Well, I got this into my hot little hands yesterday.
Condition surprised me. For all intents and purposes, it's a new gun with a beautiful finish. Wear patterns suggest less than 50 rounds fired before I got it. Maybe I got lucky in that respect (not sure how close mine is to average). Here's a picture with the grip off. The finish looks like it just came off the production line -- the grips have not had an opportunity to leave any rub marks on the bluing. The action is perfectly good, but not as shockingly slick as the 70, 80, or 90-series Berettas are.
The magazine, however, was "extremely not new." The mag had no pinky extension on the base plate. I thought these were made to optimize concealment, but mine clearly started life with a pinky extension, only to have it ripped off with pliers at some point (also possibly bitten off by a shark or blown off in an allied bombing raid). This left some jagged, uncomfortable edges. I re-shaped that area with a needle file, applied cold blue and a sealant, so it's now looking and feeling much better. I also ordered a standard mag with pinky extension from ebay (for $29) before the gun arrived, so I have one of each configuration.
I ran out to the desert for a quick test fire. Conditions were miserable with wet snow coming down and mud everywhere, so I didn't do much. About 49 shots total, including one 7-shot group on paper from ~15 yards (supported by the cold, wet, snowy hood of my car). That group had one flyer (due to me) and the six remaining shots went into about 3 inches. I was worried about mechanical accuracy due to the re-crowned barrel, but all appears to be well.
The test fire also revealed a weird malfunction. Rounds were almost fully chambered but stuck on the breech face, just as the rim was supposed to be slipping behind the extractor. I hypothesized a burr on the back-side of the extractor. I could also reproduce this jam by dropping the slide on full mag, without firing. After doing this a bunch of times, the malfunction went away, and I chalked it up to break-in of a "vintage but new" gun. To be double-sure, I did a detailed examination last night -- the extractor turned out to be okay, but there was a very clear burr on the "scoop" at the bottom of the breech face. I removed it with a needle file, and now chambering is solid.
I had no problems with slide bite, but the hammer got the web of my hand a few times (the beavertail being very minimal). Not enough to break skin, but pinchy enough to get my attention. Recoil did not seem too excessive, particulary with the Sinterfire 75gr copper loads. But, I wasn't paying much attention to that, being distracted by the jam issue at the time.
The design of the safety might be an issue for some, but it works for my particular finger and thumb geometry.
The sights are extremely small and mostly to be ingored for self-defense purposes, but they can support precision shots if you take your time. Rear sight is drift adjustable.
My biggest criticism is the trigger. Mine isn't crazy-heavy, but it did come with a metric ton of creep and false-starts. I hope it will smooth out with shooting and dry-fire. The trigger *reach* is also very short, and will take some getting used to.
Overall, I was surprised at how small the total presentation was, and it's just a neat little old-school, all-steel package. Built like a tank, to be sure, but a sleek little one. With some more shooting and familiarization I will try to imagine the best use-case for it, to be more than just a collectable.
