Beretta came out of nowhere and released the all new M9A4; an optic ready 92 series offering. As someone who really enjoys the 92 series though; this has to be some sort of joke. To summarize my thoughts on this pistol, this release is so much of a meme that it just might be impossible to meme it more.
The M9A4 is coming to the market with two cutouts for a mounting a plate that will sit atop the slide higher than the peak of Mount Everest (or Tommy Chong, whichever is higher at any given moment). Beretta, from appearances, didn’t even try to bring the height of the optic down lower. Just looking at the plate sitting on the M9A4 hurts because of how bad it is.
What else can you expect though? It took Beretta over a decade to dovetail the front sight on the 92 series.
Beyond being optics ready Beretta did add a few other improvements to the M9A4 over the M9A3. The M9A4 is getting what Beretta calls their “Xtreme Trigger System”, a magwell that’s more flared (or that’s how it reads on Beretta’s website), it’s a G model (decocker only), and an 18rd magazine.
It is unclear whether these 18rd magazines are extended, or if they’re finally having MecGar produce the 18rd magazines under their (Beretta’s) name after MecGar has been producing them independently for quite some time.
Before we get to the MSRP I do want to point out something comedic about the presentation of the M9A4. Beretta opted to unveil it with a Burris FastFire being mounted on a plate while calling it a duty grade gun… why would you throw a non-duty rated optic (and arguably one of the worst optics on the market) on a firearm you’re pushing as duty grade?
Anyway, MSRP on the M9A4 is $1,099, and you won’t be receiving the mounting plates with your pistol at that price, no. You have to register your pistol with Beretta, then you have to contact Beretta, and tell them which plate you want.
Now that we’ve gotten all of that done with, I have a better alternative for those looking at this. Purchase a Beretta 92X G model (decocker only) and send the slide to Langdon Tactical to mill it for ~$350. Not only will you save some money (probably), but you’re going to be getting a much nicer optic cut that sits much, much lower than this hideous Goliath.