Beretta PX4 Storm .45 High round count, long duration usage.

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

Round count on my PX4 .45 G range pistol is now 48,175. It is running smoothly and perfectly. The decocker lever was sticking a couple of thousand rounds after the slide disassembly cleaning @45,000. The Beretta oil tends to dry out or fail to keep carbons from getting stuck. I put a couple of drops of Rem Oil in the back of the slide, where the lever shaft can be accessed. Rem Oil will also dry up very quickly, but leaves a thin teflon film behind. I blew the area out and was going to do my normal full cleaning @47,500 rounds, anyway. ( https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ing#post733707 post 171 ) That really worked! The levers have been running as smoothly as new levers. Next slide detail cleaning I will coat the shaft with Rem Oil instead of Beretta oil.
My trigger pull has settled at a smooth 6.25 lbs DA & 3.5 lbs SA.


Storm SD‘s .45 SD has 28,302 rounds on it. It and its new barrel are working perfectly.


I had reported than my wife did a 100% disassembly & detail cleaning on her PX4 Compact G @17,050 rounds and put it to temporary EDC duty to shoot her PX4 SubCompact 9 G and raise the round count enough for a complete disassembly and cleaning.
She brought the SubCompact to 8,850 rounds of flawless, reliable service and decided to do the complete disassembly and cleaning to put it back on EDC duty. Since, she has been shooting the Compact, which is working well, now @18,250 rounds. We plan to stretch the cleaning intervals on the Compact to every 8-10,000 rounds. She removed the Talon Grip sections from the front and rear of the grips on both. This suited her hand and grip better. The Storms have the pyramid texture on the front and back, anyway.

No matter what... every Storm gets a new slide rebound spring at or before 5,000 rounds.

[feudist]

Round count on my PX4 .45 G range pistol is now 48,175. It is running smoothly and perfectly. The decocker lever was sticking a couple of thousand rounds after the slide disassembly cleaning @45,000. The Beretta oil tends to dry out or fail to keep carbons from getting stuck. I put a couple of drops of Rem Oil in the back of the slide, where the lever shaft can be accessed. Rem Oil will also dry up very quickly, but leaves a thin teflon film behind. I blew the area out and was going to do my normal full cleaning @47,500 rounds, anyway. ( https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ing#post733707 post 171 ) That really worked! The levers have been running as smoothly as new levers. Next slide detail cleaning I will coat the shaft with Rem Oil instead of Beretta oil.
My trigger pull has settled at a smooth 6.25 lbs DA & 3.5 lbs SA.


Storm SD‘s .45 SD has 28,302 rounds on it. It and its new barrel are working perfectly.


I had reported than my wife did a 100% disassemble & detail cleaning on her PX4 Compact G @17,050 rounds and put it to temporary EDC duty to shoot her PX4 SubCompact 9 G and raise the round count enough for a complete disassembly and cleaning.
She brought the SubCompact to 8,850 rounds of flawless, reliable service and decided to do the complete disassembly and cleaning to put it back on EDC duty. Since, she has been shooting the Compact, which is working well, now @ 18,250 rounds. We plan to stretch the cleaning intervals on the Compact to every 8-10,000 rounds. She removed the Talon Grip sections from the front and rear of the grips on both. This suited her hand and grip better. The Storms have the pyramid texture on the front and back, anyway.

No matter what... every Storm gets a new slide rebound spring at or before 5,000 rounds.

Is that with stock spring?

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

Is that with stock spring?

The hammer springs in all of our Storms are Cougar D springs from Beretta. My hammer spring has 18,475 rounds on it.

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

50,000 rounds with my PX4 .45 G

I changed the slide rebound spring @48,800 based on feel. I got 3,800 rounds out of my year old EDC spring.

@50,000 I did a 100% disassembly of the frame and slide for detail cleaning and inspection. Based on spring and pin rotation protocols (see post 24 on page 3 of this thread) I replaced some and due to an incident I will describe, others.
I replaced the strut pin, the hammer pin spring, the o-ring, the extractor pin and the firing pin block plunger spring. Additionally, I changed the trigger spring and the hammer unit body (frame).


Here’s why the additional parts: The last few times at the range I noticed the trigger feeling like it was not resetting properly. I would be in a string of fire and the trigger felt hard. I let go of the trigger and it was fine. I continued to fire. I figured that I’d be taking it all apart in a week, so I’ll wait and see. I planned to replace the trigger spring earlier than expected, figuring that if it was stronger it would push through. It only happened once per session.

