Beretta Neos .22 ^%$#

[ChrisStock]

Buying a new pistol should be a happy experience, and always has been...until today.

The wife picked up a Beretta Neos at the gunhsow today, and I wanted to familiarize us with it and lubricate before heading to the range this afternoon. I dutifully read the manual, and gave it my best shot at field stripping. Mentally, I could hear a buzzer go off with an imaginary person saying "failure" after 5 minutes of shredding my thumbs attempting to turn the wheel with the lock depressed.

A 5 minute break, and a quick search on youtube brought me to a video showing disassembly. "How much easier can it get", I thought, beginning to smirk. Umm... I had done exactly what was shown. The video is here:

Youtube how to

Tried again...failure. I read some of the comments on the video regarding using a hammer (!!!!) the first time to get the barrel lug to unlock. Any pistol I have to use a hammer on from the factory is not worthy of being in my house. I tried a tack hammer and a spare M-16 rod piece that I had. The tip of the rod shattered.

Anyone else seen this or heard of such a thing?

[Stony Lane]

My dad had the same problem. It is VERY stiff at first. Have someone else depress the lock off while you use a brass punch and hammer to tap the wheel loose.

[ChrisStock]

Ok... took it to my gunsmith at my local range..he said " I'd shoot the hell out of it and send it back to Beretta dirty, this is ridiculous". I applied Break Free where I could, and did in fact shoot the hell out of it.

Upon arriving home, I gave it one last try, and lo and behold! The wheel turned with a few light taps of the hammer, and it was broken down nicely.

Shot 4 1/2" groups at 50' , and was shredding the 10 ring after some major realignment of the sights. Thanks for the reply, Stony Lane, it gave me the confidence to try it one more time.

[ipscbob]

Mine came with the absolute worst 8lb trigger and those factory sights are worthless. Sold mine pretty quick.

[ChrisStock]

This would be a complete non issue if Beretta USA would simply etch an arrow on the right side of the pistol pointing to the rear to show the direction to turn to unlock the barrel lug. Better yet, don't let King Kong torque the thing to 500# in the first place!! Other than that, a replacement trigger spring is this one needs to make it ready for the next range day.