Beretta Pico

Glenn E. Meyer said:
With all the talk about the Glock 42 - I see no buzz in the places I frequent.
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Shadi Khalil said:
I'm not crazy about the caliber but still find the design very interesting.
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Ditto. Capacity is the same at 6+1, but the Pico will be smaller, slimmer, and lighter than the Glock, thus addressing the most frequently heard criticisms of the G42.

Overall Length: 5.12" Pico / 5.94" G42
Barrel Length: 2.76" Pico / 3.25" G42
Overall Width: 0.73" Pico / 0.94" G42
Overall Height: 3.94" Pico / 4.13" G42
Weight: 11.5 oz Pico / 13.8 oz G42 [both weights quoted w/ empty mag in gun]

Additionally, the Beretta will have a .32 ACP barrel available; in a past thread, I wrote this off as a range-only novelty for most American shooters, but OTOH it makes me wonder if the pistol will take one more round in the mag when using .32!
 
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Big - .....

A - with the Beretta Picos & 9x19mm caliber Nanos are the way you need a small tool or car key to field strip it. :(
I'm not very fond of any duty or defense weapon that requires tools/wrenches/etc.
I know, the odds are low that a high quality weapon will break or require a "pit stop" in the field, but it can happen.

In the late 1990s, I had my Robar NP3 Beretta 96D have a minor glitch with some FMJs on a training range. I had to do a quick field strip & spray a small amount of Ballistol on the rear area of the slide(internals).
A tiny metal silver wedged it's way into the rear of the 96D's slide parts. :(
The safety officer claimed it wasn't the range ammunition but it was. This might be a 1 in 100000 event but if your fighting pistol goes down, you may be in a serious bind w/o tools.
 
I got to play with a non-firing proto-type behind closed doors last year with a few of the Beretta reps.

It reminded me of a LCP to be honest.

I did not get to shoot it, non-firing model obviously, but holding it, I did not care for it. The Glock certainly felt better in the hands, though I wish they chambered it for 9mm.. the Glock rep I had with me the other day hinted that we may see it.

I don't see the Pico faring well in the market, The Nano does..... OK at BEST.. the PX4's farewell, but I am not a huge fan admittedly. I just feel the Beretta poly-frame line has something off about them overall.:confused:
 
I don't see the Pico and the G42 as being on the same field aside from caliber. Pico is a LCP, Cw380, P380, little Keltec competitor. The G42 is a little single stack 9mm size gun that doesn't shoot 9mm. IIRC the XDS and PPS are roughly the same dimensions with a bit more barrel.
I agree with the you shouldn't need tools thing. I may be remembering wrong but I think you can use any coin to operate the take down screw.
 
I don't get Beretta, their polymer guns and their high bore axis. The PX4, Nano and Pico all have a great deal of polymer from the web of your hand to the top of the frame. After that, the slides and bore axis are nice and tall as well.

I've shot and looked over the Nano and it just seems like they could make it sit just a tad lower in the hand. The Pico looks no different.

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I have yet to see a Pico anywhere in my area of CT. They must be being made, a Beretta rep told me that the production of the Tomcat was put on hold to use all assembling ability for the Pico.

I think it is one of the ugliest pistols I've ever seen. It looks like a potato.
 
I love Beretta. My 92FS is classic and I trust my unstoppable PX4 more than any other firearm I own.

That said, I am utterly, truly unimpressed by the Nano and the Pico. The Nano is fine but unremarkable. In a single-stack market crowded with truly impressive pistols like the Smith & Wesson Shield and Walther PPS, fine just isn't good enough.

Given how much I love Beretta quality and history, I really would like to see them form better-conceived responses to market demand.
 
At the risk of being accused of resurrecting a "Necro" or "Zombie" thread...

I finally saw a Pico in the wild the other day, and I'm on the fence. On one hand, it's REALLY svelte, the trigger is quite good by DAO standards IMHO, and I'm actually kinda fond of the unconventional paddle mag release- no risk of the mag coming out in your pocket.

OTOH the gun has the same queer top-heavy balance of the Nano, which I'm not too crazy about. Also, honestly, if I bought one, I'd probably hack about 1/2" off the goofy plastic finger rest on the magazine.

Has anyone out there purchased and/or fired a Pico yet?
 
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The talk over on the Beretta site is that the slide is pretty stiff and that a lot of them are having feeding issues. Removal of one of the nested springs has been proposed, and seems to help those who try it. Overall it seems like it might be a pistol that still needs some tweaks.
 
The slide stop is slippery, you have to fiddle with the magazine release, the magazine has to be yanked out, it kicks like a mule, and the one I shot stovepiped twice with ball ammunition.

But hey, it's small and light, which seems to be the main deciding factor for many folks.
 
I handled one in a shop this weekend and to say I was unimpressed would be a massive understatement.

The slide was the second most difficult pistol slide to rack I've encountered. It's small, the serrations are understated and the spring is very stiff.

The magazine release was the stiffest I've ever tried. It pushes down like the H&K USP release but you practically have to use both fingers and push down on both sides to get it to release.

The mag is hard to seat--really hard to seat. It's best to slam it in place if you want to make sure it latches in.

The trigger is very heavy. My wife couldn't pull it all the way through to break. I was able to manage it and found that although the pull weight is heavy, otherwise it's a decent trigger. Not gritty, no significant stacking and no significant overtravel. But it is a lot heavier than it needs to be. It is a true DA trigger.

The slide release is very streamlined. To the point that it's just about useless. I was unable to get enough purchase to release it. I had to drop the slide by racking it--which is a pretty decent chore in and of itself.

The sights are good, the gun is small and light and very smooth.

I really don't understand what Beretta was thinking...
 
Sounds like new gun production problems for the most part. It's absolutely crazy to release a gun before the bugs are worked out !!!! I know this is often done these days of bean counters running companies . It's stupid as it chases away buyers before they even buy ! Then they wonder why the gun is a failure . Stick to their shotguns !
 
Sounds like new gun production problems for the most part
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Yeah, but it as delayed by, what, over a year, right? What little news came out of Beretta during the delay implied that they were working out kinks so it wouldn't have these kind of troubles. I am a bit of a Beretta fan, and I am disappointed. Lots of folks are.
 
I'm with a lot of the other people here: The Pico is absolutely terrible. I'm a fairly strong guy, but I had a heck of a time manipulating the mag release without using two hands. The same goes for the slide stop, which isn't as big a deal, but if they were going to make it impossible to use they might as well have made it internal like on the Nano.

And the long pinky extention baffles me. What's the point of a subcompact carry gun if you're going to drastically enlarge the gun in the dimension that's most important for concealability, the grip length?

I think people's need for a pinky extension on a subcompact carry gun is misplaced; why get a tiny carry gun and then make it much less concealable? And with a good grip, it doesn't matter all that much whether my pinky is hangling off the grip or not; my shooting isn't noticably affected at all.
 
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