��The Beretta 93R is a modified version of a 9mm 92f, the most important modification being the capability of firing three-round-bursts. The pistol was designed to fill the niche between handguns and machine pistols - to serve those who need more firepower than a regular handgun offers, but for whom a conventional machine pistol or submachine gun is too large to carry. The Beretta 93R is basically a single-action-only Beretta 92f with an extended and ported barrel, a fire mode selector switch, a folding foregrip, an extended magazine, and the capacity to accept a folding stock. Omega's 93R is an excellent representation of the real thing. Read on:
Appearance
��I've long been a fan of the Beretta 93R - I've handled several real ones (though I've never had the chance to fire any), and this Airsoft certainly does justice to the design. The finish overall is excellent - the frame, slide, and barrel are all a nice matte black and the grips are dark brown plastic. Everything is well-proportioned and the controls are true to the original. The magazine is similar in size and shape to a real one, but the grip extension collar is made of shiny plastic. None of the real 93Rs I've handled have had the collar at the bottom, so I have no idea whether or not the real collar is made from plastic, but this one doesn't look quite right. The collar isn't an integral part of the function of the gun, so I usually do without it, but if it feels more comfortable to you with the collar, then by all means use it. The right side of the rear of the slide and the top of the right grip are wider than those on a standard 92f; the reason for this is to create space for the three-round-burst mechanism. The optional folding stock is all metal, and while the finish is a little uneven in places it still looks good. The two spring-loaded latches on the stock (one to lock the stock on the pistol and another to lock the stock in the extended position) are different from each other; on all the real ones I've seen the latches are of the same type. Perhaps there are several variants of folding stock that I'm not aware of.
Function
��Up until the 93R arrived at my doorstep, I swore by the KSC H&K Mk23 SOCOM pistol as my choice for Airsoft handgunnery. After running this new gun through its paces, I have only one thing to say: Three-Round-Burst. This reason, combined with the rest of the 93R's qualities, have led me to switch pistols. I have yet to actually use the 93R in a tournament or training scenario, but I suspect that it will serve me very well.
��The Omega Beretta 93R is a gas blowback handgun, with the slide recoiling every time a shot is fired. After the last shot in the magazine is fired, the slide locks open just like the real thing. All the controls on the pistol are true to life - the magazine catch, the slide stop, the fire mode selector switch, and the safety. A couple of notes for those who might be more used to a 1911-style pistol, or any other pistol with the safety on the frame at the top of the grip: The selector switch is in the place where you would expect the safety to be. On most pistols, the up position is safe, and the down position is fire. If you've trained this way, be careful of the 93R, since neither position is "safe" mode. Up is semiautomatic, and down is three-round burst (see the above link for a close-up photo). The safety itself is a small lever placed behind the selector switch, and it is very difficult to operate without shifting your hand on the grip of the gun. I normally don't worry about the safety anyway, but with a single action pistol if you're going to be carrying it where there's even a small chance of accidental discharge, then use the safety. The fold-down foregrip at the front of the trigger guard is also true to the original - on the real thing it's a must for firing in burst mode to control the pistol's recoil. On the Airsoft version it's not so necessary, but it does allow a measure of control over what little recoil this blowback gun has. I still prefer firing in the Weaver stance when I can, which means two hands on the grip of the pistol. I find that this typically allows for faster aiming than having a hand on the foregrip does. The folding stock I got for the 93R is a potentially nice added value, but I don't think I'll be using it much. It adds a good bit of weight to the gun, and for me it doesn't do much to increase the accuracy. I'll take it to the field a couple of times to see if it helps for longer distance shots outdoors, but for all my indoor stuff I'll operate without it. When using the stock, the rear sight of the gun is so close to your eye that the notch appears huge compared the the front sight. This phenomenon alone can account for less precise aiming. The stock also isn't very stable or quiet if you move it at all - it's possible to lock it into your shoulder and hold it so it's steady, but if you're not holding it tight there's a bit of play in the mechanism at the middle of the stock (not where it attaches to the pistol), which means a potential for extraneous noise. When the stock is folded, it is fairly secure and doesn't make any noise, but the pistol is a bit awkward to handle with that big assembly at the bottom of the grip.
