Ever since I got the opportunity to shoot and use a PX4 Storm, I have become a believer in the platform. The platform itself has seen some attention, but not to the extent that I would have expected. Now, contracts for the PX4 have been increasing around the world, but it is slow. Most of the contracts are with police forces with contracts numbering a little less than 50,000 pistols per contract. The list of countries using them in their militaries and police forces is getting longer. This is something I like to see because I find the PX4 to be a refreshing design that brings an old design back into the world. Furthermore, it proves that we are not stuck with the Browning lock-up system when it comes to pistol technology that is reliable. Beretta claims that the PX4 Storm is designed to be the culmination of all the lessons learned from manufacturing pistols for military and police forces around the world. The design itself is basically a polymer version of the Beretta 8000 Cougar, which used the Rotating barrel design, but with a metal frame. For the most part, the Cougar was a reliable pistol, but it just didn't become very popular at the time it was being produced. There are still a few active contracts out there, but the standard production for commercial sales seems to be virtually nonexistent. The PX4 Storm, in my opinion, is a great way to reintroduce the Cougar design with a 21st century twist that makes it more appealing to professionals and private citizens. The polymer frame of the PX4 is much more durable than the metal frame of the Cougar. Heck, polymer frames have proven themselves to be much more advantageous than metal frames in terms of durability, versatility, and ease of manufacturing. Beretta claims that the PX4 Storm in the full size version is NATO-certified, which seems to be a good way of getting contracts all around the world. I believe Beretta is halfway in the door with the reputation they have built with the M9 in the US military. The M9 has basically has basically served as a symbol of how serious Beretta is when it comes to making firearms that are boringly reliable, even when they have been horribly neglected and subjected to horrendous environments. I like that about Beretta and it is one of the reasons I like their firearms. They are a serious gun manufacturer with designs proven around the world in the worst conditions. This is not to take away from any other manufacturer, but it is to emphasize the fact that Beretta is a respectable manufacturer. Now that I have given a little bit of back story on the design and where I am coming from with my evaluation, I want to talk about how I see the full size and compact versions of the PX4. It is claimed that the full size has proven to go 150,000 rounds without any component failure. With how dense the slide is and how robust each component is, I do not think it is too far-fetched of a claim, even though I have not seen this PROOF myself. Now, I personally do not take this claim to be absolute for every single spring and component. With my experience, I believe that they are making this claim with the assumption that the user is following a proper maintenance schedule, which requires replacing parts at certain round counts. When Beretta is claiming zero parts failure, I can only assume they are talking about the firing controls, frame, and the slide. My doubts in the absolute reliability of every single spring does not mean that I consider Beretta to be lying. It just means I am reading what they are claiming carefully and using my experience and knowledge to understand how such a round count is capable. If you go to the Beretta website, they claim that the PX4 Compact can sustain 100,000 rounds without any parts breakages. As I stated earlier, I am assuming that Beretta is referring to the performance you can expect with a strict adherence to a proper maintenance schedule. Now they are claiming that the compact version will last 100,000 rounds, which is only 2/3 of what the full size is claimed to be capable of withstanding. Realistically, this makes sense because the barrel length is shorter and that places more stress on the components during the firing sequence. I am not sure exactly how long I can expect the components to last, but I have little reason to believe that the springs and components will fail in the lifetime of most civilian users. Even with a military or police force, I feel that the pistol would last a long time, as they claim. If my experience and understanding of how guns work, I think the PX4 design is possibly one of the truly robust designs on the market. When you think about it, it makes little sense to go with another pistol when you consider the price and the proven reliability of the design. By proven, I am pretty much going out on a limb and assuming that the platform has truly performed the way it is claimed to. I think if I were dead wrong in this, the list of contracts the Beretta PX4 Storm has been awarded would shorten instead of grow.
I believe in the PX4 design, and when I shoot my full size and compact versions against their competition, it becomes more and more obvious why I fell in love with the design in the first place. It may not be for everyone out there, but I think everyone should give it a try and see if it is right for them.
1 Comment
Ed DiGirolamo
8/15/2017 05:53:08
I've owned the full size in both 9mm and 40sw since 2007. Many thousands of rounds through the 9 mm and no issues. In the 40 version I've had to replace the safety/decocker twice as it just falls apart during firing at about the 1000 round mark. Maybe it's just my gun. In both instances I had to order the part from Beretta and install it myself. I plan to convert both to a decocker only and use parts from Earnst Langdons website (reduced size). The only other issue for me is personal preference. I wish the grip had a more aggressive texturing surface. But that's just me.
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