Beretta PX4 .45 magazine design mistake?

[Old School]

I recently picked up a Beretta PX4 in .45. The pistol is equipped with a double stack magazine. Oddly, the mag only holds 9 rounds. I could not help but compare the gun to my Ruger P345. The Ruger is nearly identicle in features and is equipped with a single stack magazine that holds 8 rounds.

Because the Ruger has a single stack mag, the Ruger's grip is considerable thinner than the Beretta. In fact the whole Ruger is thinner and more sleek than the Beretta. So I had to wonder, why Beretta chose to use the double stack design on the PX4 .45 magazine.

My first thought was that it allowed them to use a shorter magazine. However, when I measured the magazine, I found the Beretta PX4 mag to be 5 mm taller than the P345 single stack mag not to mention 8 mm wider. Obviously, that was not the motive.

I also observed that the Ruger single stack mag is far easier to load and seems to function much smoother than the Beretta double stack mag. So, the only conclusion that I could come to is that Beretta felt that it was a fair trade to sacrifice grip width, profile and magazine ease of use for that 1 extra round.

Am I in the minority in thinking that is not a fair trade?

 

[SuperNaut]

I also have a PX4 in .45 and my theory regarding your question is that Beretta is using as many common parts as possible. I would bet that the mag tube for the 9mm is the same as the mag tube for the .45. And I would further bet that the mag was designed to fit the frame not the other way around. IOW function followed form in this case.

This wouldn't be the first time Beretta has done this. Look at an 8045 mag, there is a completely unnecessary dimple that restricts the round count, why? Elifino.

 

[Old School]

That is an interesting thought. I will have to look at the PX4 mags next time I am at a show to see if they are the same. It does not seem likely though because the .45 is a longer round than the .40 and the 9mm.

The .45 also seemed like it had a larger grip than the other PX4 models but I don't have measurements to substantiate that observation.