Taking Down the Beretta U22 NEOS

When I was a little fellow and radio ruled as in-home entertainment, I sent in a cereal boxtop plus some chump change for a replica of a Buck Rogers ray gun. Or was it a Flash Gordon? I forget, and which space pioneer it was doesn’t really matter. The pistol I finally received (please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery) looked a lot like the Beretta U22 of today with its swept-back trigger guard and overall racy appearance. Of course, the ray gun merely spurted sparks when the trigger was pulled.

The NEOS spurts .22 Long Rifle. But after opening the box the first time, I couldn’t help wondering if the Beretta USA Engineers and Giugiaro Auto Designers who collaborated on the gun hadn’t gotten a peek at that ray gun from the past. The pistol’s name, NEOS, is from the Greek for "new." It is being touted as a starting point for a complete line of Beretta handguns that would be ideal for entry-level shooters while being modular in concept to allow easy upgrading for more advanced shooting needs.

Interchangeable barrels and grip frames are expected to be among the possible upgrades. The gun field strips without special tools, but with a couple of important caveats. Basic Disassembly The magazine is out, the chamber is empty, the safety is engaged and you are wearing eye protection. Pull the slide to the rear. Lock it open with the slide stop (#51). Press in on the barrel-lock screw (#60). This frees the barrel nut (#52) to be turned clockwise and release the barrel from the receiver (#56).

Pull the slide rearward, press down on the slide stop if it hasn’t dropped down on its own, and control the slide as it moves forward and off the receiver. Why the control? The slide is under pressure from the recoil spring. Releasing the stop without holding on to the slide can fling the slide off the frame with two possible consequences: (a) the slide can get damaged or (b) the flying slide could hurt someone or something—maybe your other hand.

Just in case you forgot to engage the safety, do it now or keep your finger off the trigger. Otherwise, you could easily"touch off" the firing pin and the pin is under strong spring tension. This takes care of field stripping. As you go through additional disassembly, take careful note of how all springs are positioned in relation to the parts they affect. Detailed Disassembly It seemed to me that the firing-pin guide (#22) was the key element in the U22 NEOS.

Besides housing the firing-pin assembly, it wears a bottom

lug that fits into the receiver as well as an upper lug serving to limit rearward travel of the slide by fitting into the barrel extension (#15) identified in the parts list as the "strap." About that lower lug: In earlier model pistols, its muzzle end was fully radiused. Now it is partially radiused and has a corner on the right-hand side.

If you ever have to replace the firing-pin guide from an early-model pistol with a newly configured guide, you will have to use a scraper on the guide-receiver recess to accept the corner just mentioned. What you don’t do is attempt to transform the newer guide into an older design. These comments about firing-pin guide replacement are for your information only; you’ll probably never have to put the information to use.

Like many other components of the NEOS, the guide isn’t for sale by Beretta and I doubt scouring the aftermarket would turn up any either. Things could change about parts availability, however. They have before. Removing the guide calls for disengaging the safety, compressing the end of the firing pin slightly on a protected bench surface, pulling the trigger, and easing the pin and its spring out of their housing. (See the red dot on the end of the pin?

It’s the "locked and loaded" indicator.) Below left and The guide body is attached to the safety insert (#43) by the guide screw (#21). The safety insert fits into the polymer receiver (#56) and the ejector block (#59) is retained in the receiver by the grip screw (#42). A 5mm hex wrench is used to remove the screw, and the block can be drifted upwards from the receiver after its retaining roll pin (#55) is pushed out. A brass or nylon rod is recommended for drifting the ejector block.

Note that the guide screw is installed with red Lok Tite, should be periodically checked for tightness and reinstalled using red Lok Tite. "Hold on there," you say. "Red Lok Tite requires 450 degrees of heat in order to defeat it, right?" Yes, you’d need the heat if the bond were metal-to-metal, but the safety insert here is polymer.

What you do need to remove the screw is a slim-diameter, perfectly fitting screwdriver blade. (Slim diameter because the opening in the guide body won’t accept anything else, and perfectly fitting because the screw head slot is quite shallow.) One of Brownells Mag Na Tip bits can be ground to meet both requirements, but I found that the #26 bit from the Chapman Gun Screwdriver Kit suited extremely well without modification. There’s another thing about the guide screw.

When the guide is B Aremoved from the safety insert, the sear assembly (#24, 25, and 26) will usually pop out. Notice how #25 seats in #26 and how both fit into #24. During reassembly, you can preassemble these parts by holding them together with a dab of white Lithium grease or Vaseline. The key fact here is that sear-assembly part #26 is the safety plunger. Leave the sear itself (#23) alone. It’s held in by a press-fit, knurled pin (#27).

The grip frame is separated from the receiver by pressing down and forward on the frame’s upper lug, visible through the cutout in the receiver in front of the barrel lock nut. The result of the separation will more than likely allow the slide stop (#51) and its spring (#52) to drop from the receiver. The Colt Woodsman behaves in a similar manner, and who knows how many of those tiny slide-release springs have wandered away when the right-hand grip was taken off a Hi-Standard Victor.

By now, the trigger bar (#30) will have popped up above the receiver rails. Rotate the bar fully forward, remove the trigger pin (#50), lift out the bar, its spring, and the trigger, and move to the rear of the receiver. Look closely at the right-hand safety lever (#33). In its midsection is what appears to be a pin. Actually, it’s the safety-lever retainer (#44). Under it is the retainer spring (#43).

