Langdon Tactical Releases Beretta 92 Red Dot Slides

Beretta 92 fans, rejoice! Proper, low-mount red dot slides for the Beretta 92 platform are finally available, thanks to Langdon Tactical Technology. They’re calling it the LTT RDO.

The Beretta 92 was first designed in 1975, and has been in production ever since. The Beretta 92F variant was designated the M9 and adopted by the U.S. military as its service pistol in 1985. The pistol, in one form or another, is or has been in use by police and armed forces around the globe. Beretta continues to update and enhance the platform, most recently with the Beretta 92X. In fact, a few years ago, Beretta released the Elite LTT model in partnership with Langdon Tactical, incorporating many of the performance upgrades that LTT has offered over the years.

With such a huge installed base of users, one important and increasingly popular feature has been very conspicuous in its absence — a method to mount a red dot low on the slide. Some aftermarket mounts utilize the rear sight dovetail to graft a mounting platform for a red dot above the slide, but this places the sighting plane way higher than it should be. So why doesn’t anyone mill out Beretta 92 slides to accept a red dot optic?

If you’re familiar with the Beretta 92, you’ll know that its venerable design is the reason. The firing pin block, a critical safety component, protrudes out of the top of the slide. The extractor is long, situated high on the slide, and held in place by a pin positioned vertically in the slide and the safety lever is mounted on the slide. All told, it’s basically impossible to melt a red dot into the slide with these components in the way.

Langdon Tactical RDO Beretta 92 Red Dot Slide

Not satisfied to just give up, Ernest Langdon decided to figure out what he needed to modify on the Beretta 92 in order to accommodate a red dot. It wasn’t easy, but the end result is elegant, clever, and very well thought out. Langdon trimmed the safety lever. He sacrificed the rear sight dovetail to free up more real estate on top of the slide. Not to worry though, as he incorporated an integral backup rear sight into the red dot's mounting plate.

Langdon milled out the slide as low as possible (0.14 inches), leaving just enough material above the extractor channel, then modified the extractor pin accordingly. And he re-engineered the firing pin and firing pin block to take up less space, so that they can function properly underneath the mounting plate. The five key re-designed components include the firing pin, firing pin block, extractor pin, safety levers, and safety plunger. Plus the slide itself and the additional red dot adapter plate.

This places the red dot as low as physically possible in the Beretta 92 slide. LTT measured the distance from the center of the bore to the center of an RMR’s window at 0.85 inches.

The slide cut has a dovetail in the front and a center indexing boss that mates with the adapter plate, which you rock into place. Then, not just two but three mounting screws fasten the plate down. This holds the plate very securely.

The red dot adapter plate is made of hard anodized aluminum and accepts red dots with a Trijicon RMR footprint (e.g. Trijicon RMR and SRO, Holosun 407C, 507C, and 508T). It features two front mounting bosses, raised bosses for the rear screw holes, and a radiused front edge — thus holding the red dot very tightly. The integral rear sight is plain black and goes with a tall front sight. LTT plans to release adapter plates with other mounting footprints in the future.

One reason that LTT deleted the rear sight dovetail was to move the adapter plate as far rearward as possible, allowing optics such as the SRO which protrude forward past the mounting footprint to clear the ejection port.

LTT is doing full-size as well as Centurion/Compact-sized slides. The RDO slide customization is  compatible with the 92 Elite LTT, 92X, M9A3, and 92A1/M9A. Unfortunately, the dimensions on other models won’t work with the deck height and sights.

Testing the LTT RDO

We went to the range with Ernest and Aimee Langdon to test the new RDO system. We had a full size gun with an SRO, a Centurion with a Holosun 507C, and a Compact with an RMR.

The LTT RDO red dot slides worked exactly as advertised. The red dots are mounted very low into the slide, resulting in a lower overall profile and making it more intuitive and easier to pick up the dot. The backup sights co-witnessed nicely if desired, or quietly disappeared below the dot if you ignored them.

The tiny RMR, in particular, really melts into the slide and was a great match for the compact. The SRO easily cleared spent brass and provided a spacious window on the full size gun. And the Centurion with the Holosun was a nice Goldilocks option in between.

The re-designed parts worked flawlessly, and the guns ran just like stock guns — or rather just like LTT-modified guns, which is to say reliably and wonderfully.

Purchase Options

To get an LTT RDO system, you can either send in your own slide to be modified or buy a complete 92 Elite LTT RDO slide. Neither of these options include the red dot optic itself; you’ll need to buy that yourself.

Sending in your own slide will cost $352. You’ll get the slide cut, RMR adapter plate, black cerakote, and slide rebuild with new springs, extractor, extractor pin, firing pin, firing pin block, and G lever safety.

Or you can purchase a complete 92 Elite LTT in full-size, Centurion, or Compact trim. Prices start at $1,495 for the gun with RDO and trigger job. If you add NP3 coating, that’ll bump up the price to $1,745. Adding a carry bevel package on top of that brings the price to $2,080. All complete guns will include a trigger job, optimized performance trigger bar, and 13-pound hammer spring.