Beretta Compact 10rd?

What's the ng general opinion of the Beretta Compact (stainless) 10 rder? Looking for a good home defense/travel pistol for both me and the wife, and she is sold on this one as it fits her hand better than the Sig (which I am parial to) - we rented one at the range and put several humdred rounds thru it and it was ok. She is sold on that magazine lip extension, makes it more comfortable in her hands, and I want her to be comfortable with the gun as it will be with her more in the home. Right now my personal weapon is the Ruger SP-101 but I want to go with a 9mm as well - all comments and suggestions welcomed - thanks!

John & Karen

# What's the ng general opinion of the Beretta Compact (stainless) 10 rder? # Looking for a good home defense/travel pistol for both me and the wife, and # she is sold on this one as it fits her hand better than the Sig (which I am # parial to) - we rented one at the range and put several humdred rounds thru # it and it was ok. She is sold on that magazine lip extension, makes it more # comfortable in her hands, and I want her to be comfortable with the gun as # it will be with her more in the home. Right now my personal weapon is the # Ruger SP-101 but I want to go with a 9mm as well - all comments and # suggestions welcomed - thanks!

I have a 96 Compact (in .40) and it is one of my favorite guns. It is much more concealable than a full size, and it's just the right size for shooting. Something about the 96 makes the .40 S&W cartridge very soft to shoot. I have used mine for competition and it holds its own, though the short sight radius is a slight drawback on longer shots.

Pros:

-Good size for a compact double-stack gun

-Good DA and SA trigger

-Extremely reliable (in my experience)

-Safety as well as decocker

-Slide release lever and decocker/safety are easily activated without changing grip

-Accuracy is good for a compact

-Magazine release is easily switched to left side

-Very comfortable to shoot even with hotter loads

-Corrosion resistant finish

Cons:

-Holsters and magazines harder to find (but they do exist)

-Front sight can't easily be replaced

-Some shooters don't like the location of the decocker/safety

-Changing rear sight is rather involved

Personal changes I made to the gun:

-Replaced hammer spring with the 'D' model spring, which lightens the trigger pull and costs about $3.00.

-Replaced the magazine release with an extended version

-Smoothed out the sharp edges on the safety lever

-Built up the white dot in the front sight with white paint for increased visibility (the recessed dot was hard to see due to shadows and tendency to accumulate dirt)

-Installed polymer shock-buff to reduced wear & tear on the frame

I am a big fan of the Compact series. Beretta has discontinued production of the Compact line temporarily pending more demand, though they will still run large orders of them. So if you can find one, grab it. They will probably get scarce over the next couple years.