"This is THE Most Underrated Pistol in 2023" ( The PX4)

[TicTacticalTimmy]

"Unnecessarily" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement.

As far as why the PX4 is the way it is...



(for, like, the third time in this thread)

Did we watch the same video?

There was nothing in there about any advantages to the PX4 magazine except that it is engineered atound .40SW, which in 2023 is no longer an advantage.

Everyones concealment needs are different, but I know for me, carrying AIWB, the width seems to be the single biggest factor, perhaps tied with the shape of the heel.

I would not want a thinner slide, the PX4 slide is already a nice width for mounting dots.

[Skywalker]

And an improved factory frame texture.... Talon's are awesome but I wear them out and need to replace them occasionally.

More texture would be great.

I don't even like Talons... Tried them out on an HK45C, another compact DA/SA with a relatively thick, slick grip, and went back to hockey tape after one session. The Talons (just the classic texture) were worse than bare with slightly sweaty hands for me.

I'm interested-ish in a PX4 but every time I look at the grip I quickly convince myself to stick with the P30.

[That Guy]

So I have read thru this thread 2x. I am intrigued by the compact, and it's price point.
Is leaving it bone stock even applicable, or do some of the changes deem themselves a necessary evil?

<or> would the change to a G conversion be good to go?
I'm slowly weaning away from the 1911 for daily carry, and have been equipt with a 92 compact.

Personal preferences and opinions, plus some observations from watching my girlfriend shoot her PX4:

I find the safety lever awkward for at least smaller sized hands, so I would strongly recommend converting the gun to decock only. (Personally, I swapped out the decocking levers to the 92 style ones, but that probably ended all life on Earth since those are even wider than the stock levers, and as we all know even the stock ones are just unacceptable.) What you'll need to do to get there: you have to remove the right side safety lever from the gun, push the ball bearing that makes the lever "stick" in its downward position and its spring out of the lever using a really small punch (I don't have one of those, so I used a hex key wrench), and then reassemble the lever onto the gun. I find the reassembly a bit fiddly, but nothing a 1911 shooter can't do.

Both me and my girlfriend have shot our guns with the stock trigger pull. The trigger is just fine. The DA pull is a bit heavy but perfectly manageable, and the trigger pull is smooth. That said, the trigger pull with the D spring installed is nice. So especially considering how trivial it is to change the hammer spring, and how inexpensive, it becomes something you might as well just do, and then enjoy the lovely trigger pull. Here's what you'll need to do: First remove the backstrap from the gun. Push out the hammer cap retaining pin and remove the cap. Take a pair of needlenose pliers and yank the old spring out. Then reassemble the gun using the new spring. Time required: a minute or two.

Most people complain about the slipperiness of the grip, so you might want to apply some sort of tape to it. (And if you're smart, you'll first change out the hammer spring and apply tape afterwards, unlike how I did it. Although a moment with a thin, sharp blade and now my Talon Gripped handle's backstrap is removable without peeling off the applied tape.) I would like to note that my girlfriend keeps shooting hers stock, without anything applied to the grip, so obviously that can be done. But tape is inexpensive and easily applied, so if the stock checkering isn't working for you, that is pretty easily remedied.

So I would say that the gun is just fine as is, but some of the suggested modifications are so trivial to do and make the gun that much nicer that you might as well just do them.

(The stock sights are also perfectly usable as is. Should you wish to replace them, some people warn that the stock sights are really tightly mounted. This is quite true. However, that doesn't make changing the sights as difficult or down right impossible as some people make it sound like. You'll need a vice to keep your slide in place, possibly a piece of cardboard as padding if you wish to avoid scratching your slide, a punch, a hammer, and a little bit of effort. First make sure you're driving the sight the right way, and then just whack it out of there. If I can do it, anyone can. Just takes a bit of force to get the stock sight moving.)

[HeavyDuty]

I’ve been horribly lazy, I’ve been meaning to create a pattern so I can cut Talon material just for the grip sides. I’m ok with the front and rear texture.

[medmo]

More texture would be great.

I don't even like Talons... Tried them out on an HK45C, another compact DA/SA with a relatively thick, slick grip, and went back to hockey tape after one session. The Talons (just the classic texture) were worse than bare with slightly sweaty hands for me.

I'm interested-ish in a PX4 but every time I look at the grip I quickly convince myself to stick with the P30.

The newer Pro grip texture works excellent for me. Much better than the rubberized version. Good texture even with sweaty hands. Might be worth a try.

[Kanye Wyoming]

The newer Pro grip texture works excellent for me. Much better than the rubberized version. Good texture even with sweaty hands. Might be worth a try.

Ditto. The Pro texture is excellent.

[awp_101]

I realized most of the shooting public, and I do mean most of them, have no idea if a gun shoots really well or not. Most people likely do not see the sights lift when the gun fires, much less really call their shots. Most people don't track their sights in recoil, so they don't really know how quickly it comes back. They jerk the shit out of the trigger, so they cannot tell how precise and consistent it is. That means that they cannot really see or feel how well the PX4 shoots. Or, on that note, how badly some other guns shoot.

Guilty as charged! I've been down the PX4 road twice and while I enjoyed them*, I didn't appreciate them. I've pretty much settled on the 92 and P-07 as my TDA choices but I'm not opposed to picking up another PX4 down the road.

Those are also some really good observations that could go in the "'shooting well vs being a good shooter" thread IMO.

*I didn't really enjoy the PX4 .45 I had but that was more of a grip strength issue leading to excessive muzzle flip that I don't have with 1911s or 9mm in general.

[Greg Bell]

I have had several PX4s through the years. I had an early full size one that was not reliable. This was very early on. That scared me off for years but I picked up a .45 "special duty" for super cheap and it was cool and a hoot to shoot. Recently I picked ups couple of PX4 LTTs (one factory w the paint job but std sights, and one LTT with the night sight and the laser engraving, etc). Both are fantastic shooters. Unfortunately one of them came with something seriously wonky with the decockers. Originally the lever would get completely stuck in the downward position so much so that at first I thought I had been shipped a saftey model. Finally I took mine apart and replaced the roll pin and it "mostly" reset but was still wonky enough to send back. I sent it back to the mothership and they sent it back (I won't get into the details, but it was pretty exhausting). As far as I can tell it was a combination of a too long pin and overthick ceracoat. The other one worked perfectly out of the box. I do wonder if the use of roll pins in Beretta saftey/decocking levers is a poor choice. I have had them back out of my G-conversion LTT 92. But the good news on that model is that it doesn't back into something that will lock up the lever. The solution is just wack it back in place. Still, they need to stake these things or something (although that would be tricky with the PX4).

They are a joy to shoot though. And I have had zero malfunctions through either gun outside of the wonky lever.

[HeavyDuty]

I’ve noticed mine are very sensitive to decocker roll pin placement. The roll pin could stand to be forty thou shorter.

[revchuck38]

Here. They also have 17-round .40 S&W mags for the same price.