Long before I gave into the temptations of Kimber 1911 45 ACPs, I was a solid Beretta man. Not the 70s detective show or the car that Chevy produced in the 80s, but the handgun. The last 5 years I served as a police officer I carried a Beretta 92f. It was a heavy duty 9mm, tried and proven well enough for the United States Army to make it their standard issue sidearm.
I still have that old 92f, and it’s never failed to go bang when I pulled the trigger.
A couple of years ago, my wife bought me a new Beretta PX4 Storm .40 cal for Christmas, along with a tactical laser/flashlight and new holster. I used it when I took my qualification test for my Texas concealed handgun license.
The differences I saw between the PX4 Storm and my old 92f were considerable. The PX4 Storm doesn’t have the classic open slide, and the barrel is designed to rotate slightly every time the weapon discharges. This ingenious design reduces the recoil translation from the gun to your hand so much that you notice a massive reduction in felt recoil in the .40 caliber PX4 compared to the smaller 92f 9mm. That is impressive.
I’m no engineering expert, but I’m guessing that the significant lack of muzzle rise when firing this weapon can also be attributed to the design of the rotating barrel.
The PX4 Storm is lighter than the 92f as well, thanks to the composite frame, but it’s still hefty enough that it feels nice and solid in your hand or on your waist.
Field stripping couldn’t be simpler. With no tools necessary, the average shooter can field strip this weapon for basic cleaning in less than 5 seconds. It only takes ten seconds to put it all back together again.
The PX4 is a double action semi-auto, full trigger pull on the first round and single action each shot thereafter. That’s about the only thing that is typical for this fine piece of machinery.
I’ve put thousands of rounds through this handgun with no failures or jams. Some of that ammo was pretty cheap stuff, too, but the Beretta PX4 Storm processed it just fine. The magazine capacity for this .40 caliber version is 14 rounds. The grip is a little fat due to that, but for average to large hands that’s just perfect. For folks with smaller hands, the gun comes with two additional modular rear grip inserts that can be swapped out to reduce the overall grip size a little.
The Beretta PX4 Storm has integrated rails for the tactical laser/flashlight, which is a real plus when you’re up investigating strange noises in the back yard at night.
In the past year I’ve discovered the ecstacy of the twice as expensive Kimber Ultra Eclipse II, but I’ll keep my Beretta for home defense and occasional carry. It’s just too nice a weapon to sell off, even if I don’t really need two handguns.
