# PX4 Compact Trouble, any suggestions?



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

Wife just bought a PX4 Compact. Loves the size, features and feel. However, we took it to the range Friday and had major malfunctions

Every last bullet in the mag was a failure to feed. All other bullets were FTF about 50% of the time. No limp wristing (both of us fired it with the same malfunctions) Plus, when we got the last bullet in the mag chambered, after it fired, the slide would not lock back.

All this makes me wonder if the load was too light for the gun or if the recoil spring was too strong (I looked up to see if I needed the refit and I was ok---should be since the gun is brand new). I was using PPU 9mm, factory load, 115 grain.

I've locked the slide back and put it in the safe and I'll fire different ammo next week but seriously, if we can't find a solution, we're out $500 because the gun is just a mechanical basket case right now. 

Any suggestions?


----------



## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Since it's brand new, see if the dealer will take it back, if not send it back to Berretta, somethings not right. I wouldn't bother tinkering with it yourself as you might void the warrantee. I'm sure it will be taken care of and you won't be out the $500.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

Shoot WWB, or Nato if you can find it, or something hotter, no PPU, or PMC bronze for now. Some Storm's like hot ammo at first. If it continues to have issues send it to Beretta. The action and recoil spring need a little break in on your particular pistol in my opinion. 100 rounds of WWB should do it, after that you'll love it. Locking the slide back for a few days may help as well, along with some lube like rem-oil. If it doesn't work with WWB or Nato you have too strong of a spring and/or the action needs some rounds down range. After that, it will shoot anything all the time and with superb accuracy. Love mine, it's my EDC. I went through the first run of compacts w/ the heavy, heavy spring and got the lighter spring, no issues. Your recoil spring does have the 2 or 3 condensed inner coils correct?


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

Thank you both for the replies.

I will absolutely try hotter ammo (no P or P+, of course). I hope it works! The wife loves everything about the gun (except the constnat malfunctions, lol). I will fire it again this week and report back.


----------



## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

I have always had good luck with the PPU ammo in other 9mm handguns, but I don't own that particular Beretta. I would, like said above, try some different ammo before you send it back to get worked on. Don't get the magazine problem though...with the last round hanging up.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

berettatoter said:


> I have always had good luck with the PPU ammo in other 9mm handguns, but I don't own that particular Beretta. I would, like said above, try some different ammo before you send it back to get worked on. Don't get the magazine problem though...with the last round hanging up.


The OP is stating that on the last round in the magazine the slide is failing to lock back. A tell tale sign the round does not have enough energy to cycle the action to the rear to lock up, or as mentioned above too much spring. Generally, the storms should be fine starting off with PPU and PMC bronze, however, in his case evidently not. I myself have good luck with PPU and PMC bronze, however, they are of the lower powered ammunition, WWB is not, if you shoot them side by side you should easily tell the difference and if you are shooting a pistol that at first only likes hotter ammunition you will indeed notice the difference. 1st hand knowledge :watching: All things considered proper grip and no limp wrist-ing by the OP and his wife. BTW, you can shoot +p from the Storms and in your case it sounds like the pistol will enjoy it.. The storms rotating barrel action is one hefty 3 point lockup.

PPU 115gr FMJ @ 1142 fps at the muzzle
WWB 115gr FMJ @ 1192 fps at the muzzle


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

billyzero said:


> Thank you both for the replies.
> 
> I will absolutely try hotter ammo (no P or P+, of course). I hope it works! The wife loves everything about the gun (except the constnat malfunctions, lol). I will fire it again this week and report back.


You didn't mention if your recoil spring has the 2 or 3 condensed coils in the middle of the spring?


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

denner said:


> You didn't mention if your recoil spring has the 2 or 3 condensed coils in the middle of the spring?


There are three coils pushed together in the middle. There's also a smaller spring underneath the larger one running the length of the polymer guide rod.

I checked the Beretta website and entered my pistol's number and it came back as not needing the refit. Sound right?


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

billyzero said:


> There are three coils pushed together in the middle. There's also a smaller spring underneath the larger one running the length of the polymer guide rod.
> 
> I checked the Beretta website and entered my pistol's number and it came back as not needing the refit. Sound right?


Yep, you are okay, just follow my suggestions and get back to us. Make sure you fully clean and lube the pistol before shooting it as well, you may wish to go slightly on the wet side for now. Just need to get the spring and action worked a little with higher powered ammo and you will be fine.


