Disassembly and Reassembly of the Beretta 90-Two

The Beretta Model 92 was once a highly controversial pistol. How controversial depended on the individual’s level of devotion to the Model 1911, which the 92 replaced as the U. S."s standard-issue military sidearm. Controversy aside, once the Italian semi-auto became "GI, law-enforcement agencies in this country rushed to adopt it as their primary duty weapon and to retire the wheelguns they’d carried for years.

Some observers believe the Model 92 was the pistol that ignited the "wondernine" craze that swept America in the 1990s. The interest in the wonder nine is easy to understand from the police officer’s point of view. A revolver held six rounds of .38 Special or possibly .357 Magnum that had been downloaded to perform far below its true muzzle velocity. The bad guys, on the other hand, often packed autoloaders stacked with eight or more rounds.

The Model 92 and other "nines" helped to even the playing field for the patrol officer facing a "situation." Nevertheless, aside from the capability of discharging a large number of rounds, I’ve never totally understood the whole wonder-nine thing. The cartridge was not intended to deliver maximum terminal effectiveness when it was developed around 1906. The reasoning: Kill a soldier and you eliminate one man, but wound a soldier and it takes two more men to get him off the battlefield.

That presumably is why German submachine guns sprayed millions of 9mm slugs during World War II. But I digress…. Beretta USA says the 90-Two "introduces new improvements to form, fit, and function, while maintaining the integrity and reputation of its predecessor, the Model 92/96 Series. The most obvious difference is the single-piece wraparound polymer grip that comes in two sizes (standard and slim). Not immediately obvious are the internal recoil buffer and captive recoil-spring-guide assembly.

Field Stripping The chamber is empty, the magazine is on the bench, and the decocking lever is in its downward position. If you value your eyesight, you’ll wear safety glasses, because the 90-Two contains springs, and these springs are like airplanes’t hey can fly. Assuming the gun belongs to a right-handed shooter, press inward on the disassembly latch (#18) on the right side of the frame.

Keep pressing and rotate the disassembly lever (#14) on the left side of the frame downward about 90 degrees in a clockwise direction. Pull the slide/barrel assembly forward, remove it from the frame, and invert the slide. Slightly compress the recoil spring (#40) and guide rod (#37) into the guide-rod tunnel at the front of the slide. Lift up and

remove the recoil assembly to the rear. Depress the locking-block plunger (#36) into the locking block (#34) to free the barrel (#33), which is taken out with the locking block still attached. I hope this is as far as your customer has ever gone in taking down his 90-Two, but that hope is probably in vain. The result of the additional effort will one day be presented to you in a plastic bag, as the customer says sheepishly: "I thought it was the same as a Model 92/96." "No problem," you say.

And you can give him a big smile, for you’re about to learn exactly how the 90- Two should be dismantled and how it’s reassembled (which, basically, is in reverse order). Just remember that the slide is taken down from an upside-down position, with you working from muzzle to rear, while the frame is approached from its rear to the muzzle. Some special tricks and tools will be noted as I walk you through the process.

Detailed Disassembly The first items to be removed from the slide are the extractor (#56) and extractor spring (#55). This is not done like it’s done with the Model 92. The latter employs a headed pin staked in at the top of the slide, while the Model 90-Two uses an extractor pin (#57) that’s knurled at its upper end and is driven in. Go at it from the underside of the slide, and control the extractor against any pressure from its spring. Set the removed parts safely aside.

If you don’t already have one, I recommend purchasing a magnetic parts tray (from Brownells); you’ll be using it a great deal. Next to be worked on is the righthand safety (#51). It’s retained by a pin (#52) connecting it to the lefthand safety (#44). Position the safety so the red dot shows. Rotate the right safety wing to see the pin and drive it out. Be careful before taking the wing off the pistol. The triggerbar detent (#50) and spring (#46) will shoot out if not controlled.

