Any Beretta PX4's with high round counts?

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bricz75

New member
Anyone have a PX4 with a high round count? 5, 10, 20, 30 thousand rounds or more? If so, has it been reliable? How about durable with a lot of rounds through it?
 
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I'm at 7,000 or so over 6 years. 2008-manufacture full-size .40 S&W model. Not quite at the level you're asking, but my 7,000 rounds have had 0 errors, for what it's worth.
 
Just to put something in perspective. Assuming 25 cents a round:

5000 rds = $1250
10000 rds = $2500
20000 rds = $5000
30000 rds = $7500

I'm not trying to take anything away from your question, but at the rounds counts you're describing you've spent at least 2 times the cost of the gun in ammo, and at the far end 13 times the cost of the gun in ammo. I only bring these up because when people ask about longterm durability, it's important to keep perspective. Even if it failed at 20000 rds, you have spent enough on ammo to buy the gun another ten times. Pretty fair investment to be able to shoot so much ammo.
 
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The attraction to long term durability, for me, isn't about the cost of replacing the gun or the small parts. It's having a weapon that you can practice with for years AND carry without wondering if your trigger spring is finally going to fail in the one gun fight of your entire life.

High round counts also tend to expose manufacturing defects and problem areas that don't show in the first few hundred rounds that is all the shooting most consumer guns ever get. A 500 round pistol is a proven example. A pistol that commonly goes 50,000 rounds without any failures is a proven product.
 
It's having a weapon that you can practice with for years AND carry without wondering if your trigger spring is finally going to fail in the one gun fight of your entire life.
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But that's always a possibility. I do survival analysis, or at least I used to, for different companies. Even a Glock, which whatever folks say about them are documented with very high round counts, can have a faulty trigger spring that could snap at say the 1000 rd mark. Is it likely? Very much not. Is it still possible? Yes. It might not even be a design issue, but simply a bad batch of parts or a bad install at the factory. Now sometimes extensive testing of a large number of pistols will reveal tendencies, such as broken trigger springs. But it takes more than one example posted on an internet forum to derive a trend. For that what we really want to see is large scale agency adoption and then reports of how those pistols did after a number of years (because it gives us a large sample size and harder use than we might see from some civilians, exceptions apply of course). Unfortunately, manufacturers aren't exactly keen on such information getting out, so even if it were an issue the only way to find out about it would be a manufacturer issued recall or the second hand story from someone in that department.

Also, what failures are we looking for? Are we looking for catastrophic failures of slides, barrels, or frames? Or are we looking at the annoying trigger spring that can turn a $550 pistol into a paperweight? Now even if those did fail, is it a sign of a trend, or did the owner not replace the part in question at the manufacturer recommended interval? Some guns have crazy replacement schedules where you almost never need to do anything to them. Others are much more regular.

I'm not trying to dismiss your comment, or the OP's concerns. They're valid concerns. My only comments are that it's very hard to get info on this. Now we do the best we can and ask around, just be aware that if I only poll early Gen 4 Glock owners they might have a lot of negatives to say, where if I polled current Gen 4 Glock owners they might be relatively happy. Get as much info as you can, and resist the temptation to go with one very positive report.

P.S. - I bring up the money not to dismiss the idea of high round counts, but just remind folks how much an investment shooting can be and to consider if that's an investment likely for him/her. I could buy the absolute most durable AR on the market, but am I okay with the AR that will last 30,000 rds when I will only ever shoot 2,000? And what if the money I will save will allow me to shoot much more and be more proficient? For the lucky this isn't a concern and they can get the best in all categories as they have the coin, but some aren't that lucky. Just food for thought.
 
I probably have 5-7K through my 9mm full size PX4, and it has been ABSOLUTELY flawless...until just recently when it started having trouble with feeding. After firing a round the slide would only be partially closed and you could see a round impeding the slide as it started to go up the feed ramp. A slight rearward pull on the slide and release was enough to feed the round. Bang...bang...bang...another feed issue. Same issue. I could also give the rear edge of the slide a light tap with my palm and that would cause the round to feed too.