----------



## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

I would still send the gun back rather than waste your time and ammo on something that should be taken care of at the factory. The factory also should be notified as there could be other pistols that were manufactured at the same time as yours with the same problem and components. This could be a serious issue if the gun were needed in a life or death situation. I have yet to buy a new pistol that had so many problems straight out of the box. I know we don't live in a perfect world, but the new guns we buy today should function with all types of ammo for that caliber. Ammo shortages being what they are you may not have a choice as to what is available at any given time. I'm sure that all of the people who own the PX4 Compact are not having the same problem and unfortunately for you, the one you have has an issue that needs to be resolved.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

desertman said:


> I would still send the gun back rather than waste your time and ammo on something that should be taken care of at the factory. The factory also should be notified as there could be other pistols that were manufactured at the same time as yours with the same problem and components. This could be a serious issue if the gun were needed in a life or death situation. I have yet to buy a new pistol that had so many problems straight out of the box. I know we don't live in a perfect world, but the new guns we buy today should function with all types of ammo for that caliber. Ammo shortages being what they are you may not have a choice as to what is available at any given time. I'm sure that all of the people who own the PX4 Compact are not having the same problem and unfortunately for you, the one you have has an issue that needs to be resolved.


Do you own one? Not giving the pistol an opportunity to shoot 1 box of WWB? Geez? If he sends it back as you suggest it could be months w/o the pistol and not trying at least hotter ammunition and come back to the weaker stuff sounds a little premature to me. The pistol is not the Solo. I agree, the pistol should shoot any thing straight from the box, but to give it a chance with WWB is not a bad idea. If after he shoots WWB and everything is fine, then where are we?


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

If this were a pistol that I counted on for life and death, yeah, I would not trust it and send it back. I may even have to still do it anyway. However, since it's my wife's range pistol, I am willing to try to break it in even though, yeah, I hate to spend money on the hope it resolves itself. But then again, there are worse (and more expensive) hobbies.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

billyzero said:


> If this were a pistol that I counted on for life and death, yeah, I would not trust it and send it back. I may even have to still do it anyway. However, since it's my wife's range pistol, I am willing to try to break it in even though, yeah, I hate to spend money on the hope it resolves itself. But then again, there are worse (and more expensive) hobbies.


I believe you need more than one outing to determine whether you can rely on any pistol for life and death. I'd say at least 500 rounds if not 1000 with no issues. I assure you I rely on my PX4 compact for any life and death situation. If I thought otherwise, I'd suggest sending it back immediately as well. I've have it 2-3 years now as my EDC, so I'm quite familiar with it.


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

denner said:


> I believe you need more than one outing to determine whether you can rely on any pistol for life and death. I'd say at least 500 rounds if not 1000 with no issues. I assure you I rely on my PX4 compact for any life and death situation. If I thought otherwise, I'd suggest sending it back immediately as well. I've have it 2-3 years now as my EDC, so I'm quite familiar with it.


Absolutely! I 100% agree with you that only time and proven reliability can determine if you should put that gun in your carry holster.


----------



## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

There have been issues with the magazines. The nose of the round is lagging behind. 
Take the fully loaded magazine out of the gun and unload it be hand, watching if the nose of the rounds are lagging behind.


----------



## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

denner:


> "Do you own one? Not giving the pistol an opportunity to shoot 1 box of WWB?"


No, I don't own one, and I am not trying to imply that it's a bad pistol. It could be that "billyzero" got one that was defective. It's just that out of all the new guns that I own including the Kimber Solo I've only had an issue with two of them. One an Interarms Walther PPK/S in which the recoil spring failed after about 500 rounds. And two a Ruger Redhawk where the cylinder would bind up against the forcing cone after firing off about 50 rounds. I also had a few magazines that didn't feed properly, but they were aftermarket, that I had purchased after I bought the guns. Maybe WWB ammo will work, but I personally would not want to own a semi auto that was finicky about the type of ammo that it could reliably use. I have no idea about how knowledgeable "billyzero" is at diagnosing and fixing the problem himself. Therefore I highly recommend that he return the pistol and let Berretta solve the problem as it could be any number of things, it could also be a bad run of guns that Berretta should know about. Companies are always recalling products for a number of reasons, a defect in a firearm could cause serious bodily injury or death. If he were to tinker with it himself besides trying to shoot another box of ammo through it, and the factory found evidence of his tinkering it would probably void the warranty. Then he would definitely be out $500. Since I don't own a PX4 Compact, I don't know if Berretta recommends a specific type of ammo for this type of pistol as does Kimber for their Solo. If they didn't than the pistol should function reliably with any type of ammo. For the record I have tried different types of ammo in my Kimber Solo including ammo that was not recommended by Kimber and it never had a problem.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

desertman said:


