jackthoreau
New member
I was looking for something for summer carry IWB or possibly even pocket carry. I prefer IWB regardless but summertime singlestack sub compact is what I was looking for either way. XDS seemed like a great choice, but maybe a tad heavy(they weigh as much as all steel Kahr K9 inspite of poly frame and smaller dims). The XDS I held at a store also pinched the heck out of my finger right under notch behind the trigger guard. S&W Shield and Glock 43 where next choices but I've shot the shield and don't like the trigger, and its still fairly large gun for potential pocket carry. The G43 trigger is probably the best other than the XDS trigger, but it too was maybe a tad large. Its true value is it being slimmer than the G26, and of all the choices I listed here the G43 is the slimest. I however decided on the Beretta Nano. Though wider frame and slide than the G43, its a bit smaller overall dims. Its right inbetween the Kahr K9 and Mk9 in size, so easier to just say its halfway between grip of the CW9 and the CM9; and I believe just slightly longer slide than the CM9 and almost a full half inch shorter slide than the K9(even more so than CW9 since CW9 has slightly longer slide than K9). It weighs a little bit more than a CM9 and bore axis is higher. Apologies for the long intro I understand most people know these specs already.
Serial is NU10XXXX
First range session 180rds fired total.
50rds of Winchester 147grEFMJ
50rds of Winchester 124grNato
80rds(out of 100) of Tula Brassmax 115gr.
I didn't shoot them seperatley but intersperced mags of one and than shot a few mags of the others and so fourth.
I had FTE almost every 8rd mag of both the winchester 147gr and 124gr. The 147gr had the most issues. This occured right at round 5, sometimes at round 4. In two incidents it was failure to chamber the last rd in the mag, but the rest where failure to eject and double feed. I had one 8rd mag of the brassmax 115gr that had one FTE and one brassmax FTC last round in mag, but otherwise I was suprised to see the brassmax 115 function more reliably than either the winchester 124 or 147, even though it is claimed the nano has the most issue with 115gr. I have gobs of other 115 ball blazer brass, federal, S&B etc, around to try so it may have problems with those rounds when I get to them.
For my first trip I'm happy there where no FTE/FTC when using the six round mag, only the 8rd mag. This doesn't prove that the 8rd mag is the cause of the problem, it could be the extractor, it could be times where I limpwristed. I'm used to most other short grip subcompacts and don't suffer limpwristing. But honestly its possible its an issue for me with the nano since its one of the more awkward subcompact grips I've held. What I like is the width at the heel is nice so I feel I have a good grip on the gun. Though I have average size hands, the trigger reach is a little crowed. This may be due to the gun being designed with smaller hands in mind. Its not a big deal considering I love the trigger pull, a tad heavier than a glock but its still consistent with crisp letoff. The gun groups really good as well. I just hope I can sort through the hiccups and find the cause to be either me, the ammo or the 8rd. I hope its the 8rd mag having issues as I hate the feel of that mag. Its actually way more comfortable to grip the gun with the 6dr mag than with the 8rd and that goofy basepad. But again I just need to get more rounds downrange of various brands.
For the limpwristing possiblity I will shoot outdoors seated and brace my arms off my knee so that I can eliminate that variable and see if the thing still FTEs. I bought the nano after reading that the more recent ones have done away with the earlier FTEs. Maybe mine is still an early serial, or maybe there's still issues to deal with. I'd be satisfied if its just a breakin thing. More than one pocket gun 9mm requires break-in. Most don't but some do and that's fine. But it I still have issues with this gun I'll either sell it off for cheap or just let it hangout in the back of the safe and rely on something I know I can trust. I was already planning on getting a p250sc 40 or 45 for winter carry at some point, and maybe that will end up being year round carry. These lately have been reliable, and my brother owns one in 9mm that I've shot enough myself to be comfortable with the trigger and shooting accuratly with. Not sure about the 45 version but I know the 9mm and 40sw versions are slim enough for me for IWB since the grips are the same width as the slides, they have an advantage over other similar dbl stack subs. Its a fantastic gun.