On the other end of that spring is the safety-wing retainer spring (#45), safety body (#46), safety detent/ lock-plunger spring (#47), and detent G

1 Barrel 2 Strap Screw* 3 Strap Dowel* 4 Barrel Rib* 5 Front Sight Cross Pin 6 Front Sight 7 Front & Rear Barrel Rib Screw* 8 Rear Sight Elevation Screw 9 Rear Sight Blade 10 Rear Sight Windage Screw 11 Rear Sight Windage Spring 12 Rear Sight Body 13 Rear Sight Elevation Spring 14 Cross Pin Assembly* 15 Strap* 16 Extractor 17 Extractor Plunger 18 Extractor Spring 19 Slide 20 Slide Spring 21 Firing Pin Guide Screw* 22 Firing Pin Guide* 23 Sear* 24 Sear Plunger* 25 Sear Spring* 26 Safety Plunger* 27 Sear Pivot Pin, Knurled* 28 Firing Pin Spring Beretta U22 NEOS Semi-Auto Pistol 36 Magazine Button 37 Magazine Body Assembly 38 Magazine Spring 39 Magazine Bottom Retainer 40 Magazine Bottom 41 Grip 42 Grip Screw 43 Safety Insert* 44 Safety Wing Retainer 45 Safety Wing Retainer Spring 46 Safety Body* 47 Safety Detent/ Lock Plunger Spring* 48 Safety Detent* 49 Trigger** 50 Trigger Pivot Pin** 51 Slide Stop 52 Barrel Nut 53 Slide Stop Spring 54 Barrel Nut Lock 55 Ejector Retaining Pin** 56 Receiver* 57 Magazine Catch Pivot Pin** 58 Barrel Nut Locking Spring 59 Ejector** 60 Barrel Nut Lock Screw 61 Barrel Stud* 29 Firing Pin 30 Trigger Bar Assembly* 31 Trigger & Trigger Bar Spring** 32 Magazine Catch** 33 Safety Wing 34 Magazine Catch Spring** 35 Magazine Follower *not for sale **must be installed by a qualified gunsmith

The firing pin is locked back but the safety is in the "fire" position. If the trigger is pulled, the firing pin will become a pointed missile in search of someone or something to harm. (#48). Depress #44. Push the righthand safety lever forward and cover the hole where #44 lives. Insert a proper diameter drift punch in the hole, position a thumb forward of part #46, and push out the safety assembly. Why the thumb? When the stem of #46 clears the receiver, #47 and #48 will fly out if you don’t.

The safety insert can now be drifted upward from the receiver with a brass or nylon drift. The magazine catch is mounted to the receiver on the right hand side about 1/2-inch back from where the trigger attaches to the trigger bar. The catch-retaining roll pin (#57) can be drifted out up or down, but remember to control the catch spring (#34) and note how it’s positioned.

If the barrel nut (#52) hasn’t fallen out by now, back off the lock screw (#60), remove the nut lock (#54), the nutlock spring (#58), and the nut. You can now remove the barrel assembly. As already mentioned, slide travel is limited by the lug on the firing-pin guide when it engages the barrel extension (strap). The strap is secured to the barrel by a press-fit steel dowel (#3) and a screw (#2).

These two elements make any shock load from recoil go from steel to steel, rather than polymer to steel or polymer to polymer. The rib (#4) can be removed by drifting out its three pins (#14) and undoing its front and rear screws (#7). These screws should receive the blue Lok Tite treatment when reinstalled. The front sight (#6) can be replaced by drifting out pin #5.

The rear sight blade (#9) is replaced by pushing it to the far left, turning the windage screw (#10) clockwise to its maximum, and lifting up the righthand edge of the blade. There’s nothing left to take apart, and there are many parts in this gun on the "not for sale" list. That’s just another way of saying: "Restricted; factory installation only." Reassembly Tips Putting the NEOS back together is relatively straightforward and is performed in reverse order.

However, if the safety insert has been removed, make sure the sear-assembly hole in the firing-pin guide and the related safety insert holes are aligned by using a slave pin. Also make certain the trigger bar moves freely after the trigger is reinstalled. When remounting the barrel assembly, the strap must be positioned over the upper lug on the firing-pin guide. If this is overlooked, there will be a gap between the slide and rib when the barrel nut is tightened, which will result in major feeding malfunctions.

This can be avoided by starting the barrel nut onto its stud two or three turns, camming the sight rib down into the proper position, and then tightening the barrel nut. Examine the slide-stop closely. Above its lower tab that fits into the receiver is a very small notch. The bent leg of the slide-stop spring that powers the stop downward fits in that notch. What’s the best way to reinstall these elements without going nuts? Place the spring on its stop stud and keep it there with a dab of grease.

Place the stop against the receiver to trap the spring on the stud. Slide the stop toward its receiver cutout, seat it, and hold it in place until you secure it in place with the grip frame. Finally, check it for free movement. Getting the firing-pin/spring assembly back into the guide is another potential source of a migraine. The safety must be off. Hold the receiver in the web of one hand. There’s a .006-inch-deep recess in the forward end of the guide tunnel.

Assemble the firing pin to the spring, and place the rear coil of the spring in the recess. Use your free thumb and forefinger to keep the spring straight as you feed the firing pin into the guide tunnel. As long as the safety remains off, the firing pin will depress the sear as you push the pin fully to the rear. Slip on the recoil spring, then the rear of the slide. Pull the slide back and lock it there with the slide stop. And then proceed with reinstalling the barrel as described above. ■