At first I thought it was a dirty gun. Thorough cleaning and thought I had it solved, but it came back. Thought it might be my lightish reloads (124gr @ ~1050 fps ~133 power factor) so I shot factory ammo. Same problem Tried new recoil spring. Same problem. Tried new magazine springs...same problem. At this point I am about out of ideas and will likely have to send it to Beretta or a gunsmith. Before I do, I will take it to the range and see if I can get it to fail again so I can take pictures to study the issue a little more. I am a tinkerer and hate to let a puzzle beat me. Also, I have not been able to narrow it down to a specific magazine either.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. ETA: I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, so if you have suggestions, please PM me. Thanks.

Fly
 
The attraction to long term durability, for me, isn't about the cost of replacing the gun or the small parts. It's having a weapon that you can practice with for years AND carry without wondering if your trigger spring is finally going to fail in the one gun fight of your entire life.

High round counts also tend to expose manufacturing defects and problem areas that don't show in the first few hundred rounds that is all the shooting most consumer guns ever get. A 500 round pistol is a proven example. A pistol that commonly goes 50,000 rounds without any failures is a proven product.
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Good points. I don't mind replacing small parts IF the manufacturer calls for it AND the gun is durable in the long run. I would consider it preventive maintenance.


But it takes more than one example posted on an internet forum to derive a trend. For that what we really want to see is large scale agency adoption and then reports of how those pistols did after a number of years (because it gives us a large sample size and harder use than we might see from some civilians, exceptions apply of course).
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There was an agency using the PX4 and had problems with it, but that was not long after the PX4 first came out.


Now we do the best we can and ask around, just be aware that if I only poll early Gen 4 Glock owners they might have a lot of negatives to say, where if I polled current Gen 4 Glock owners they might be relatively happy.
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This reminds me it is important to know when a particular model was made. Ex: Para 1911s from the 90s have a better reputation than the ones made in recent years.


Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. ETA: I don't want to hijack the OP's thread, so if you have suggestions, please PM me. Thanks.
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I don't see this as hijacking the thread. If we can say anything to help, great. That said, my opinion is to send it back to Beretta if under warranty and they pick up shipping.
 
I would check the locking surfaces in the slide, on the barrel and locking block. Look for peening or distortion.
 
^ good tips. Might be worth calling Beretta and see if they will take care of it for you. Not sure how old your gun is.
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Bought it used (less than 100 rounds through it) in 2006. So it is out of warranty, but sometimes the firearms manufacturers will hook an owner up. I might make contact with Beretta and see what they say.

Fly
 
I wouldn't even mention that you're the second owner. Just tell them about the problem and let Beretta handle it.

It is worthwhile to try and find the culprit, first, if possible. It isn't fun to go to the trouble of shipping a gun to them be told your grip screws are loose. But if there is a genuine mechanical issue with the barrel or slide, Beretta is likely to want to get those parts off the street and replace them.

I had a used HK P7 crack a small piece internal to the slide. HK replaced it at no charge, even though they had a so-so customer service reputation at the time. The big companies do not like have unfixable guns out there.
 
Not a real high round count, but my Compact PX4 .40 has about 3,000 through it now and the only issue was one jam on ejection, but it was a case that had been reloaded several times (at least) and had split. I mostly shoot reloads now through it, but before I reloaded I put just about every brand through it (during the shortage I bought whatever was available) with no issues.
 
Had one in 9mms since 09 don't know how many rounds through it but I've shot it plenty and my reloads until more recently were always the greasiest stuff. LLA lubed rounds packed in ziplock bags. Never a problem.
 
I think the rotating barrel has some merit and absolutely insures the action will stay locked until the bullet exits the rifling. Beretta of course, has never been keen on the tilting barrel design.
 
How do other systems not insure the bullet has exited?

Glock certainly bungled that formula, but it isn't because the barrel tilts.
 
I've got at least 5k through mine. Never had one FT-anything. Still my favorite pistol in my collection to shoot. No reloads, but I've put just about every type of factory ammo through it. Tula to Golden Sabre to WWB. Goes bang every time. And it's way more accurate than I will ever be. Lotta love here for the PT full size here.
 
I wouldn't even mention that you're the second owner. Just tell them about the problem and let Beretta handle it.
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Beretta will handle it alright. A buddy of mine cracked the slide on his Inox 92. When he contacted Beretta about it, they said "sure, we'll fix it." $425.00 to install a new slide.:mad:
 
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