A while ago, I had made a deal with the wife that I was allowed to buy another Beretta when I found that said “Made in Gallatin, TN” on the side of it. She couldn’t deny the cool factor of having a gun made in a suburb of the town we live in.
Unfortunately, a good chunk of the guns coming out of the Gallatin facility merely have “Made in the USA” imprinted on the side. The ones that don’t are either things like the Langdon Tactical 92G, which has been outside of my price range, or the Nano, which… as much of a Beretta fanboy as I am, I just don’t like.
Then I found out that Beretta was coming out with an limited run of 1000 92s to celebrate the move to Gallatin.
The “92G Brigadier Volunteer” comes with walnut grips with the tri-star image from the state’s flag, symbolizing the three regions of the state, the 1796 inscribed in the slide is the year the state was founded, and, of course, Tennessee is nicknamed “the Volunteer State.” Oh, and to finish off the references, the serial numbers of this line all start with “TN.”
Of course, this edition of 92s aren’t just for show. Immediately obvious is the Brigadier slide. While this was originally created to deal with concerns over cracked slides on the early 92s, and can help with dealing with more powerful +p loads, it’s also a little bit of extra weight, which helps it be very soft shooting pistol.
As folks that are familiar with the 92 series will notice, this is a “G” series gun, which means that the lever on the slide is a decocker only, and there is no safety. This is the preferred configuration of most folks that actually carry or compete with these pistols. I have carried my Px4 in this configuration for a while now, and am confident that it is safe with the hammer down, and I don’t have to worry about accidentally engaging the safety.
They also decided to upgrade the hammer to the skeletonized “Elite” hammer, and upgrade all of the parts that are plastic in the base 92 with metal pieces. Honestly, I’m not sure what, if any advantages these upgrades actually have over the original.
There are three things that they leave out of this edition that many people like in the more high-end versions of the 92. The first is the lack of a rail for lights, etc. Honestly, I don’t plan on adding a light or laser to this gun, and I prefer the look of the original frame versus that of the A1 with the rail.
The second is the grip. It seems that everyone likes the thinner straight “Elite” grip, and it is what they have chosen for the Langdon, M9A3, and other “premium” 92s. Personally, my giant hands find the original grips with the hump in the back more comfortable, but mileage clearly varies on that one.
Lastly, the 2 magazines that are included with this pistol are the original 15 rounders. I personally prefer the 17 round mags. I do plan on carrying this guns as a BBQ gun, and I will probably grab a couple 17 round magazines when I do.
As for the trigger pull, I did have the opportunity to dry fire one of the Beretta factory Langdon M9s when I bought this pistol, and could tell no difference. Whether that means that Beretta threw in a “D” hammer spring with the Volunteer, like they advertise that they do with the Langdon, or if I simply am not expert enough to tell the difference, I could not tell you. What I can tell you is that the single action is pretty light and crisp, while the double action is heavy, but smooth and consistent.
All this is makes for a pretty gun, but, for me, the final question is “how does it shoot.” In a word: marvelously. It being a 92, I wasn’t concerned with its reliability, and it has yet to give me a reason to be so. I’ve found that it is extremely accurate (yes, even in double action), and very quick to return to target.
Things have been… rather wet… around here lately, and the indoor range I’ve been going to maxes out at 10 yards. That said, I had no issue keeping all 15 rounds of a magazine in a ragged hole on the target, and I expect that any experienced shooter should be able to easily place rounds where they want them within standard pistol ranges.
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The stars (representing Tennessee’s three “grand divisions”) are even in the correct configuration (at least on the right side). Good work, Beretta!!
When they fly the state flag, many (if not most) native Tennesseans get that wrong and fly it upside-down. I’ve seen it flying upside-down over the state capital (hint: if you don’t know which end is up, STOP FLYING IT!). Even the majority of the Tennessee state flag license plates I see on the front bumpers of cars (law only requires a state-issued license plate on the rear) have the stars positioned wrong in relation to the blue stripe on the fly edge, which results in the flag being in the wrong configuration no matter how you mount it.
And BTW, the Beretta factory in Gallatin is less than 10 miles from the birthplace of Jonathan Browning, father of John Moses Browning and a noted inventor and gunmaker in his own right. But I’d bet you won’t see Beretta using that factoid in their advertising. Nonetheless, it reinforces the truth of Bob Lee Swagger’s claim that Tennessee is “the patron state of shootin’ stuff.”
In fairness, the correct configuration of the stars is not easy, since they’re intentionally not really line up with anything else on the flag.