the shooter who wants a crisp sight picture focuses on the front sight where he is looking at three edges (top and both sides) and not three surfaces. It is a small contour change, but it pays big dividends. Also, the top rib on the Neos is set up as a full-length Weaver base that allows for the mounting of various projected dot or scope sights.”
The Neos is a combined effort of Beretta engineers and the house of Guigiaro, the Italian designers. As noted elsewhere in this book, I thought the Guigiaro-designed Beretta 9000 was a spectacular failure, a triumph of eye candy over ergonomics and good mechanical function. But not all Guigiaro-styled Berettas are clueless. Witness the excellent ergonomics and function of the Extrema shotgun. In the case of the Neos, the engineers didn’t let the designers go nuts. They merely let them fancy up a very solid, functional .22 pistol.
The open-side Neos magazine has clean lines and an easy window through which to count rounds.
From this angle, we can see the fluted slide and ambidextrous safety of U22 Neos.
The front profile of U22 Neos gives good view of the protected muzzle.
I recently had a chat with one of the Beretta engineers who did the internal design work on the Neos project. He has since moved on to accept a similar position elsewhere in the industry. He told me, “Mas, it took us four years to get the Neos perfect with the whole range of American .22 ammo as well as the European ammo it was originally tested with. But we got it right … ”
And that’s the key. Most .22 Long Rifle is not an interchangeable commodity, as it might look to the uninitiated. There are lots of subtle differences between ammo types and manufacturers. But those four years were well spent. Everyone I know who owns a Neos or has shot one is without complaint as to the gun’s reliability.
“J” Stuckey runs a busy gun shop, Southern Sportsman in Live Oak, Florida. He says, “The Beretta Neos is by far my best selling .22 handgun. I order them half a dozen at a time, and they sell right out. And, you know, I’ve never had one of them come back.”
To find a Neos that “came back,” I had to “surf the net.” This particular customer didn’t post to beef Beretta, but to compliment them. He had found something wrong with his Neos, and Beretta had instantly made it right. He now had a Neos that worked perfectly.
Priced similarly to the Bobcat pocket pistol, itself an extraordinary good value, the Neos is an amazingly good buy. It’s in the price range of other polymer-frame plinkers, such as the Walther P22 and the Ruger 22/45.
I have friends who use the U22 Neos as entry-level bulls-eye target pistols in local league competition. They do OK with them. They tell me the guns never miss a lick, unlike some of the finicky target autos the heavy hitters use, which jam more frequently. When I was at Camp Perry this year, I saw flyers from one entrepreneurial individual who is apparently doing trigger jobs on Neos pistols and attempting to turn them into full-fledged bull’s-eye guns. I wish him the best.
I didn’t see any Neos pistols on the firing line at Camp Perry. One reason is that the heavy hitters there want handguns that can shoot 1.1-inch to 1.6-inch groups at 50 yards, their standard slow fire distance. Never mind the 25-yard line they use for timed and rapid fire, and gun writers use for bench rest testing most handguns. A primary reason you won’t see an out-of-the-box Neos in the hand of a High Master bull’s-eye shooter in competition is the trigger pull. It is in the 4-pound plus range. While this is not a bad thing by itself, it is a chore to manipulate when the gun itself weighs only 2 pounds with the 4.2-inch barrel, and 36 ounces with the 6-inch barrel.
Clapp found the Neos’ trigger “OK except for a small amount of creep.” Trigger creep, for those new to the term, means a trigger movement that starts and stops, giving the sensation of parts grating against each other. It’s an uneven pull that impairs good shooting in a lot of ways. A smooth but heavy trigger pull is far more manageable than a light trigger pull that has creep in it.
I’ve also found the Neos to have a creepy trigger in every one of the several specimens I’ve tried. Some are worse than others. Some are downright spongy. This is not conducive to doing your best shooting. On the other hand, having some felt movement before the pistol discharges can be a safety feature that lets you know under stress that the gun is about to go off. As there is “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol and there is “good” creep and “bad” creep. For a gun that will be used for training new shooters, palpable movement in the trigger before discharge may actually be a good thing, in that it might prevent some premature discharges.
Where do you draw the line on that trigger pull? When the neophyte shooter becomes sufficiently experienced to want to shoot bull’s-eye, an unforgiving game where only one hand may grasp and stabilize the pistol. It is there that a crisp, easy trigger pull goes past “want” and becomes “need” if it’s important to you to shoot the best possible score.
Most shooters like the way the U22 feels despite the steep grip angle. The trigger finger of average size adult male can reach to the distal joint, which assures that short fingers can reach it with fingertip contact.
From this perspective we can see the Neos’ radical grip angle. Thumb safety is on-safe. Note that it extends downward slightly from frame, where it can contact the flesh of shooter’s hand. Ayoob doesn’t like this element of the design.
A shooter named Beth found that out. In the “BULLSEYESHOOTERS” SECTION of Yahoo. com’s Sports Groups, she wrote, “Hi all, I have only been shooting bull’s-eye for about a year and a half but I felt I should reply about the Neos … before I started BE (bull’s-eye shooting), after only a very basic pistol class, I knew I wanted to give BE a try. So w/ a .22 league getting ready to start here at our local range, I went out and bought a Neo (sic) – because it was kind of ‘cute.’ Well it was a mistake. It was very frustrating and discouraging for me as a new shooter … I could hardly keep my shots on the paper let alone score … I was then taken under the wings of some experienced shooters – one, after trying my gun, told me ‘This is the worst trigger I have ever shot!!’ I soon tried a few of their guns, shot much better, and bought myself an IZH. In my last .22 league I finished as high lady and reached the Expert level and am not too far from my DE (Distinguished Expert rating). I have since bought an accurized Ruger 22/45 w/ a Volquartsen trigger from a fellow shooter … I plan on using that to teach my daughter … it is much better than the Neo (sic) ever was and I only paid a small amount more for it … so I would say to new shooters considering the Neos – unless of course they have changed the triggers – try a Russian or a Ruger.”
Thus, we see that some like the Neos as an entry-level gun for match shooting, and some do not. Remember, however, that Beretta designed the gun as a plinker. Most casual shooters these days fire with a two-hand hold.
With a strong man holding it two-handed in a firm grip with a bench for support, the trigger on the Neos will not be an impediment to tight groups,