��One thing that really impressed me was that the pistol takes down just like the real thing - I am coming to expect that from gas guns, but it still amazes me to see the attention to detail that is paid on certain models. To take the Beretta 93R apart, first remove the magazine and make sure it is unloaded. Once this has been done, locate the takedown lever on the left side of the frame above the trigger guard. Once you've found this, locate the push button on the opposite side of the frame and press it. While the button is pressed, rotate the lever on the left side of the frame downward ninety degrees until it stops. You are then free to run the slide and barrel forward off the frame for cleaning or inspection. The recoil spring comes off the bottom of the barrel by compressing it and then, while maintaining a firm grip on it, pulling it out and to the back of the slide. Reassembly is accomplished by reversing the above procedures.
��The pistol loads and fires nicely - the magazine is a double-staggered setup like the Mk23 SOCOM, and it holds 39 rounds which allows for a comfortable 13 three-round bursts. The magazine is easily loaded with a loading tube and plunger like the one that comes with the SOCOM. It can be loaded one BB at a time by hand, but that would probably take forever (not that it would be any different than loading a real 93R mag except the real one only holds 20 rounds). The slide action is generally smooth, but it's a little tight right at the rear end of its travel. I've traced this to friction between the underside of the back of the slide and the hammer. I've applied some Prolong brand lubricant to it, and that seems to have lessened the friction a bit. The trigger pull feels very much like the single action pull on a real Beretta, but not quite as heavy. There isn't as much play in the trigger as there is on the Mk23 SOCOM, which might lend itself to better accuracy during instinctive shooting. I've fired over 200 rounds through this particular model so far, and the only trouble I've had with it is that the slide has failed to lock open after the last shot a couple of times. I think this can be explained by the fact that the pistol needed to be broken in yet and also that I may have been running low on gas those times. I will be sure to put any further notes on this into the review as the information becomes available.
Accuracy
��This Airsoft gun is pretty accurate considering it doesn't have Hop-up. For my first accuracy tests I made the memorable mistake of using .12g lightweight BBs - they went all over the place. Only three out of the entire magazine even hit the 8.5x11 inch target I was aiming at at seven yards. I then switched to .2g BBs, and things shaped up nicely. On semi-auto, the 93R groups nicely but shoots about three inches high and to the right of the bull. Firing bursts, the group more than quadruples in size, but is still centered three inches high and to the right. This can probably be tightened up with practice, but it's still acceptable for what is basically a full-auto pistol. With .25g heavy BBs, the group size is about the same as with .2g, but the point of impact moves closer to the bull's eye - the group is centered about two to two and a half inches high and to the right. The same goes for burst mode with .25g BBs - the group size is considerably larger than on semi-auto, but it's a little tighter than the burst mode target with .2g BBs. One interesting thing to note is that with .25g BBs in burst mode, more than half of the BBs grouped very tightly about one and a half inches high and to the right of the bull, with the rest scattering to form the rest of the group, whereas with the .2g BBs the rounds were spread fairly evenly across the group. UPDATE: I had the opportunity to test this and several other gas guns indoors at ranges between 15 and 25 yards. While the tests were informal, they did give some indication as to accuracy versus a human-sized target. The 93R did fairly well on semi-auto mode, grouping around 75% of the BBs on the target out to 25 yards, but on 3-round-burst the accuracy suffered horribly. I wasn't able to keep 25% of the BBs on target, even at 15 yards. This is probably a function of the gun's jumping around while in burst mode along with the absence of Hop-up. Conclusion: this is an adequate pistol for indoor use and short range outdoor use, on semi-auto mode. On burst mode, it's more effective for covering fire since it has decent power but hits to a given target are anything but guaranteed.
Overall Impressions
��Very nice. If you're looking for a good gas blowback pistol to serve as a backup to an AEG, this is it. If you want a gas gun as a primary handgun (assuming size isn't a concern), this is it. If you're looking for a compact machine pistol, this is it. Heck, even if you're just looking for an expensive paperweight, this is it. The point is, this is an excellent Airsoft gun any way you look at it. It's fairly accurate, it's reliable, it's powerful, it has a high magazine capacity, and best of all it has a three-round-burst feature.