Any training tips using a handgun with the mag release in a weird spot?

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ffolkes

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So I have my "new to me" Beretta 92s and I'm just loving it. However, I've never had a gun with the mag release at the lower side of the grip panel instead of near the trigger.

Did the Italian police used to train using their support hand to engage the mag release on reload? I see no way to do so using the shooting hand.
 
ffolkes said:
However, I've never had a gun with the mag release at the lower side of the grip panel instead of near the trigger.

Did the Italian police used to train using their support hand to engage the mag release on reload?
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That's no surprise, the placement of the mag release on the 92S is definitely unusual. I can't think of any other design that has it low on the side like that. European guns typically have the mag release as a heel clip, American guns of course put it at the base of the trigger guard.

Anyway, it is important to remember that traditional European attitudes towards tactics and equipment are very different from modern American ones. These are the people who were diehard advocates of things like magazine cutoffs and lanyards that attached the mag and the gun together, for a long time. It is quite possible they never considered the possibility of carrying a spare, loaded mag and doing a swap under pressure. Get the mag out however you can and casually reload it after the gunfight is done.
 
Run it with support hand activating the release and you could dump your mag awfully quickly with that method and run everything else like normal
 
ffolkes said:
So I have my "new to me" Beretta 92s and I'm just loving it. However, I've never had a gun with the mag release at the lower side of the grip panel instead of near the trigger.

Did the Italian police used to train using their support hand to engage the mag release on reload? I see no way to do so using the shooting hand.
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Do you really want to spend your (limited) time and (limited) ammunition trying to master an obsolete platform?

I suggest that you accept reality and cut your losses (now, rather than later).
 
Wendell said:
Do you really want to spend your (limited) time and (limited) ammunition trying to master an obsolete platform?

I suggest that you accept reality and cut your losses (now, rather than later).
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I thought we were putting holes in paper at a range not training for wetwork with the cia. JfC man, this what I was able to afford, sorry if I'm not meeting your standards.
 
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With your (apparently) unlimited time and unlimited ammunition please do whatever the #### you want.
 
Wendell said:
With your (apparently) unlimited time and unlimited ammunition please do whatever the #### you want.
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No I have a sunday on a range with a few boxes of ammo like most people. So finding the best ways to use the hardware available by asking some questions seemed a good idea. I guess I need to do that somewhere else.
 
So if anyone is actually interested, the different techniques for this style of mag release depend on if you are reading a Polezei or Carabinieri training manual. The more paramilitary state police handled the S somewhat differently. However such a low round count 92s as this one would only be a Polezi.

The 92s uses a magazine brake rather than a mag release, it holds the mag in frame while the support palm is already pre-positioned to remove it.

It is with the Carabinier and early very limited adoption by a few US departments, LAPD, Illinois State, who both examined the 92s in 1975 that you start to see mags milled mags along with some creative Dremel use in the frame so they will drop faster, then you start to see more creative uses of the heel type mag release.

Its really amazing how nice these models are for target use, the single action reset is almost instant. With enough orange paint you can almost see that millimeter tall front sight too.
 
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Having shot many different types of heel release guns over the years, that mag release never bothered me.
Now that front sight was a different matter, maybe 50 yrs ago, it would not bother me.
I generally hold the release in while loading.
 
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