The Beretta Fusion Black semiautomatic pistol is the product of the experience, techniques and knowledge of the master gunsmiths of Beretta: entirely hand built and finished, this masterpiece shares with the standard 92 pistol only the basic design and action, which is essentially the same.
So, yes - at first glance, it outwardly appears as a 92. However, the attention to detail, the hand adjustment of each part, the Single Action only custom trigger tuning, and the relentless pursuit of perfection make the Fusion Black pistol a unique object.
We talked about it in this article, and we will not repeat ourselves. What counts, in the end, is that we have received an exclusive invitation from Beretta, who for the very first time allows a media representative to live fire one of their Premium limited edition series of hanguns.
We were invited to shoot at our leisure the Beretta Fusion Black!
Beretta Fusion Black pistol features
Before heading for the famed "Blue Room", Beretta's recently refurbished proprietary indoor shooting range, we had a few minutes to examine and handle the Fusion Black: the gun we're about to test was from the Beretta collection, with serial number FUSB04F, the fourth gun built on a limited run of 40, chambered in the Italian 9x21 IMI caliber.
The total number of Beretta Fusion Black manufactured is limited to 120 guns, 40 in 9x21 IMI for Italy and 80 chamberd in 9 Luger (9x19mm) for the rest of the world .
Our first impressions handling the gun can be compared to what we would experience handling a fine IWC chronograph wristwatch: every corner, side, bevel, chamfer, and any other detail has been painstakingly taken care of at watchmakers' quality levels.
The gun is blued to a deep black, however, all shiny surfaces are mirrored, creating an attractive contrast between the matte and mirror polishing.
Weight of the gun is substantial, due to the frame being milled out of steel billet rather than 7075 alloy.
The carbon fiber grips are smooth, with matte ebony wood inserts and an hand-engraved silver shield; the grip feels solid and very pleasant.
The front of the trigger is polished and the single action only trigger is smooth and creep free, with a very clean glass-breaking release. Beretta gunsmiths perform a custom trigger job on each Fusion Black pistol, and the Match Barrel is also hand selected, and then manually tuned to the action to eliminate any play that can decrease shooting accuracy.
Slide travel is silky smooth and tight, without any play; each slide is hand fitted to its frame.
The message is clear: these guns are not simply nice and shiny objects to admire behind a glass window like a sculpture in a museum. Far from it, the Beretta Fusion Black can perform, and is built to be used.
Beretta, in fact, guarantees group accuracy that is at least half of the standard 92 military specs (60-70mm vs. 160mm at 25m range).
Beretta Fusion Black: range report
We used commercial 9x21 IMI caliber Fiocchi "Classic Line" ammunition, loaded with a 123-gram FMJ truncated cone bullet to test the Beretta Fusion Black.
Unfortunately, we had a time limit to test the gun, as the shooting range is normally used for official purposes in Beretta (we literally had a queue waiting for us to finish shooting...)
However, it makes little sense to perform iPSC speed shooting testing with such a gun, so we focused on slow, well aimed target shooting at a 15 meters distance (about 50 feet), achieving excellent results, especially considering the standard ammunition used. With quaity Match ammunition we are sure that we'd experience a significant increase in accuracy.
Recoil is quite mild and muzzle flip limited, thanks to the added weight and better balance due to the all steel construction; trigger is excellent, and can be compared to match guns - travel is a bit too long in our opinion, though.
Due to a perfect slide/frame tuning, firing the gun gives the shooter a very pleasant feedback of tighness and a significant and perceivable cleanliness in the gun's reactions, with few oscillations in the recoil and a very quick recovery of the target picture.
Sights are partially adjustable: the front sight is mounted on a dovetail and the rear sight is a Novak, locked on the slide with a set screw.
Of course, a set of totally adjustable Match target sights would have helped to tighten even more the shot group, but would have irreparably "ruined" the sleek, clean and elegant line of the Beretta Fusion Black.
Target group sizes speak for themselves; practically always, a single hole at 15 meters.
We also tried to shoot 15 rounds - a full magazine - on the same target, aiming at three different points of the target. If we overlap the three five round separate groups, we end up with a single group measuring just over 4 centimeters.
All in all, we can wrap up our review and range report expressing our opinion that the Beretta Fusion Black, apart from being a status symbol that is now largely only available on the high end firearms collector's market, proved without a shadow of a doubt that the limited edition guns offered by the oldest firearms manufacturer in the world know how to express quality and performance in line with their (remarkable) appearance.
The street price tag of the Beretta Fusion Black is around 10,000 (ten thousand) euro.
For more information on the Fusion Black pistol, please visit the Beretta website.
