# Px4 unintentional discharge



## Guest (Nov 9, 2012)

First off, long time looker, first time poster.
Last saturday 11/03 i picked up a Px4 Storm sub compact .40 from a friend, gun is 2 years old, im the second owner, 300 rnds fired, no mods, in excellent condition. 
Came with the blue box and all the case candy as well. I sold my trusty Beretta 92D that ive owned for 15+ years to fund the purchase, for this smaller CCW pistol.

I read the Beretta manual front to back twice, and looked at a lot of video of people handling and shooting the Px4. 
So i gave the Px4 a good cleaning, put the safety on/down, loaded the clip, and proceeded to chamber the first round.
Pulled back the slide and released it and the gun immediately fired, stiking me through and through my left calf.
At no point did I ever have my finger even close to the trigger. Has anyone else heard of any unintentional firing of the Px4 with the safety engaged/lever down?


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## roo (Nov 8, 2012)

I have the exact Px4 you have and haven't experienced anything like this. Mechanical things fail though so who knows, I really hope you get to feeling better and everything works out.


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## zhurdan (Mar 21, 2008)

Sorry you shot yourself. Was it reassembled properly? Perhaps the firing pin was stuck in the forward position. I've never heard of any other incidents like yours.

Oh, and not to be a jerk, but...*
1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.*

Your leg is not a safe direction.

If folks were more mindful of this single rule, the other rules would be less necessary. Still necessary, but this one rule solves 99% of issues with firearms. It's easy to get complacent when it's something we've done for decades... this is a stark and painful reminder.

Best of luck on the healing process.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2012)

I have since looked at my gun and it absolutely fires every time you jack the slide with the safety lever on/down without touching the trigger. with safety lever down the firing pin should rotate out of the way, and the gun should not be able to fire a bullet. Its malfunctioning. just thought id pass it on so everyone can check out their Px4s and assure this is not happening with your guns.


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Sorry yo hear what happened! Glad you are alive!

I've owned two PX4s, and I have own(ed) many 92s. I'm very familiar with the designs, and that's why I like the guns so much... Be aware, that with the safety down (in the safe position) -- if you pull the slide back and drop the slide, the hammer will follow the slide immediately - but shouldn't fire the gun.

The rotation of the safety levers (in safe position) does turn a part that keeps the firing pin from being hit by the hammer. This is strange indeed. Mechanically, I do not see how this can happen.

How did the detective verify that the gun fired each time - do you know? Just the dropping of the hammer (as it falls, following the slide) isn't firing the gun. Without a snapcap (or an actual live round) - he wouldn't know that this is truly firing the gun when the hammer follows the slide.

Please keep us informed.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2012)

Just got back from my local gun shop, checked out several other Px4s.
Rotating firing pin mechanism, safety and hammer all seemed to operate identical.
This one had/has a mechanical failure or hiccup of some kind.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

rikohio said:


> First off, long time looker, first time poster.
> Last saturday 11/03 i picked up a Px4 Storm sub compact .40 from a friend, gun is 2 years old, im the second owner, 300 rnds fired, no mods, in excellent condition.
> Came with the blue box and all the case candy as well. I sold my trusty Beretta 92D that ive owned for 15+ years to fund the purchase, for this smaller CCW pistol.
> 
> ...


With all due respect, I find this very hard to believe. I'm very familiar with Beretta's having taken apart both the 92FS and PX4 subcompact and compact and more specifically the workings in which you refer(I own 2 G models, i.e. no safety). In order for what you claimed to have happened not 1 but 2 safety features had to fail simultaneously. Not impossible, but highly unlikely, especially w/ a Beretta. 1st would be the rotating firing pin plunger did not rotate upward but remained in line with the firing pin as the safety was engaged and 2nd the firing pin block failed simultaneously. To check functionality please make sure the pistol is unloaded pull back the hammer rearward and rotate the safety down. The firing pin plunger should rotate upward thus rendering the firing pin inoperational. 2nd, the firing pin block, block's the firing pin until the very last stage of the trigger pull which allows the sear to disengage and fire. Unless that malfunctioned as well the only way to make the pistol discharge would be to pull the trigger fully to the rear. If I were to bet, I'd believe your friend whom you obtained the firearm from did a little monkeying around w/ the pistol and left out some crucial parts. Ask him if he has ever fully taken the pistol apart including the safety mechanism. Glad you are okay.


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## Cardude (Oct 25, 2021)

Guest said:


> First off, long time looker, first time poster.
> Last saturday 11/03 i picked up a Px4 Storm sub compact .40 from a friend, gun is 2 years old, im the second owner, 300 rnds fired, no mods, in excellent condition.
> Came with the blue box and all the case candy as well. I sold my trusty Beretta 92D that ive owned for 15+ years to fund the purchase, for this smaller CCW pistol.
> 
> ...


I recently purchased a Beretta PX4. When I cock mine, my hammer drops as well. I was wondering if it was normal. I didnt think it was. I just read your thread and see Im not the only one. I have yet to fire it. Just after I bought it, I broke my wrist. Did you ever figure out what was wrong? Thanks - Ed


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## Higgy Baby (Aug 10, 2021)

Don't expect an answer from the original poster- as this post is near 11 years old.