Talking about the P250SC brings up something that worries me as much or more than the FTW/FTC issues for the Beretta. The nano copies elements of other guns. It has glock's safe trigger design, Kahr's striker/FP block release cams, and it also has the P250s removable fire control via removal of takedown pin. The takedown pin even has a rubber washer the same as the Sig P250. However the P250s takedown pin is a tight fit. The nanos take down pin, at least on my example, is easy to push out. I found this out after seeing that the pin had walked almost a milimeter out to the right side after my short range trip! I've heard of kahrs having slight trigger pin walk before but not a worry when theres enough material holding the rest of it in. There's not much material in the frame holding the takedown pin in the nano and if it goes far enough the front of the FC unit could potentially lift up in front causing bad malfunction. Not sure if the slide would launch off the gun as pretty sure the pit has to rotate 90 degrees for that to happen. But if the FC unit and rails start leaving the frame, no telling what a fiasco that could be during live fire! The design allows the takedown pin to rotate automatically back to lock when reinstalling the slide, that is maybe why its a looser fit. But honestly I wouldn't mind having to manually rotate the pin back to lock myself even while holding the slide slightly backward out of battery against the spring, its really not that hard to do, had to do it anyway once or twice when the pin didn't automatically shift back around! If its as easy a fix as maybe getting a slightly thicker O-ring I'll consider it a non-issue. I just hope the frame pin that holds the FC unit in the rear also doesn't start slipping under normal range practice!
I guess I'll comment lastly on the lack of slide release. It doesn't bother me as of now. Maybe later I experiance a mag totally jammed in the gun that I can't get it out and it will be a problem. I will reiterate what I have read someone elses experiance with the FTEs. Someone told them to pull back the slide and push mag release. Its not possible, the mag release won't release the mag. The slide goes back a very short distance beyond open breach, in this way also the nano is similar to Kahrs in that slide travel beyond fully open breach is not much. This is not a problem for those guns the mags still release but the nano you have to just pull the mag free each time it jams. I havent inspected the mag release internal tab to see if its now boogered up from pulling mags out without pushing the button, but I found it not a big deal to clear the jams in this fashion, just a little more anoying than other guns. It was still quick and easy enough to do, so far. We'll see if worse jams occur in the future and I start really cussing. Yes manual of arms sake its maybe best that every pistol have a slide release but I'm not bothered that it doesn't have one, I actually am nuetral. If the nano had a slide release I would still have considered it. I may ad pics if I clean the gun and find issues to report. But I wouldn't mind other peoples opinions or fixes or so fourth, particularly experiance with newer production guns. Again not sure if mine (NU10XXXX) is still considered an older gun or if its newer. I've considered it newer because it has six digits serial rather than just five.
I understand to naturally make comments along the lines of, ("general POS, ya shoulda bought something else etc etc"). I won't fault a few of those but would rather have not many of them as more constructive complaints or solutions are preffered. Its been a long time since I posted on The Firing Line so yes I'm bassically a newb all over again.
Sorry for being longwinded.
Serial is NU10XXXX
First range session 180rds fired total.
50rds of Winchester 147grEFMJ
50rds of Winchester 124grNato
80rds(out of 100) of Tula Brassmax 115gr.
I didn't shoot them seperatley but intersperced mags of one and than shot a few mags of the others and so fourth.
I had FTE almost every 8rd mag of both the winchester 147gr and 124gr. The 147gr had the most issues. This occured right at round 5, sometimes at round 4. In two incidents it was failure to chamber the last rd in the mag, but the rest where failure to eject and double feed. I had one 8rd mag of the brassmax 115gr that had one FTE and one brassmax FTC last round in mag, but otherwise I was suprised to see the brassmax 115 function more reliably than either the winchester 124 or 147, even though it is claimed the nano has the most issue with 115gr. I have gobs of other 115 ball blazer brass, federal, S&B etc, around to try so it may have problems with those rounds when I get to them.
For my first trip I'm happy there where no FTE/FTC when using the six round mag, only the 8rd mag. This doesn't prove that the 8rd mag is the cause of the problem, it could be the extractor, it could be times where I limpwristed. I'm used to most other short grip subcompacts and don't suffer limpwristing. But honestly its possible its an issue for me with the nano since its one of the more awkward subcompact grips I've held. What I like is the width at the heel is nice so I feel I have a good grip on the gun. Though I have average size hands, the trigger reach is a little crowed. This may be due to the gun being designed with smaller hands in mind. Its not a big deal considering I love the trigger pull, a tad heavier than a glock but its still consistent with crisp letoff. The gun groups really good as well. I just hope I can sort through the hiccups and find the cause to be either me, the ammo or the 8rd. I hope its the 8rd mag having issues as I hate the feel of that mag. Its actually way more comfortable to grip the gun with the 6dr mag than with the 8rd and that goofy basepad. But again I just need to get more rounds downrange of various brands.