A plastic bag can prevent the escape of these small parts. Note that part #46 shows up twice on the schematic’once for the firing-pin block spring and again for the spring housed in the right safety wing. If they do, you’re likely to receive the gun in a plastic bag. The left-hand safety (#44) has a hole in its middle like the one on the Model 92/96. But it’s a hole with a difference.

In the 90-Two, the firingpin plunger (#49) passes through this hole and you can’t pull out the left safety while the plunger is in the slide. Place a finger over the firing-pin assembly hole at the rear of the slide. Push down on the firing-pin block (#45) and rotate the left safety until you feel the firing-pin plunger bump against your finger. Then you can pull the plunger out and pull the left safety from the slide. Removal of the firing-pin block and its spring mirrors the method used with the 92/96.

Push down on the block, rotate the firing pin to "block the block" (as the factory "smiths say), then lift out the block and its spring followed by the firing-pin assembly (#47 and 48).

There’s no difference between the 92/ 96 and the 90-Two regarding takedown of the barrel assembly. Drift out the locking-block roll pin (#35), then separate the block and plunger from the barrel. And that’s it for the slide group. So far, you’ve been working front to back. With the frame, you’ll go from back to front. Before doing anything else, look down into the frame just aft of the trigger itself.

Take plenty of time to study how one leg of the trigger spring (#10) curves up against the cross piece in the upper trigger, and note how its other end rests on a frame "shelf" in front of the trigger. The grip (#32) on the 90-Two is a single piece. It’s held to the grip frame by the grip-unit pin (#2). This pin is drifted left to right’but only drift it partially at first. You want to nudge it just enough so you can swing the unit clear of the metal.

After that, place the bottom of the magazine well over your bench’t he closer the better. Why so close? The instant the grip pin clears them, the hammer-strut cap (#31) and hammer spring (#30) are going to propel themselves out of the grip frame like crazed hornets.

Set 1 Frame (receiver) 2 Grip Unit Pin 3 Magazine Button 4 Bushing, Magazine Release Button Spring 5 Magazine Catch Spring 6 Bushing, Magazine Release Button Spring 7 Hammer Pin 8 Hammer Release Lever Pin 9 Trigger 10 Trigger Spring 11 Trigger Pin 12 Slide Stop Spring 13 Slide Stop Lever 14 Disassembly Lever 15 Rail Cover 16 Buffer Block 17 Disassembly Spring 18 Disassembly Button 19 Hammer Release Lever 20 Firing Pin Block Lever 21 Trigger Bar Spring 22 Trigger Bar 23 Ejector Pin 24 Ejector 25 Hammer 26 Sear 27 Sear Pin 28 Sear Spring 29 Hammer Strut 30 Hammer Spring 31 Grip Unit 32 Grip 33 Barrel 34 Locking Block 35 Locking Block Plunger Pin 36 Locking Block Plunger 37 Recoil Spring Guide 38 Recoil Spring Guide Cap 39 Recoil Spring Guide Washer 40 Recoil Spring 41 Recoil Spring Ass’y (complete) 42 Safety Plunger Beretta 90-Two Semi-Auto Pistol (Specifications subject to change without notice) 43 Safety Plunger Spring 44 Safety 45 Firing Pin Block 46 Firing Pin Block Spring 47 Firing Pin Spring 48 Firing Pin 49 Firing Pin Plunger 50 Trigger Bar Detent 51 Safety Wing R/H 52 R/H Safety Wing Pin 53 Rear Sight 54 Universal Pin, Long 55 Extractor Spring 56 Extractor 57 Extractor Pin 58 Front Sight 59 Slide Assembly 65 Magazine

The ejector is located on the opposite side of these two components. all these pieces aside, lift up on the rail cover (#15), and slide it out to the front. Forward of the trigger on the frame is the pistol’s disassembly lever. Press in on its opposite side (the disassembly button) and grasp the protruding end of the lever with smooth-jaw pliers. Turn the lever to release the tension from the disassembly spring (#17), then rotate the lever further to free it from the button. Then remove the lever.