> denner:
> 
> No, I don't own one, and I am not trying to imply that it's a bad pistol. It could be that "billyzero" got one that was defective. It's just that out of all the new guns that I own including the Kimber Solo I've never had any issues with any of them. Except for an Interarms Walther PPK/S in which the recoil spring failed after about 500 rounds. I also had a few magazines that didn't feed properly, but they were aftermarket, that I had purchased after I bought the guns. Maybe WWB ammo will work, but I personally would not want to own a semi auto that was finicky about the type of ammo that it could reliably use. I have no idea about how knowledgeable "billyzero" is at diagnosing and fixing the problem himself. Therefore I highly recommend that he return the pistol and let Berretta solve the problem as it could be any number of things, it could also be a bad run of guns that Berretta should know about. Companies are always recalling products for a number of reasons, a defect in a firearm could cause serious bodily injury or death. If he were to tinker with it himself besides trying to shoot another box of ammo through it, and the factory found evidence of his tinkering it would probably void the warranty. Then he would definitely be out $500. Since I don't own a PX4 Compact, I don't know if Berretta recommends a specific type of ammo for this type of pistol as does Kimber for their Solo. If they didn't than the pistol should function reliably with any type of ammo. For the record I have tried different types of ammo in my Kimber Solo including ammo that was not recommended by Kimber and it never had a problem.


True, but it could be the ammo, could it not? If he had advised that he shot a range of ammo including the likes of Nato or WWB, I'd be most skeptical. The brand or lot of ammo can be an equation as well. He was having issues w/ the rounds not cycling according to him 50% of the time and on the last round not locking back the slide. If you can take from that there is some sort of major recall issue that may need to be addressed then perhaps. If he shoots 100 rounds of WWB without a hitch, what would that say, and then from there anything else including PPU and PMC Bronze w/o an issue. That is what I'm thinking will occur, but it's only my opinion having owned one for 3 years.

I have not advised him to tinker with the pistol, nor anything that would void the pistol's warranty. Just to shoot ammo that I know is a little hotter than PPU at first, then shoot anything afterwards. If the pistol still malfunctions, I advised him to contact Beretta. I believe the new pistol cleaned and lubed deserves at least one run w/ different ammo before sending it off, others may disagree. I don't know if he cleaned or lubed the pistol before his first outing as well, I'll just have to assume as such. The pistol has a unique rotating 3 point locking system which is perhaps the strongest on the market, and may need a little shooting with ammo that can function the pistol at the very first. No, the storm has no ammo recommendation handicap. I would likewise suggest contacting Beretta to hear what they say, I'd bet a dime to a dollar they will give him the same advice.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

*UPDATE* Beretta PX4 Storm Malfunction/Defect - Failure to Feed (FTF) - YouTube

Did you clean and lube the pistol before firing? Italy ships them w/ protectant/ packing oil to protect them from the salt air and moisture. As I recall mine was not that bad, but I always make it a habit to thoroughly clean with Hoppes and my favorite lube before firing. Need to clean it good and lube it. Just another thought if you haven't already done so?


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

denner said:


> *UPDATE* Beretta PX4 Storm Malfunction/Defect - Failure to Feed (FTF) - YouTube
> 
> Did you clean and lube the pistol before firing? Italy ships them w/ protectant/ packing oil to protect them from the salt air and moisture. As I recall mine was not that bad, but I always make it a habit to thoroughly clean with Hoppes and my favorite lube before firing. Need to clean it good and lube it. Just another thought if you haven't already done so?


Great video.

Yes I did a customary cleaning before firing it but I really went to town on cleaning it this weekend. It's immaculate now. I'll fire again this week and post a report. Thanks for all the help.


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

Got a shipment of 9mm today and even though it was 115 grain, I decided to see if the the work I put in on the pistol (based on your suggestions) had any effect.

Your help worked. Eighty rounds through the barrel without a single malfunction! I seriously feel like Santa Clause sneaked into my house and exchanged pistols. I was gobsmacked at the difference.

I may have the odd malfunction here and there but I am calling this problem put to bed. I can't wait for the wife to fire it now. I was so excited, I actually called her at work to tell her that "her" gun was working normally now. 

Thank you to those who posted suggestions and encouragement! The wife thanks you too. What a great forum. Happy shooting.


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

billyzero said:


> I may have the odd malfunction here and there .


I seriously doubt it, if you got 80 rounds down range with no issues, it sounds like the pistol is good to go as I predicted. Remember, it's a Beretta, Mamma Mia. :smt083

I want to believe it will be the most reliable pistol in your stable from here on out, that's my second prediction.


----------



## billyzero (Mar 23, 2014)

Another update.

Finally got the wife to the range; the gun functioned flawless for her firing 115 and 147 grain ammo.

The first quarter of her firing session was pretty rough. A lot of misses at 7 yards but then she inserted a snap cap into the chamber and just practiced smooth trigger presses without flinching. After about 4 minutes of that, I would load a single round into the chamber (live or snap cap) and she would then fire. The first two were snap caps and she had excellent trigger control with nearly zero dipping of the barrel at the end. The third time I used a live round and when the round struck about a quarter inch from the bulls-eye, a big grin broke out on her face. After that, the change in her accuracy was remarkable. One in three shots were usually touching the bulls-eye, the other two within an inch or two. Fantastic for accuracy for only her second time firing the weapon. The PX4 Compact seems very forgiving.

