Specifically thinking about the 9mm. Uses would be home defense primarily w/CC being more of an afterthought.
What say thee?
I wish one of the ranges around here had one for rent.
I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I think it looks like it would meld to my hand perfectly. Thumb safety, (barely) exposed hammer, changable backstrap, damn good looking, and it's eye-talian.
If I get a 9mm, this one is in the front running.
Willybone - I wish one of the ranges around here had one for rent.
Interesting you should mention that. I talked to some of the range staff at a local range and they said they don't carry Beretta products because of their range policies and because they've had problems with parts on them breaking (I don't remember which part was mentioned). However, the person then went off on a rant about problems with the M9, which makes me wonder if he understood which one I was asking about.
The online reviews and articles certainly seem very, very positive. I guess what I'm looking for is someone's personal experience with having fired a lot of rounds with one and it holding up.
I'm definitely going to get a 9mm of some sort and I could go with a more known quantity (to me, anyway) like a Glock that I know will still be going strong after shooting 2000 rounds without a cleaning. But all the positive reviews have me thinking about the px4 as well. I just wouldn't ever want to buy a gun of a model I haven't practiced with.
I shot one a few years ago. Overall impressions:
The gun was accurate, and fit tightly. It did't malfunction that I saw and the owner said it hand't had any problems while he'd had it. From what I saw, he was a casual shooter. Putting about 100 rounds downrange slowfire in the session.
My only beef is with the DA/SA trigger. I'm not a fan of that setup and like all beretta's, the DA trigger is roughly 6,000lbs.
If you don't mind the DA/SA trigger, I think it'd be a good gun.
Personally, I'd take a sig over the beretta and a glock over that. YMMV.
lol @ "the DA trigger is roughly 6,000lbs"
I post on the OG. My right index finger is RIPPED.
I always thought the DA on the beretta wasn't 6000lbs, it was just 3 miles long.
Looks very much like the cz75 rebuild.
I have to guiltily admit that much of my fascination with is that it LOOKS cool. I want to like it, but the comments of the guy at the range and the fact that I've never had a chance to fire one are kind of putting me off of buying one.
Do you guys know if there's a site that's like the equivalent of edmunds.com, but for guns?
Buddhedev: Seriously, people talk shit about guns without knowing about them. I've never heard of a cracked slide on a Beretta in about 15 years.
We'd be hearing a much bigger stink from the military if they were pieces of crap, like we heard with the M-16 back in the day.
Kai, maybe it's not 6,000lbs, but the 3 mile trigger pull makes it feel that way :)
Seriously though, the gun community, for the most part, is filled with the "if it's not my thing, it's complete garbage" mentality. This propogates supposed problems with guns to mythic proportions.
The original beretta 92's for military use in 1985 did have slides break, frames and barrels crack, etc. This was in part due to the ammo used being way out of spec. Think of it as 9mm +P+P+P. Beretta redesigned the slide stop so if it did break it wouldn't hit people in the face. Since the proper ammo was used, the guns haven't had problems. Go figure. Our military uses it as does quite a few other countries. The storm is the newest gun from beretta and it seems to be a pretty good one from a damned good company.
The actual trigger pull specs for the PX4 are 9lbs with one inch of travel for double action use and 4 lbs with 1/4" travel for single action use. Which is a bit lighter than the 92's 11 and 6 lbs trigger pulls with similar travel.
Overall, if you like the fit and feel of the gun, go get her and shoot the hell out if it until you get good with her.
Just my $0.02.
I personally LOVE the 92.
I liked the vertec D I shot enough that I thought about buying one. I ended up sticking with the glocks though, esepcially after I got the homeboy sights http://www.biggeekdaddy.com/humorpages/Pictures/homeboysights.html
I was thinking about picking up a vertec, need a elite/brigadier slide though
ttt
well, I've FINALLY found a range around here I can rent one at, but it's about 20 miles north of me. If the roads improve, I'll be going there tomorrow to spend all evening shooting it.
In my question for a 9mm, my other choice is the Springfield Armory XD. I'd have just up and gotten one by now except that I want to at least try to PX4 just because of the rave reviews.
Can you rent an XD there, too?
I'd be very interested in hearing a side-by-side comparison, because I'm thinking my next purchase will be a 9mm.
So I've FINALLY fired one! I'm not super-knowledgable, so take this review with a grain of salt:
Overall impression was pretty good. Very comfortable to hold. It doesn't feel awkward in my hand the way that the Glock 19 and 17 do. I think a lot of the online reviews about it not having any kick are over-stating things. Its kick doesn't seem to be significantly less than (to my perception anyway) either the SIG P226, the XD, or the Glock 19.
It seemed OK accuracy-wise--I did better with it than I have with the Glock 17 and 19 and SIG P226, but not as well as I did with the XD.
You guys weren't kidding about the trigger pull! I felt like I was going to die of old age squeezing that thing! I know that training/getting used to it makes that a correctable problem, but it made it somewhat less fun to shoot for me anyway.
All in all, it seems like a good gun. If I went with it, I don't think I'd regret it, but right now I'm leaning far more towards the XD.
Willybone,
I didn't shoot them side-by-side. Probably should have, but this range was really seedy-looking, dingy, and cramped; the rangemaster was this guy in his late fifties who seemed a little annoyed to be there. I didn't really enjoy spending time there.
BTW it isn't as pretty in real life as it is in pictures, but is still basically a pretty weapon.
What's the trigger pull like once it's in single action?
WB: it's still pretty long ( I know that isn't a very precise description...lol).