Nazarian

Beretta`s Px4 Storm Sub-Compact
is built around modular technology, delivering concealed carry handling with large frame firepower.

In many quarters of law enforcement and the law-abiding armed citizenry that old stand-by concealed carry gun, the snub-nosed .38 revolver, is being replaced by subcompact pistols chambered for the 9mm. Their siren song of more bullets and less recoil in a package of similar size and weight is hard to resist.

Beretta
realized early on that their classic 9mm pistol, the exhaustively proven Model 92 that for a quarter century has served the US military all-service-wide as the M9, did not mechanically lend itself to a chop-and-channel size reduction that would bring it down to sub-compact dimensions. However, the Px4 Storm that Beretta introduced a few years ago, most certainly did, and the Sub-Compact variation of the Px4 Storm hit the US market in 2008.

With a polymer frame that both reduces weight and reduces cost at both the manufacturer`s end and the buyer`s, the Px4 Storm is priced to compete with other “plastic pistolas.” Those for the most part are striker-fired. The Storm is storming that market by attacking the niche that likes the older style hammer-fired autopistols. Why would there be such a niche at all? Well, (1) the Storm`s design allows second strike on a recalcitrant primer with another simple pull of the trigger, and most striker-fired handguns don`t. (2) The external hammer allows the shooter to holster with the thumb on the hammer, preventing its rise and subsequent fall if anything catches the trigger and pushes it back – something like the too-narrow safety strap on a poorly designed holster, or the drawstring of a concealing warm-up jacket, or the shooter`s own finger, all of which have been documentably known to cause un-intentional discharges during holstering.

Gun Details
The Px4 Storm Subcompact disassembles very easily and quickly into five parts, of course, not counting the spare mag.

Beretta`s Px4 system has been offered in four formats. The “C” style is double-action-only, very light and smooth, Beretta`s answer to the light, controllable DAK system offered by Sig Sauer and the similar LEM option from Heckler & Koch. The “D” style is double-action-only with a long, heavy pull, which I personally don`t like as well as the “C” option. Both of these are “slick-slide-guns” with no levers on the slides. Beretta also catalogs a “G” option, in which only the first shot is double-action and the subsequent shots will be fired from an automatically-cocked single-action platform. It mounts a spring-loaded slide lever that serves as a decocker only.

Finally, there is the “F” series, traditional double-action first shot with combination safety and decocking lever. The only format I have thus far actually put my hands on is a Px4 Sub-Compact. It is the format in which Beretta prefers to sell to the civilian market. Double-action-only systems like the “C” and “F” never sold well to anyone but liability-conscious folks, who generally come from the institutional markets of the law enforcement services and corrections. Our test gun for this article was a Px4F Sub-Compact.

The Px4 Storm Subcompact
uses a reliable locked breech and tilt barrel system, providing a more compact and lighter weight system.