Friend has one of these and he asked if I wanted to buy it. Not really a berretta fan but was wondering if you guys could tell me more about it. I know it's a 9mm dao gun. Thats about it. I think he is asking $450 for it but not sure if it's worth it. He said it's only got 500 rounds through it. He is the original owner and he bought it in like 1990.

I believe all the 96 guns are .40 - not 9mm.

As far as I know, the 92 series is 9mm and the 96 series are .40 caliber. I have one of each myself.

Pete is right. Beretta 96 is a 40S&W gun. I am not a big fan of the DAO Berettas. The trigger pull is OK, but loooong. Comparable to the HK LEM trigger pull in my opinion. Others may feel differently.

I'll double check with the guy. My buddy put in for permits today.

My 1st pistol was a Beretta 96 Centurian, bought just as the '94 AWB was hitting. My wife, then girlfriend, bought the 92FS at the same time.

 

I thought the 92FS was a cream puff to shoot. Really light recoil, w/ a heavy'ish trigger and a super smooth action (common to all 92/96 pistols...refering to the super smooth slide action). I held onto the 96 for about 6 years or so. At some point, I picked up a G22 and had experience w/ a G23 and a variety of Sig .40's. I thought the .40 was less than ideal for the 96 design. It really felt stout in this frame and, for lack of better term, felt like it was really beating up the pistol. From what I've seen, a lot of PD's that were originally issued some flavor of 96, are not using them anymore. I remember Beretta came out w/ the Brigadier model that was supposed to be a beefed 96, but I don't know if Beretta even offers these anymore.

 

I have no experience w/ the DAO trigger, except to say I dry fired one in the old Navy Arms. I remember the trigger as being very long, but smooth and lighter than the DA of a DA/SA Beretta trigger, but not near as light as the SA trigger of a DA/SA.