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Beretta PX4 Storm - Underrated is an Understatement!
It’s no secret that I am a Beretta guy and have been a Beretta 92 fan since I can remember. I started working on the PX4 Compact project because I wanted something smaller and just as capable. I realized then that I hadn’t given the PX4 Storm a chance – it has to be one of the most underrated pistols of all time.
Many of you may have read or follow the thread I started about the PX4 Compact. After about 18 months of hard use, I have put over 70,000 rounds through three different PX4 Compacts. The main test gun had just over 52,000 rounds through it when I shipped it back to Beretta for their inspection. Hmmm… that’s a lot of rounds without any issues. “This is a capable and reliable gun,” I thought to myself, “How can I make it better for what I need in a gun package.”
The PX4 Compact Carry is what I think addresses many of the areas of improvement that I found on the standard compact gun and turned it into one great little carry gun. By all accounts, this gun has been very well received and we are seeing more and more fans of this little gun pop up all over the country. With over 322,000 views, the PX4 Compact thread on the Pistol Forum is showing that popularity.
Given the success of the PX4 Compact Carry, I decided to show the Full Size some love. At SHOT Show this year Beretta and I got serious and started making plans to work on the PX4 Storm Full Size. These discussions about the full-size PX4 lead us down the path of doing a test and making it public. Beretta was on board and the plan was put in motion.
And so it begins; I picked up the gun the week after SHOT Show. With the experience that I already had with the compact, I knew I wanted to do a few things to the gun right off the bat. I thought I might as well get started as far as I got with the Compact modifications. I replaced the standard levers with the Beretta Stealth levers, which also converted the gun to a G model. I modified a set of Ameriglo sights and installed them (same dovetail but the front sight on the compact has a much wider base that needed to be narrowed). I did a trigger job including a Wilson Combat #12 hammer spring (I have full confidence in this hammer spring in the PX4 after nearly 60,000 flawless rounds in three different guns). The same trigger job as the compact I shot for the last 18 months. I also stippled the grip the same way I ended up doing on my compact PX4s. I also replaced the recoil spring assembly with one of the solid units from the Beretta Pro-Shop as well as adding the large magazine release button. I was ready to hit the range and make some once fired brass.
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At this point, I have already shot just over 10,000 rounds (10,341 to be exact) through the PX4 full-size. I have had three ‘stoppages’ in that time frame. Two of the stoppages were failures to go into battery during a slide lock reload for time. Both happened in about the same 400 rounds of shooting and I am convinced that it is a shooter-induced malfunction. On the second one, I took a close look at my hand and the gun after the stoppage. I was pushing my thumb onto the side of the slide, just above the slide stop, and slowing it down on the return. (see photo below) I did another 15 slide lock reloads after I discovered that, being careful not to make that mistake, and have not had another issue since then. The third stoppage was a slide lock early while shooting on the move during a demo in a class. My guess is this was also a shooter-induced issue as it has not happened again after over 3000 more rounds through the gun.
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Thumb pushing on the side of the slide
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Corrected thumb location, just pushing on the latch
I have set several personal shooting records for myself on several of my standard drills and I have to say that I am very impressed with this gun and a little annoyed with myself for not giving it a shot sooner.
I am actually surprised this gun isn’t more popular – why have I just ‘discovered’ it?. I would guess that it may be the fact that it arrived about the same time DA/SA guns started to lose favor and striker fired pistols became the go-to-gun.
At this point, I believe that DA/SA guns are making a major comeback in the tactical shooting world and the PX4 platform brings a lot to the table. It has the same fire controls as the beloved Beretta 92/M9, but in a polymer framed gun that saves quite a bit of weight in your holster and three different versions of safety levers that are all convertible to a de-cock only “G” configuration. Factory built extended magazine buttons, solid guide rods, improved trigger groups, D hammer springs, flush and lanyard loop hammer spring caps, 17 and 20 round magazines, three different size back straps, and dovetail front and rear sights are all available for this gun – it has all the features of a new modern service pistol. Not to mention, it’s available at a reasonable price backed by a 500-year-old manufacturer that is an icon in the industry.
So what gives, why is it not more popular? Maybe it is because it is not a striker-fired gun. Maybe it has been under-marketed, but everyone seems to know it. Maybe it is because it has a reputation for reliability issues, some of which was talked about here on Pistol-Forum. I am not really sure. My 70,000 rounds through the compact versions tells me that reliability is not an issue. And my first 10,000 rounds through this gun tell me that this is a pretty reliable gun - stay tuned, I have 39,659 more rounds to go.