OP Trigger Bar for the PX4

[medmo]

Quoting sheepdog: “ The LTT Beretta just gets more and more amazing!”

True fact! I couldn’t agree more. I’ve said it before and have to say it again. LTT has pushed this platform well beyond TDA. Nothing much traditional left on it and it’s in a class of its own.

[DLWinner]

I received and installed my OP trigger bar for my PX4 Storm Compact today. Wow, it really is excellent. I guesstimate with my cheap calipers that it's about .10". It seems my SIG P229 Enhanced Elite with the SRT is about .12". My Performance Center M&P Shield is about .13-.14" and my regular M&P M2.0 Subcompact is about .15-.16". I'm sure if I measured it again they might all come out a little different, but I think they order from shortest to longest holds true:

1. Beretta PX4 Storm Compact with new LTT OP trigger bar
2. SIG P229 Enhanced Elite with SRT
3. S&W Performance Center M&P9 M2.0 Shield
4. S&W M&P9 M2.0 Subcompact

The first three are all short enough for me. The regular M&P is fine too but I can take it or leave it. The LTT Beretta just gets more and more amazing!

Here is a word of advice if you're doing the install...

1. Keep in mind if you have TalonGrips, you might have to move a tad to access the pins on both sides of the frame.

2. Ernest does a great job showing you what to do in his video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQum...ature=youtu.be), but he forgot to mention verbally what he did to keep the trigger assembly from flying away before it's too late.

Again, he shows you just fine, but if you're not paying close visual attention, you may send the trigger group (hammer unit assembly) flying as I did (it literally shot up and completely out of the frame and landed on my bench. lol It didn't hurt anything, of course, so don't worry, but for a second I thought I might have messed something up (I am no gunsmith).

So if you watch what Ernest is doing completely before attempting it yourself, he completely removes the larger "Hammer/Frame Pin" (54 in the diagram below), but
THEN—when he takes out the thinner "Hammer Assembly Pin" (55)—he leaves the punch inside the frame to keep the trigger group under spring tension so it doesn't take off (again, he shows you, but he doesn't say it so if you're doing this in real time like a bone head like me you might miss this).

3. When it comes to installing the new OP trigger bar, you might have to fiddle around a little bit more than in the video if you're not experienced like Ernest. Just make sure you play with the trigger a bit if you're running into trouble when you're trying to position the trigger bar where it needs to go in relation to the trigger group. I was doing this with a stock PX4 which looks slightly different than the competition/trigger job in the bag version, but it's basically the same thing in the photo he shows.

Attachment 54214

Start to finish it took me five minutes or less, and the outcome is steller. It is a very short crisp reset. The best I have, so thank you Ernest Langdon!

I do have a question if anyone knows. I removed the stock hammer spring for the first time. I had bought a "PX4 Type D Hammer Spring" awhile ago when I bought the pistol but never installed it (I figured I'd throw it in now and I did). My question is what pound is the factory hammer spring versus the D hammer spring? I know LTT has 10 & 11 lb. springs now, but I am just trying to gauge it because I feel might want to go lighter. I'm pulling about 8 lbs. on average in DA and 5 lbs. on average in SA. If I understand correctly, I'd have to get the trigger in a bag or competition trigger group to reduce the SA trigger pull significantly (approximately 30%). Correct? I seems that this did lower it a bit because it was more like 5.5 lbs. My DA started out about 9-10 lbs.

Attachment 54217

Anyway, I am very happy with this pistol now, but I might do a post showing the problems I had along the way. If I had to do it over from scratch I would absolutely been better off buying from LTT to begin with, but I also know there are people out there that can't afford it up front or who already own a PX4 Storm (or get an incredible deal on one). I did like preserving the ambi slide stop, however, but again, this is not a Glock. It doesn't take any skill to fully detail strip a Glock and put it back together again. I can remove and install sights on a glock with a hammer, punch, book, and front sight wrench. A PX4 Storm Compct is more of a headache as you can see below (though still worth it in the end).

Attachment 54218

Attachment 54219

Stuck...
Attachment 54220

This is not the right sight tool (don't use this if you have one):
Attachment 54226

It didn't feel great when I bent the sight and broke the tritium vial I had just purchased from LTT... (not his fault of course)...
Attachment 54221

This is the sight when it came back from Beretta who replaced it...
Attachment 54222

In my opinion it may have had to do with the milling issues I posted about in the past. It looks like I botched the front sight as it sits higher on the left side of the dovetail, but it is like this also from the one Beretta sent back. The one Beretta gave me was also significantly dimmer than the one I started out with from LTT (probably old stock).

I won't show all the little imperfections in my slide, but here are some...

This is where the lines intersect almost perfectly...
Attachment 54230

On the other side they sometimes don't...
Attachment 54227

Attachment 54228

Attachment 54229

Of course, it helps to know what a starter punch is when you go to change the controls. Small punches are surprising hard to find. I actually ended up ordering ones from Beretta but managed to destroy a few before I finally prevailed.

I will likely get another PX4 Storm Compact, and I will definitely buy it from LTT. I learned a lot, but I am not going to risk a repeat performance.