For the limpwristing possiblity I will shoot outdoors seated and brace my arms off my knee so that I can eliminate that variable and see if the thing still FTEs. I bought the nano after reading that the more recent ones have done away with the earlier FTEs. Maybe mine is still an early serial, or maybe there's still issues to deal with. I'd be satisfied if its just a breakin thing. More than one pocket gun 9mm requires break-in. Most don't but some do and that's fine. But it I still have issues with this gun I'll either sell it off for cheap or just let it hangout in the back of the safe and rely on something I know I can trust. I was already planning on getting a p250sc 40 or 45 for winter carry at some point, and maybe that will end up being year round carry. These lately have been reliable, and my brother owns one in 9mm that I've shot enough myself to be comfortable with the trigger and shooting accuratly with. Not sure about the 45 version but I know the 9mm and 40sw versions are slim enough for me for IWB since the grips are the same width as the slides, they have an advantage over other similar dbl stack subs. Its a fantastic gun.
Talking about the P250SC brings up something that worries me as much or more than the FTW/FTC issues for the Beretta. The nano copies elements of other guns. It has glock's safe trigger design, Kahr's striker/FP block release cams, and it also has the P250s removable fire control via removal of takedown pin. The takedown pin even has a rubber washer the same as the Sig P250. However the P250s takedown pin is a tight fit. The nanos take down pin, at least on my example, is easy to push out. I found this out after seeing that the pin had walked almost a milimeter out to the right side after my short range trip! I've heard of kahrs having slight trigger pin walk before but not a worry when theres enough material holding the rest of it in. There's not much material in the frame holding the takedown pin in the nano and if it goes far enough the front of the FC unit could potentially lift up in front causing bad malfunction. Not sure if the slide would launch off the gun as pretty sure the pit has to rotate 90 degrees for that to happen. But if the FC unit and rails start leaving the frame, no telling what a fiasco that could be during live fire! The design allows the takedown pin to rotate automatically back to lock when reinstalling the slide, that is maybe why its a looser fit. But honestly I wouldn't mind having to manually rotate the pin back to lock myself even while holding the slide slightly backward out of battery against the spring, its really not that hard to do, had to do it anyway once or twice when the pin didn't automatically shift back around! If its as easy a fix as maybe getting a slightly thicker O-ring I'll consider it a non-issue. I just hope the frame pin that holds the FC unit in the rear also doesn't start slipping under normal range practice!
I guess I'll comment lastly on the lack of slide release. It doesn't bother me as of now. Maybe later I experiance a mag totally jammed in the gun that I can't get it out and it will be a problem. I will reiterate what I have read someone elses experiance with the FTEs. Someone told them to pull back the slide and push mag release. Its not possible, the mag release won't release the mag. The slide goes back a very short distance beyond open breach, in this way also the nano is similar to Kahrs in that slide travel beyond fully open breach is not much. This is not a problem for those guns the mags still release but the nano you have to just pull the mag free each time it jams. I havent inspected the mag release internal tab to see if its now boogered up from pulling mags out without pushing the button, but I found it not a big deal to clear the jams in this fashion, just a little more anoying than other guns. It was still quick and easy enough to do, so far. We'll see if worse jams occur in the future and I start really cussing. Yes manual of arms sake its maybe best that every pistol have a slide release but I'm not bothered that it doesn't have one, I actually am nuetral. If the nano had a slide release I would still have considered it. I may ad pics if I clean the gun and find issues to report. But I wouldn't mind other peoples opinions or fixes or so fourth, particularly experiance with newer production guns. Again not sure if mine (NU10XXXX) is still considered an older gun or if its newer. I've considered it newer because it has six digits serial rather than just five.
I understand to naturally make comments along the lines of, ("general POS, ya shoulda bought something else etc etc"). I won't fault a few of those but would rather have not many of them as more constructive complaints or solutions are preffered. Its been a long time since I posted on The Firing Line so yes I'm bassically a newb all over again.
Sorry for being longwinded.
Last edited:
