PX4 Storm Compact & Subcompact

Ok, got the stealth safeties and low profile slide catch installed on the Compact. Figuring out how to remove the ambidextrous right side took half an hour of noodling...and no, there is no web info on how to.

Essentially you have to rotate the ambi side down further than you think it should while pressing the trigger bar to find the sweet spot that releases the bugger :banghead:

But I am really loving the side profiles of both guns just a ton!



Now, just the Triji's to either try myself or have installed!

Nick, don't ruin a good thing with a Glock. Just get the Compact PX4. It carries very easy and if you want even smaller go with the Subcompact.

Unless you just want something different.

Then get a Sig.

Friends don't let friends buy Glocks.

Ship, swap those levers and you would love it even moar!

Added Triji's this week. Love it!

For those of your who might have followed this thread I wanted to post a bit of a teaser about an upcoming update.

So, bitten recently with the gun bug (again) I have been doing a lot of horse trading and handgun testing. Part of this was to thin my stable a bit (which means that in doing so I expanded it more...), the other part was to get to a few "platforms" that could be both combat related and enjoyable at the range.

Thus, based upon my purchases of the last three months or so, I expect the ATF to show up at any point to check up on me!

I have had my PX4 Subcompact, as you might recall, for quite a long time. It is a gun that I have always enjoyed and one that at its price point I just never could justify getting rid of. I have carried it off and on alongside my typical EMP and Sig P229 carry.

As the original topic denotes after some looking around I picked up its bigger brother the Compact version which I was suitably impressed with.

Well this week I ended up in an interesting twist picking up the to even bigger brothers the PX4 Storm Full Size and Special Duty.

I will see if these two continue to impress me as much as the Subcompact and Compact models do, but I am expectant that they will.

Will they become my primary "go to" weapon system over the EMP and my Sig's? Well that is to be decided.

Stay tuned.

So, I will endeavor to answer GoPappy's question and provide a bit of a review of the PX4 Storm Full Size version.

I took it today and decided instead of pitting it against its smaller brethren, I would give it a real test and see how it shot against my P229 Legion.

So yes that is a bit unfair, as the Legion is over twice the price (I was able to score a brand new PX4 Storm FS for $500), and the Legion is by anyone's assessment a much superior weapon.



Furthermore, I hamstrung the PX4 a bit more by taking it to the range cold. No new gun tear down and clean up. Basically, out of the box and fired.

I figured this would be the worst possible (I am not going to run any of my guns through mud, I just have no need) way to do a test of this gun. Let see if it holds up.

My first magazine through it with standard 115 ball ammo was pretty abysmal. Sadly, the same firs mag in the P229 was not much better. So I started out this little competition with me not shooting all that well. I went ahead and fed a few more magazines through them both and my groups started looking better. So I was to blame for the most part. I will say the Px4 was not doing all that badly in comparison, but it was not shooting ragged holes at combat range.

However, at about the 100 round mark it started pulling in and my technique improved enough to get a good feel. I put both ball ammo and JHP's through both guns. Alternating 10 round magazines through both guns.

Groups looked like this. The P229 on the left the PX4 FS on the right (yes I suck that bad)



Generally I was, as is typical with me, shooting a bit low and left but after a little adjustment things came back into line.

To answer the forementioned question, the real difference between the three PX4's I have really boils down to the barrel length. As you move up through the various sizes, the group sized come down. At combat ranges, however, I have no trouble keeping any of the PX4 line easily where I want them placed.

I still do not like the bat wing ambi-decocker-safety. Course that said no one does. I will, once again, replace them with the stealth safeties and convert this to the "G" config.

As with the Compact version, the FS is a very comfortable shooter. With the slightly added weight of the longer barrel you get even less muzzle flip and in general the gun just runs and runs and runs.

Now, that said comparing it to the P229 which is slightly heavier I think that the rotating barrel probably makes the shoot about the same. The P229 is a tack driver so my groups were typically tighter. However, by the end of the session I was able to get the PX4 shooting a pretty consistent ragged hole.



So, again, all in all I have very little bad to say about the PX4 line of guns. Having three sizes of essentially the same gun makes carry selection really one of where I plan to go. Even if I do not use the extender on the SubCompact I am looking at a pretty small gap in capacity SC-13, C-15, FS-17.

I could get very used to using the same basic holster for three guns.

I should have the Special Duty in this next week and will try to make it to the range with that version to see how I like the .45 version of this platform.

The P229 Legion is in a class by itself. That was why I wanted to see how well the PX4 would do against it. It makes me a better shooter than I naturally am. Just goes to show you what a well tuned firearm can do.

However, I am still not sure that it is worth its price point. Possibly. It was dead accurate out of the box and fits my hand very well.

I noted some time ago that I had also purchased a PX4Storm SD, and after having it over a month I finally got it out to the range today.

Let me say, before I get down to the nitty gritty, that accuracy is stellar and being that it works just like all my other PX4's is quite nice. Overall control of the gun is very nice.

Now, that is the short and sweet of it.

The longer version, is that I only got about 100 rounds through it before it started to fail to feed. This really shocked me being that I have never had one of my other PX4's have ever had a failure.

I spent the better part of an hour messing around with it trying to get it to feed properly. Unforitnutely, it just wouldn't.

Yes, before you ask, I had throughly cleaned it and made sure that it was functioning properly. In fact the barrel and lug was still shiny with heated grease.

This was very dissappointing, but it does happen, I know. So I came home and gave Beretta a call. After a brief discussion they sent me an email with instructions on getting it sent back for diagnosis and repair. They were nice enough to even provide free UPS shipping back to them.

This will give me the chance to test both Beretta's and Sig's customer service as I need to send my Sig back as well. My Sig Legion's SRT is not SRT'ing. Soooo, I get to test them both back for repair.

I will keep the forum posted.

So, while I await the return of my SD, I decided to bite the bullet and see if I could find a new holster. I have a pancake holster I use most often but I also have a nice leather paddle holster, both of which work pretty well.

My main complaints about what I have are;
- Pancake holster is easy but not overly secure or comfortable, but gets the job done.
- Paddle holster is more comfortable and easier to carry but not as concealable as an IWB.

So, discussion with a police buddy of mine lead me to Crossbreed holsters. His comment, "Once you get one, nothing else will do."

I posted a thread in the Holsters forum and one of the inmates pointed out CB's "Seconds" page. I scored a right hand Supertuck for just $40!

I was hoping that I could get one that would allow me to carry all three sizes easily, so I got one for the FS version, thinking it should work well for all.

Well, she got here today and fit the bill perfectly. All three sizes (and I suspect the SD as well) fit perfectly and are very secure.

It took some finagling to get the holster on the first time, but it fit very well (pic below, please disregard my rockin hot body!).

All in all very pleased!

Oh, I have every faith both will come through for me. Just got to get flippin UPS to pick up the package. They have a site with them but if you call to arrange pickup they wont and if you take it to the depot they wont. So you just have to have them pick it up and say nothing I guess.

Kinda stupid.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to getting the SD back. Before it stopped feeding it was proving dead accurate at range. And very manageable recoil as well. The .45 is where I really notice the rotating barrel making a bit of a recoil difference. The 9's not as much, but 9's don't recoil much anyway.