Shot New Beretta Nano . . . mixed results.

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Prof Young

New member
Shooters:

Some of you have been following my Beretta Nano thread. Today I picked up it up and took it to the "range."

I read the whole manual. Then went to the place in the country where a buddy let's me shoot.

I started with some factor loads of 115 gn z-max. The very first shot, at five yards was dead on. I was very pleased. Next five shots were low and to the left, which suggests it was me not the gun.

Then I switched to some reloads of 115 gns. (Note, that in all my years of reloading 9mm they have run fine through my Beretta 92fs and the Hi-point 9mm I had a while back. THEY HAVE RUN FINE.) First trigger pull on a reload is a light strike. No bang. Clear the action and try again. Same thing. Wha the . . . ? Third time same thing. Yipes.

Switch back to factory loads. Whole magazine runs fine.

Switch to a different batch of reloads. Most run fine. Some don't fire. Some get stuck in chamber, some stove pipe.

Run another mag of factory loads and one of them gets stuck in the chamber.

All in all I ran 18 rounds of factory ammo and 100 plus of reloads. Many non-fires, many stuck in chamber, a few stove pipes. These are the same hand loads that have run just fine in everything else.

Needless to say I am a touch frustrated by this point.

Now I suppose it is not a good practice, but I tried some of those that didn't fire a second time and every one of them fired the second time. So is my firing pin or striker hanging up some how?

Then, I bring the gun up to the target to try again and . . . the rear sight is gone. It has fallen off. I'm standing in a field of weeds and grass and mud. I look but it's just not there. I expect much better from Beretta.

So, here is my plan of action.

1. Call Beretta about the sight. Seems to me that is a manufacturer's defect and should be covered by warranty.

2. Bite the $$$ bullet and buy 100 round of factory ammo. Runs those and see how we do.

3. Put a very light touch of gun oil on the firing pin-striker mechanism and see if that help.

Watch this space and I'll get back to you. Maybe be a few days as trip to see twin grandkids over in Missouri is up next.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
I've had one for about 4 months now. A lot of people claim it won't run 115 grain well, but I've never had a problem running them. I've run a mix of brands, 115 and 124, FMJ and JHP without any problems. I only shoot factory ammo, no reloads yet.

My main concern is the #### sights. Same problem you had, sights kept falling off. This is, apparently, a VERY common problem and I don't know why Beretta can't fix it. I have six other pistols, with thousands of rounds through them, and never once had a sight fall off. Both front and rear on the Nano fell off several times.

I replaced with night sights and used Loctite. So far, so good, but it's hard to be confident in a carry piece that is unreliable.:(
 
Are your reloads starting loads? Stovepiping and failures to eject suggest that they don't have enough power to cycle the action reliably. If they're starting loads, increase the powder charge- within prescribed limits of course!- and report back. (Anemic or unusual ejection is a symptom of the same problem, although you don't mention this.)

What kind of primers did you use? Did you inspect the rounds that failed to fire to check if the primers were seated fully? Some pistols will tolerate primers that aren't 100% seated because the hefty slide momentum and/or prodigious firing pin force will seat the bad primers the rest of the way. Switch to a gun with a lighter slide and/or weaker mainspring and all bets are off.
 
Sorry you had a frustrating trip. :o

Carguychris said most of what I was going to say. The Nano is rather heavily sprung, so if your reloads are on the weak side, FTEs aren't very surprising -- especially before the recoil spring assembly breaks in a bit.

I'm also curious about the primer issue on your reloads. Are you using CCIs?

Did you make sure the sight screw was tightened before you shot it? I'm sure you learned from the manual that the sights slide right in and out so that the user can easily change them out. Even if you did make sure the screw was tightened, it could still come out; Beretta has for some reason decided to make the screws fit with pretty low resistance. A lot of owners add a touch of blue Loctite to the sight screws. You can still remove them with no problem, but the Loctite will keep the screws from walking out on their own.

I have six other pistols, with thousands of rounds through them, and never once had a sight fall off. Both front and rear on the Nano fell off several times.
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While Beretta could certainly decide to make the screws fit more snugly, your other pistols aren't very useful as a comparison when it comes to the sights. All of your other pistols no doubt have the sights tightly fitted into a dovetail, while the Nano's dovetail provides no resistance by design (again, so the user can swap them out with the turn of a screw). If this happens with the sight screws fully seated, go with a dab of the blue Loctite.
 
