the author is talking about .40 S&W's which are pieces of #### in my view, the Beretta platform should never have been switched to 40's. However I have one, very old 96 (.40 S&W) that has 165,000 rounds through it. I just replaced the locking block at 162,530 rounds. It's on it's 3rd recoil spring. that's it. But I have a newer 96G Elite II that is on it's way back to the USA since it fell apart.
When it comes to 9mm, which is what the Beretta was designed for, there is simply no other gun out there that has been tested and abused as much as Beretta. The letter from Dan Taylor has a few truths in it, but not much, it's typical of fanatical Glock owners. I've seen more problems on my range with Glocks than any other gun. Talk to Redleg at TSE and he'll say that he's seen them from Beretta, Glock, S&W, but not Sig. Talk to the owners of shops in Florida and you'll hear how Beretta's never fail, but Glocks, Sig's, HK's do. There is no perfect gun, it's as simple as that.
And there has never, ever, ever been a slide removed by anyone during a confrontation. I attended a seminar years ago where the instructor was telling people this. I and 4 other students safed our weapons, removed all live rounds from the room, and asked him to remove our slides. Each and every time we pulled the trigger multiple times while he was trying to remove the slides from the gun. It is, always has been, and always will be, complete bull####. Had it ever happened, it would have been huge news and you would have seen Beretta go out of business. Jet Li doing it in a movie does not make it real. Watch the clip in slow mo, you can see the disassembly latch is in the down position before he even grabs the gun.
Now you are correct that the page above doesn't reveal much from the INS test. But we have seen some of the documentation that the INS released, it was a result of the INS testing that caused Glock to first lengthen, and then back that off slightly, the slide rails on Glock pistols, as each and every Glock that was tested in the "frisbee" test had the slide separate from the frame. During the drop tests 2 Glocks also fired the primed case. They were the only guns to fire the case during the drop test. The reasons for firing are thought to be the same as the round that went off into the Calgary cops leg. a broken pin that allowed the crucifix (I think that is the correct term) to slide down and out of the way of the striker, allowing the striker to fall forward with enough force to fire.
Last night at S&D night I had my second ever fail to extract with my gun, although it did extract, the meat of my hand getting caught up in the slide, during firing, is what caused the jam, same as the first one I had. and I have the scars to prove it. My pistol is now sitting at 24,000 rounds + or - 1,000 with no cleaning. I've lubed it twice during that time. This is typical of how I treat my competition guns. I wait until I can watch the slide move before I'll actually clean it.
Now problems I've personally witnessed with Glocks, factory ammo KB's. one destroyed the gun, two were reloads, and all three times the shooters were hurt significantly. I've been on other ranges with KB's but wasn't standing beside the shooter. I've seen numerous broken trigger pins, and to be honest only a few of them prevented the gun from firing, the others weren't discovered until the gun was taken apart, this has been in 9mm and .40's. I've seen the disassembly latch fall out. I've seen the safety on the trigger not work, I've seen it fall out, pins that hold in the other components fall out, break and shear off. Mags that won't stay seated, mags that won't come out, sights that break off (very common with the plastic adjustable sights).
I personally like the Glock as a pistol, but the Beretta fits my hand better, as does a Sig.