"When you cock it the hammer drops"? That does not sound right!
I am not familiar with the PX4, but possibly someone here may be. If you are unsure about your PX4- you should find someone familiar with that gun and get them to look it over before you load it or attempt to shoot it.
You certainly do not want to wind up like the OP.


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## SSGN_Doc (Mar 12, 2020)

Cardude said:


> I recently purchased a Beretta PX4. When I cock mine, my hammer drops as well. I was wondering if it was normal. I didnt think it was. I just read your thread and see Im not the only one. I have yet to fire it. Just after I bought it, I broke my wrist. Did you ever figure out what was wrong? Thanks - Ed


Have been running beretta pistols since around 1992. 

please go into detail regarding what you mean by “cocking” As well as the position/ state of the safety lever.

Thumb cocking the hammer or cycling the slide?
Safety lever down or up?

The safety lever functions as a decocker and safety. Leaving the safety in the down position will prevent the hammer from remaining in the cocked position. ( therefore you cannot have a Beretta Px4 in a “cocked and locked” condition with the hammer cocked and safety on.)

cycling the slide with the safety in the “on” position will also result in the hammer dropping back down to the undocked position.

Because the pistol runs a DA/SA trigger system the long DA first trigger pull is considered a safety feature, much like a Double Action revolver. Many will run their safety lever as a decocker only. This means the safety lever only functions to lower the hammer to the decocked position, restoring the pistol,to Double Action mode for the first shot with the hammer uncocked. To lower the hammer safely without setting off the round in the chamber , the safety lever has a plunger section that rides in the pivoting cylinder of the safety. This plunger aligns with the firing pin channel when the safety is off. The hammer strikes this plunger which strikes the firing pin. When the safety lever is rotated to the ”safe” position the plunger is rotated out o& alignment with the firing pin and channel, meaning the hammer cannot strike the firing pin.

Next mechanical device preventing the firing pin from striking the primer for the chambered round is the firing pin safety. It is a plunger running vertically into part of the firing pin channel and aligning with a recess in the firing pin. This blocks the firing pin from being allowed to travel forward in the channel Unless the trigger is fully depressed. The trigger pushes this firing pin block up until a cut-out aligns with the firing pin channel to allow the firing pin to travel forward and strike the primer of the chambered round. This only happens once the trigger is fully to the rear.

there is also a firing pin spring preventing the firing pin from traveling forward under simple inertia if the pistol, was dropped muzzle down.

So, mechanically it is very unlikely to have a discharge from a single mechanical failure, involving the firing pin and hammer without involving the trigger and safety lever also. There is A LOT of mechanical redundancy in preventing such a discharge in Beretta pistols ever since the 92FS was released back in the 80s/90s.


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

If the safety is on, the hammer will drop again when you cock it. The safety acts as a decocker.


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## corneileous (Feb 17, 2018)

I know this is an old post but I wonder what ever came about with this because even before I converted all my Storms from Type-F’s to Type-G’s, I never had this problem. The way that safety decocker works actually makes me feel pretty safe when I handle my PX4’s. 

Being that he was the second owner of the handgun, it would probably be awful hard to win a lawsuit against Beretta for a faulty gun that resulted in an injury unless he could prove the previous owner never took the gun apart or jacked with it in any way but then again, when did that pistol develop that problem, I wonder? Was it like that when the previous owner had it? If it was, why didn’t he tell him about it? If it was previously doing that then why did the guy even sell a malfunctioning gun to somebody? 

That’s awful unfortunate and I know it’s a cardinal rule to never ever point a gun at something you don’t intend to destroy but handguns shouldn’t fire whenever you go to rack a round in the chamber from either slingshotting the slide or simply by hitting the slide release both with no finger on the trigger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## corneileous (Feb 17, 2018)

Cardude said:


> I recently purchased a Beretta PX4. When I cock mine, my hammer drops as well. I was wondering if it was normal. I didnt think it was. I just read your thread and see Im not the only one. I have yet to fire it. Just after I bought it, I broke my wrist. Did you ever figure out what was wrong? Thanks - Ed


Is this when the safety is on or off because if the safety’s on, the hammer should follow the slide all the way forward and the only time the hammer should stay cocked after racking the slide is of the safety’s off. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Geeze, I didn't notice on my last post that this thread goes back to 2012... I was on my phone when I did that reply...


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## Higgy Baby (Aug 10, 2021)

Shipwreck said:


> Geeze, I didn't notice on my last post that this thread goes back to 2012... I was on my phone when I did that reply...


Hey- that's okay- the question you were answering was fresh! Only 20 hours old and it NEEDED an answer!


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

Shipwreck said:


> Geeze, I didn't notice on my last post that this thread goes back to 2012... I was on my phone when I did that reply...


LOL! Welcome to the human race. I've done that a few times, if not on this forum, then on another.


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