairness to the M9-22, the Federal Auto Match ONLY cycles my S&W AR15-22 with a blue spring.  It does not cycle my Glock AA converter, Ruger target model 6 7/8" pistol, or anything else I remember.

CCI Velicitor 40 Dimple Point HS, equivalent to CCI MiniMag 40RNHS, but with a shallow hollow in the nose:  fired and cycled 15/15.  Mile wide shots.  Not shooter.

Cold and wet and went home after 90 rounds.

The trigger single action is not bad.  All the controls functioned as expected.  The slide locked open every time it should and never when it shouldn't.

The rear versus front sight combo is dumb.  There is so much light on each side of the front sight that it is hard to center it.  

Nice feel to grip just like M9 9mm.  Big grip.  Forget the mini-hands, women, and kids.  All in all, not bad for the price.

Ordered some more 15 round magazines.  Now to hunt up some more Blazer 40RN.

Another 100 rounds of Rem40HS and CCI Blazer.  100% function.  

5-10-15-20-25 yard target.  Fired two handed standing not fast, not slow, just comfortable.  10 each.  Reasonably accurate for being shot in cloudy breeze and light rain.



Glock trigger finger struggles with a decent 5# crisp trigger on M9-22.  Interesting example without bothering with a 9mm.  Certainly worth the $299.

Trainer for the system without the bother of centerfire.

The others somewhat faster:

I put a magazine of decade-old (potentially much older, got it from my father years ago) Winchester 40gr HV through my M9-22 to test it last week. It worked quite well. The trigger is decent enough and compares well to the stock 92 trigger, and it was fun to shoot a 92 without any real recoil. I was just blasting at cans so I can't speak to real accuracy. I seem to need more practice with guns before I can judge the mechanical accuracy of anything. I've been neglecting my shooting skills pretty seriously and it shows.

I also have a Sig Mosquito and the Beretta is worlds better.

great gun it shoot every thing you can load in it enjoy

I would be interested in seeing if they would function with standard velocity ammo- if they do you can almost bet the farm accuracy improvement would be significant ( not that it is bad for a cheap plinker as is)
My concern like with most unarmed products is long term durability. Somehow I doubt you will find these 65 years from now still running like my recently acquired all steel Colt challenger or 1959 production beretta jaguar.

Since the above, this M9-22 has fired an additional brick or more of CCI MiniMags, Rem40RNHS, and CCI Blazer in the aggregate.  ZERO malfunctions.

Careful examination of slide, frame rails, and small parts shows no damage or wear beyond the first shots causing slight finish wear on moving parts.

Cool gun.

If I didn't carry and use Glocks and have Glock Advantage Arms .22 converters, which are PITA maintenance and repair dogs to keep running, I'd stick to the Beretta.

If you got a 92 or M9, I buy the M9-22 for sure.

Having owned umarex products in the past and them crack and and a big chunk fall off the slide on one,  i am inclined to skip their products.   Its sad beretta is marketing their stuff.

Yes.  And No.

I have a very good impression of the various Umarex CO2 BB pistols I have copying the M&P, HiPower, Makarov, and a revolver.

The Umarex rifle .22s I have seen are like shiest in several copies.

The Smith M&P .22 made by Umarex they quickly dumped was a piece of junk.

The Beretta M9-22 was cheap enough at $299 to try.  A fair evaluation of actuality is all I posted above.

It works.  It works well, i.e., perfectly with high speed ammo.  Forget Winchester.  It isn't wearing or wearing out oddly.

Hell, nothing is made like my Ruger RST-6 from the 1950's that ate 100,000 rounds of Remington 40RNHS, a case a year when I was a kid, until it needed rebuilt, essentially for free, with a factory refinish.

So maybe I just shoots thebM9-22 and reports the results withholding my anti Umarex bias.

It did serve to acquaint me with why people like Berettas.  Had I had a 92/M9 first, Glocks would have been less impressive.  Fortunatey, Glocks reproduce in the dark of a safe making more.  Or so I have told my wife.

The Beretta M9-22LR continues to chug along with out incident, 100 rounds here, 50 rounds there.

I am more and more impressed.  It works.  

The Advantage Arms .22LR kits I have rarely run 50-100 rounds from clean without screwing up something.  The Beretta just runs.

25 years of Glocking and the AA kits have made me like the Glocks and shoot them well.  And yet, the Beretta .22 easily out shoots them all using it however infrequently.

I really have to buy an M9 or M9-A1 9mm.