Very happy with the pistol (and relieved that the initial problems were fixed by breaking it in some).

She had such a fun time that she actually wanted to fire my 1911. Yeah, the recoil surprised her a little but her shot landed only about 3 inches left and hand (clearly anticipation of the recoil). Still, it was on target and not bad at all for not being familiar with the pistol. Amazing what the right gun can do for a person's confidence.


----------



## salisbury74 (Jan 26, 2014)

I bought a new full size PX4 storm 40 Cal. and the same happened to me, even after shooting 200 rounds. I ended up sending it to a Beretta gun smith and the gun was fixed free of charge. It only took a week from the time I shipped the gun out and getting it back. I have shot over 300 round now without any problems .


----------



## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

billyzero said:


> the round struck about a quarter inch from the bulls-eye, a big grin broke out on her face.


Priceless, great idea on the snap caps, probably saved you a boat load on ammo as well:smt1099. Glad to hear everything is working for you and the wife.


----------



## goochster (Jun 14, 2015)

thanks guys.. you definitely made my mind up NOT to buy a storm. With the 75 dollar rebate and the start price of 529.00 I was going to jump on it. Guess I'll stick with ruger, I need a weapon I can depend on and even my hi-point 169.00 c9 neve had problems with softer loads. Seems to be a manufacture problem to me.


----------



## high pockets (Apr 25, 2011)

goochster said:


> thanks guys.. you definitely made my mind up NOT to buy a storm. With the 75 dollar rebate and the start price of 529.00 I was going to jump on it. Guess I'll stick with ruger, I need a weapon I can depend on and even my hi-point 169.00 c9 neve had problems with softer loads. Seems to be a manufacture problem to me.


Stick with Ruger if you like, but I have to say my PX4 Compact performed flawlessly right out of the box. I shoot 115, 124, or 147 grain projectiles and never have, or had, a malfunction.


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

goochster said:


> thanks guys.. you definitely made my mind up NOT to buy a storm. With the 75 dollar rebate and the start price of 529.00 I was going to jump on it. Guess I'll stick with ruger, I need a weapon I can depend on and even my hi-point 169.00 c9 neve had problems with softer loads. Seems to be a manufacture problem to me.


I have owned 3 fullsize PX4s over the years. Sold them to use the $ for another gun - but then bought a PX4 again later. Now, I have a compact PX4 pistol. Like it a lot. Guns have been 100% for me with no issues among any of them.

Most people who have issues never cleaned their new gun before their first range trip, or the don't lube the rotating barrel lug enough. I have no problems with the platform.


----------



## HandgunsAreGreat (Nov 26, 2013)

On my full-size Px4 9mm, I 1st shot 500 rounds of 124 grain ammo to ensure good breaking. According to customer support at Beretta only about 100 rounds were needed but I wanted to ensure the gun would function fine without problems. 2nd I clean the firearm in the magazines before shooting. Today I shot my new Px4 9mm Compact Beretta with 400 rounds of hundred 24 grain ammo with no problems. I have tried compact pistols before but if I try shooting them with one hand they usually malfunction since I have arthritis. I shot my new Beretta one-handed and intentionally limp wristed it so much that when the round one off my hand flew up about 10 inches. I had no malfunctions whatsoever.

I did have a full-size Beretta Px4 9mm last year that I had nothing but problems with and returned for another gun. One difference between now and then is that the magazines I had last year were very difficult to load. I had to fight to get the last 3 or 4 rounds into the magazine. I still had those magazines from last year but before I started using them I loaded them an insured no matter how hard it was my fully loaded the magazine and then left them loaded for month. The last round is still difficult to load but this spring has loosened up. Beretta Px4 magazines are known to be extremely tight springs. You may want to clean the magazines and then fully load them for a week or 2 before you try the gun again.

Whatever happens I wish you success with your Beretta because I love mine. For a recall sensitive shooter the rotating barrel is a joy. I have followed customer services suggestions and keep the pistol well looped especially the assembly block that rotates the barrel.

Thanks and please keep us informed on what happens with your Beretta.


----------



## HandgunsAreGreat (Nov 26, 2013)

goochster said:


> thanks guys.. you definitely made my mind up NOT to buy a storm. With the 75 dollar rebate and the start price of 529.00 I was going to jump on it. Guess I'll stick with ruger, I need a weapon I can depend on and even my hi-point 169.00 c9 neve had problems with softer loads. Seems to be a manufacture problem to me.


Like H&K, Beretta is made for countries using 124 grain Nato ammo so it should not surprise anyone that it ,ay not function will in the beginning with softer loads. IMHO


----------