When the lever, button, and spring are gone, move the buffer block (#16) to the front and out of the frame. You can’t miss the block. It’s a brand new and very blue component of the 90-Two. Study the relationships of the slide stop (#13) and its spring (#12) to each other and to the frame prior to removing them and moving on to the trigger bar (#22). The 90-Two bar has had a thin slot machined into its upper edge. The trigger spring (#21) fits into that slot and helps prevent lateral wobble of the bar.

These two parts require some finesse in removal. A small hooked tool is needed to lift the front of the spring from the slot and gently tug it toward the muzzle end of the frame. Keep the spring hooked and A B this objective, recognize that the spring has a rather long neck. Don’t bend it. Once the trigger bar has been removed, the spring can join it, but be aware of the possibility of damaging that long neck.

Because you’ve had a look at them previously, you may want to drift out the trigger pin (#11) right to left in small increments so you can study the positions of the trigger spring (#10) and trigger (#9) again. Once you’re certain you’re clear on their relationship, push the pin clear of the frame. The spring, being quite small, is a prime candidate for the magnetic parts tray. The ejector (#24) is retained by two pins. One (#23) is a roll pin. The other (#8) is solid.

Both drift right to left and secure important move the bar toward the right side of the frame (as viewed from above) with a second small tool. The objective here is to clear the spring from the bar and then push the front end of the spring downward and remove the bar. After reaching parts to the back end of the frame. Among the parts held in by pin #8 are the hammer-release bar (#19), firingpin block lever (#20), and the ejector itself. Part #23 has to be drifted out first.

Afterwards, you can do the same with #8 and lift out the parts it’s been retaining. Now drift out the hammer pin (#7) right to left. The hammer (#25) and hammer strut (#29) remain united and are taken out from the top side of the frame. The sear pin (#27) can be drifted in either direction, but focus on how the sear spring (#28) and sear (#26) relate to each another before pulling out your drift punch.

You’ll probably have to observe this by placing the butt end of the pistol on your bench and shining a bore light or small flashlight on the two components. Finally, we come to the magazine catch (#3). If the pistol is set up for a right-handed shooter, the release button will extend from the left side of the frame. It would extend from the right side for a left-hander. Either way, push in from the opposite side of the button’a curved pair of tweezers with (continued on page 16)

dulled down ends will help if you have short fingernails’t hen move that same side toward the magazine well until the catch assembly is free to drop out. The catch assembly of the 90-Two is taken out, put back in, and reversed exactly the same way as it is in a 92/ 96. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Reassembly Tips As I mentioned earlier, reassembly basically proceeds in the reverse order of the above, but here area few tips that will help in the process: Sear/Sear Spring.

Place the frame on your bench with the muzzle upwards. Use pin #27 as a slave. The spring fits in a milled track on the sear. Preassemble the spring and sear. The slave will help keep the sear in place. From the hammer side, push down on the two parts with a punch to align them, and then push the pin through. Ejector, Hammer-Release Lever, and Firing-Pin Block Lever.

Make certain the long arm of the firing-pin block lever points toward the muzzle and that the hump on the hammer-release lever is positioned toward the hammer (see photo). Start pin #8 in from the left. Capture the hammer lever, the block lever, and the front hole of the ejector in that order. Reinstall roll pin #23 in the rear hole of the ejector. Firing-Pin Block/Firing-Pin Assembly. With the slide upside down on the bench, install the firing-pin block and its spring. Preassemble the firingpin assembly.

Depress the block, use tweezers to guide the assembly into the block, and rotate the assembly to ensure it has been captured. When the extractor, its spring, and its pin are installed, the pin should ride in a firing-pin assembly "flat" to secure it in the slide after pressure is taken off the firing-pin block. Take care not to damage the firing-pin assembly when inserting the pin. Safeties. Start the left-hand safety in from the left side just enough to allow insertion of the firing-pin plunger.

Rotate the safety to tension the plunger, continue in the reverse order of the disassembly instructions, and then reinstall the right-hand safety.