Awesome post. Beretta bent my front sight also when they installed it. Ever so slightly. The left side of the sight base looks like yours so I think that’s normal.
Still waiting for them to open up so I can send mine in to have it fixed.

[medmo]

Beretta bent my front sight also when they installed it. Ever so slightly.

That’s not cool. I’d be a little steamed that they shipped it back with a bent front sight. When I pulled my front sight off I cleaned up the dovetail with a needle file before reinstalling and also lightly polished the dovetail with 800 grit paper. Lightly, not trying to change the dimensions of it. I use an aluminum cleaning rod section belt sanded to shape to drive the sights with a small ball peen hammer. And patience. I have to reshape the tip of the rod after several strikes because it mushes out and deforms. The aluminum marks left on the sight/slide clean off with a CLP and tooth brush scrub.

[sheepdog]

Awesome post. Beretta bent my front sight also when they installed it. Ever so slightly. The left side of the sight base looks like yours so I think that’s normal.
Still waiting for them to open up so I can send mine in to have it fixed.

Wow, my experience with the Beretta warranty people left a lot to be desired as well, and now I am afraid what's going to happen the next time I install replacement sights given that these are obviously old inventory (very dim). If it wasn't otherwise such a great pistol (and in no small way due to Ernest Langdon), I would have washed my hands of Beretta, but the pistol is phenomenal, I must admit. I just wish given the short sight radius they could have made a t-cap front sight which is .12". Then again, it would make it that much easier to bend given their dovetail issues. I also wish the rear sight was serrated which always provides more contrast.

So do you think the left side of the sight base is normal or merely common? Obviously they wouldn't have designed it to look asymmetrical this way, but they considered the holes in my dovetail "normal" as well (which is truly absurd). They also told me tritium only lasts three years. I told the guy it is fairly standard for night sight manufacturers to warranty tritium for 10-12 years. He acted like I was crazy. He also disparaged Glock alluding to it being an inferior product. I reminded him that I never had any quality control issues with the six Glocks I've owned. They tried to charge me something like $120-$130 dollars. I told them I shouldn't have to pay and that I wanted a new slide. They compromised by giving me free replacement sights & install but would not issue me a new slide. I asked to talk to his supervisor and he said he was the highest authority at that particular Beretta Service Center (which didn't exactly inspire confidence). Obviously Beretta is great at designing firearms, but they're manufacturing execution in Italy leaves a lot to desired (at least in my sample of one and a few others I've read about), and at least this particular service center in the U.S. was not an apple that fell far from the tree (Beretta USA Corp., Service Department 17601 Beretta Drive
Accokeek, Maryland 20607).

As such I will only buy a Beretta pistol through Langdon Tactical. I understand it's still no guarantee given LTT guns come from the factory, but I imagine they usually don't stick LTT or Wilson Combat with the pistols that barely pass (or shouldn't have passed) their QC.

[sheepdog]

The left side of the sight base looks like yours so I think that’s normal.
Still waiting for them to open up so I can send mine in to have it fixed.

By the way, do your lines not intersect symmetrically like the ones I circled in green and red in my pictures? I have a feeling this is why we see more of the sight base on the left. The calibration was off in their CNC machining, but the fact that both of our sights bent demonstrates to me that can't be the only thing off.

[PX4 Storm Tracker]

@sheepdog , do you remember the name of the representative from the service department that you spoke with?

[DLWinner]

By the way, do your lines not intersect symmetrically like the ones I circled in green and red in my pictures? I have a feeling this is why we see more of the sight base on the left. The calibration was off in their CNC machining, but the fact that both of our sights bent demonstrates to me that can't be the only thing off.

My lines look the same on both sides.

[medmo]

By the way, do your lines not intersect symmetrically like the ones I circled in green and red in my pictures? I have a feeling this is why we see more of the sight base on the left. The calibration was off in their CNC machining, but the fact that both of our sights bent demonstrates to me that can't be the only thing off.

[beenalongtime]

1. Keep in mind if you have TalonGrips, you might have to move a tad to access the pins on both sides of the frame.


I do have a question if anyone knows. I removed the stock hammer spring for the first time. I had bought a "PX4 Type D Hammer Spring" awhile ago when I bought the pistol but never installed it (I figured I'd throw it in now and I did). My question is what pound is the factory hammer spring versus the D hammer spring?

Before Langdon, the PX4 was popular on the Beretta Forums. I tried the Talon's on one gun (subcompact) and the fit wasn't great, so I looked at other options. My choice (and I am happy with them), are Grip-on's, and they are cut to allow pin access. (there are other options)
I remember from this thread: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....A-SA-Glock-19/

In that thread (stuck with me) the Cougar D spring was listed at about 12.5#, and while I don't remember (and can't find) the PX4 factory spring, it is lighter then a factory 92 D spring.
I do wish the pin's weren't metric. I could just get replacement punches at my local hardware store, without grinding on them and worrying about softening the metal.

[sheepdog]

@sheepdog , do you remember the name of the representative from the service department that you spoke with?

I THINK so, but even if I was sure, I'd rather not get that specific, but I will say it wasn't Dave.