Check to see if your manual cautions against lubing the striker/channel. If it does believe it. Even a tiny bit of lube will collect abrasive residue and restrict the movement of the striker. I think the guns are constructed to run the striker bone dry in the channel. Also it seems to be a given that the smaller the gun,the pickier it may be on ammo,and it is possible you need to break the gun in a bit. People seem to get really bent that a manufacturer would suggest a break in period,but wouldn't you rather have a gun that needed a little wearing in before it started wearing out? Good luck to you. I have a Kahr that I am very fond of so I appreciate how handy a small gun can be.
 
Check to see if your manual cautions against lubing the striker/channel. If it does believe it. Even a tiny bit of lube will collect abrasive residue and restrict the movement of the striker. I think the guns are constructed to run the striker bone dry in the channel.
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Yes, that was the one other thing I had meant to say.

Additionally, I've seen a few new striker-fired guns from different companies come with storage grease clogging up the striker channel. I suspect the problem here is not the gun, but it would be worth cleaning the striker and striker channel, either by taking the striker out or blasting the channel with an aerosol solvent like Gunscrubber.

For that matter, did you clean the gun before shooting it? Most guns, Berettas included, come with viscous packing/storage grease in the internals, which does not function as a lubricant. That stuff needs to be cleaned out first and then proper lube applied.
 
Trying to answer all the ?

Okay, um . . .
Yes, I'm using CCI primers. Do they have a bad reputation?
No, my reloads are either mid-range or toward the hot end.
Yes, I saw that the sights are adjustable but didn't think I'd need to tighten them from the factory.
No, the manual does not warn agains lubing the striker, (well, I read the whole thing, but don't recall that) but I'm wary in that regard any way. I'm trying a very light touch of rem gun oil.
And yes, I understand very much about break in. I've had multiple new guns and have learned to not expect the best right out of the box.
I like this Nano and suspect that once I get the kinks out it will be great. If it continues to do poorly with reloads I'll just use it for it's intended purpose, CC, with factory ammo and not use it as a rang gun save for once in a while. And, any time I CC, it will be with factory ammo in the mag regardless of how the gun does with reloads.
Will let you know how things progress.
Live well, be safe.
Prof Young
 
Huh.

I'd spring for the box or two of factory shells... AFTER Beretta fixes that sight of yours! I personally find the Nano anything but, and am not fond of them, but my Dad has one.
 
Bought a Nano in March. I fired 115gr, 124 gr reloads from Freedom Munitions and have not have any problems. Hornady Critical Defense shoots very well. They only ammo it didn't like was some Remington Bulk pack 115gr HP's, numerous FTF, and FTE. Otherwise everything else I have tried will go bang. I use Loctite on the sight screws before I even took it to the range, heard too many issues with lost sights.
 
Yes, I'm using CCI primers. Do they have a bad reputation?
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CCI primers are known for being on the hard side. I use CCI small pistol primers in my .38 Special reloads. Most of my revolvers do fine but an older Charter Arms would only ignite them in single action. Shooting double action, the strike was just light enough that the CCI primers wouldn't pop reliably.
 
No question the Nano has been iffy.

Mine, bought new in early 2014, had about a 2% FTEx rate with 115-grain range ammo, and even some FTExs with 124- and 147-grain SD ammo. Not exactly what you want in a carry gun.

But I wanted to like this gun because of its best-in-class (IMHO) pocketability. So I looked for DIY fixes and found one that required taking a bit of stock off a particular edge of the extractor. After doing some honing, according to the pics, my 115 failures dropped to 1%. Rather than take off a little, then a little more, I sent it to Beretta. Got it back ten days later with a polished feed ramp and a new extractor (I smell a silent recall...). Shot a hundred differently weighted (but mostly 115) rounds without a hiccup. I'll add that the action does seem different, so I am hopeful but not yet confident. Figure I'll be good to go if I can get another 300 down range without incident.

About the sights, I didn't lose mine but the set screw for the front one did come lose and would have fallen out had I not checked it. No sign of Loctite on my screws... Put the blue stuff on mine. In spite of the risks, I like not having to drift sights. When my confidence in the Nano is reached, I'll just drop in the night sights. No muss, no fuss.
 
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