When I got it home to disassemble it I removed the hammer group (fire control unit) and the right leg of the unit fell off. The hammer unit frame had evidently been broken for a while, yet it kept on performing. The broken leg must have caused the sear to move, causing the trigger feel problem.
I like to keep all types of spare parts on hand. When I saw the wearing on the hammer unit frame previously, I ordered a spare unit. I reassembled with the new unit and it is working as normal.

[fixer]

Good stuff storm tracker.

I've noticed that outside of a locking block, berettas seem to keep working with failed internal parts. pretty cool.

[Storm SD]

When at the range to train today, @PX4 Storm Tracker had his .45 with 50,000 rounds on it, freshly cleaned & lubed inside & out.

[TheNewbie]

Thanks to both of you for these updates.


What other firearm(s) is the PX4 .45 comparable to size wise?

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

Thanks to both of you for these updates.


What other firearm(s) is the PX4 .45 comparable to size wise?

We are glad that the information is of interest or use!


I have found that size comparison has different perspectives. While the obvious PX4 full size 9 & .40 are similar, but thinner, there aren’t any close matches to the unique design of the Storms.

Being a .45, one would compare it to a 1911 initially. The 1911 is thinner and longer and its grip is thinner and more square. I have had several Ruger P345s for years and find the PX4 .45 more balanced and the grip larger, the grip angle more natural.
A Glock 21 is similar in size, but not proportion. Comparatively, to me, the G21 seems huge. The Glock has a much larger grip and big frame with a smaller slide vertically in proportion to the frame, but I find the Storm more balanced in frame size to slide size for aesthetics and hand feel. The Glock has a unique grip angle, but I don’t like it.
The HKs in .45 that I’ve shot seem bigger and more square, less natural to point for me. I’ve looked at Ruger SR45s and Americans in .45 and found that they all felt heavier and handle heavy compared to the Storm. But size-wise, amount of ammo that the handle houses and barrel length will determine “comparison” to a degree.
The Sig P220 is heavier feeling and balances to the back of the trigger guard for me. The P227 has way too large and round of a grip for my taste.

The PX4 Storm .45 SD has a slightly different balance, being a little more nose heavy. Other dimensions match the regular .45 Storm.

From my limited experience with other firearms my perception seems that the dimensions of some .45s are similar, but the feel of the Storm in .45 is lighter, quicker and tighter in firing and movement between targets.

The PX4 .45 does not use a double stack magazine, per se. It uses a “staggered” magazine. This keeps the grip thinner, while giving decent capacity. The thinner grip assists in instinctive point and follow up shots.




Pistol round count 50,300

[Palmetto]

I’d echo previous thanks for all you two have done to show the reliability of this platform.

Can either of you comment on accuracy vs bullet weights? I’ve seen two televised that showed (in given examples) that they were far more accurate with 185 grain rounds vs 230 grains.

Have you seen any noticeable difference? Is there any difference between the SD and the standard version?

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

I’d echo previous thanks for all you two have done to show the reliability of this platform.

Can either of you comment on accuracy vs bullet weights? I’ve seen two televised that showed (in given examples) that they were far more accurate with 185 grain rounds vs 230 grains.

Have you seen any noticeable difference? Is there any difference between the SD and the standard version?

Your positive feedback is much appreciated!

We have experienced excellent accuracy and consistency in all bullet weights. I have heard of the issue with heavier bullets that you might be referring to. I believe that some earlier barrels were bored too large. This would cause heavier bullets to not expand to fill the bore as tightly, effecting accuracy. It would seem that this problem was corrected.
In his thread on this problem Pat measured the bore and found that it was very large. See https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....h-Review/page2 posts 18-20. I have never heard of this problem in current Storm .45s.

There is a common mention among people that have not spent a lot of time studying or working with the PX4 Storm platform. I call it, Lake Effect & the Rotating Barrel.

I knew some folks in upstate NY that lived near some lakes. Sometimes the weather would do weird things or have localized variations from the rest of the area. They called this the lake effect. People that live in that area tend to blame everything on the lake effect. It even becomes a source of jokes, blaming lake effect for anything weird.
I have found that many commenters blame the rotating barrel for things that it has no effect on. For example, the bullet is gone and down range before the barrel ever rotates. Thinking it affects accuracy because it rotates after the bullet exits is not reasonable.

We have experienced excellent accuracy with 230 grain bullets of all brands. A sample of a common group is pictured in post 52 on page 6 of this thread. The only difference in bullet weight shows up in adjusting POA (point of aim) to POI (point of impact), as lighter bullets strike an inch lower @30’.
The SD does not have any advantage or lack compared to the regular .45 in this area. We each have shot the other’s. Accuracy follows the shooter.