Originally Posted by PX4 Storm Tracker
Again, thank you for these reports.
Do you concealed carry the PX4 .45?
Again, thank you for these reports.
Do you concealed carry the PX4 .45?
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Yes, I do carry my other PX4 .45 G inside the waistband @1 o'clock. I keep the miles off my EDC, but it is the identical setup to my range pistol. The range pistol is the stunt double for my EDC.
What kind of holster?
I had trouble with kydex and no good leather options worked for me, so I took a cheapo Uncle Mike’s #5 holster, bolstered it with clear plastic coating to protect against water or sweat, while making the outside firmer so that the trigger cannot be moved and reholstering can be done with one hand.
Next I modified my pants to fill in the lacks. The waistline is modified to not allow sagging or movement and put back the hardess needed to act like a “real” holster.
This modification allows me to replace the actual holster frequently.
The advantages to this method are many. Holster wear on the pistol is very little. The soft composition allows exceptional flexibility of movement. I can pivot the pistol in the holster to draw left handed with a correct grip. Since we shoot left handed and right handed almost equally, this is an advantage.
After considering the fact that my barrel cracked on my PX4 Storm SD at 27,282 rounds and PX4 Storm Tracker's barrel cracked at 31,174 rounds, I've decided to use my SD as my EDC and start using my .40 cal PX4 Storm as my range pistol. It would appear that the barrel in the .45's is unable to withstand the high round counts. My SD currently has 32,910 rounds on it. My new barrel has 5,628 rounds on it, so it should be good for around another 20,000 rounds or to use in a self-defense situation with +P ammo.
@Storm SD just posted about retiring his PX4 .45 SD G to an EDC and not as a range pistol. This might seem to come out of nowhere, but I asked him to not write what triggered that decision until I had a chance to accumulate more information.
The incident that occurred was my finding a small crack in my replacement barrel. As I pointed out in previous comments, I knew to watch for carbon footprints and to micro inspect the area normally affected, at each cleaning.
I refrained from even using the amount of +Ps that I had normally used and only used lighter loads of Federal Champion.
I found a small crack, maybe .5cm in the usual area. I wanted to see what Beretta would do, since it had only been 9 months with this barrel, which to me was 23,926 rounds. Since I caught it early, having learned from experience, there was no damage to polymer or anything else, no malfunctions.
Beretta received it and could not find the crack, though in the description I clarified its location. Showing good diligence and thoroughness, they cleaned the bore really well and then, upon close inspection, found the crack and replaced the barrel for free.
I’ve been shooting my PX4 full size .40 G in its absence and got it tuned up nicely (see my thread on the .40, comment 51) https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....orkhorse/page6
This has led to the current conclusion that barrels might not last long term in a .45. The walls might be too thin, or something. Beretta should take note of this and do something about it. Imagine if they had won the military contract with the SD and barrels started splitting!
I still really like this pistol and plan on continuing shooting it. I got headspace tools and will add to my spare parts a spare barrel.
On the road again.... Pistol round count 55,110... until tomorrow...
Last edited by PX4 Storm Tracker; 12-28-2018 at 06:24 PM.
Do you have any idea what the life span of .45 barrels is in comparable guns?
It sounds like Beretta has good CS.
I have questioned competition shooters with 1911s, but what would be considered comparable, I can't find anyone with other TDA .45s that put enough rounds on them to gather any data.
Many competitive shooters change barrels frequently for accuracy. I am not finding anyone that can give any input on that. I am as curious as you are.
I put thousands of rounds through Ruger P345s and they seem to have tough barrels, but other components that are critical are not as tough as a PX4's.
As to CS, yes, they did well. But, they also told me that if I'm going to keep shooting it this much they will not fix things under normal warranty timing, but I'd have to pay for any repairs. That seems to say that they don't view the .45 as a high round count, long duration pistol, as they boast of the 9mms.
57,500
My PX4 .45 G range pistol is at 57,500 rounds, working smoothly and flawlessly. Nothing is coming loose nor causing problems.
Trigger pulls are: 6.2 lbs DA & 3.5 lbs SA.
My D spring has 27,800 rounds on it... 100% reliable strikes.
The same range magazines continue without trouble through mud, dirt and a lot of use. They have original springs and followers in place. I picked up a couple of new magazines that were tested and assigned to defense duties and my R1, original range mag with over 13,000 rounds on it was assigned back to the range as a drop mag. I am using 5 mags for the range (9 rounders, blue).
Our PX4 Compact 9 G is at 20,870 (should hit 21,000 tomorrow) and continues to work reliably. The new Carry levers work very well.
Todd Green did a 50,000 round test on a HK45 about a decade ago. Documented over on pistol-training.com. His was a LEM version but I imagine durability for the TDA version would be the same. I’ve got one and they can be made quite shootable with a hammer spring & firing pin block spring swap.
Shoot more, post less...
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