Beretta PX4 Sub compact .40 Slide Lock back issue.

[skidoo j]

I purchased a new Beretta PX4 Sub compact the last week of Sept. I went to the range this weekend and had some issues.

I started with just a single round in the clip. Chambered and Fired. The slide stayed back but the magazine would not eject. Fiddled with it a bit, magazine comes out slide racked forward.

This repeated for both mags when firing one round out of the mag.

So I put two rounds in the magazine. First round fine, second chambers, fire and slide locks back and magazine will not release.


I did a field strip and started looking at what maybe going wrong. I noticed the slide was not catching on the actual lock back postion. Upon inspection it appears the slide lock back lever has a tab that is to contact the magazine raiser when the mag is empty. However it appears that with the play in the magazine to mag well and the small amount of engagement that this tab is failing to catch the plastic raiser. In fact this little lock lever arm in about 5 mag changes (10 rounds total) has started to gouge the plastic. I've noticed if I hold the magazine to the left side of the gun it catches the stop lever, and the magazine will eject when the slide is back freely. However if you put the magazine in empty and the slide back you can see the arm is already going to miss the plastic raiser. I also tried manually locking the slide back after the final round was discharged, however the magazine still will no fall freely as the slide-lock-back-lever arm is wedged against the magazine raiser. To prevent further gouging you have to lock the slide back manually, then use your finger to pull the raiser out and away from the lever arm, then you can press the mag release it it drops easily.

I contacted Beretta today. They informed me that I could ship the gun to an approved Beretta repair shop in California for a warranty repair. I'm not really happy with this because it's a new gun and I don't feel I should be paying overnight freight to repair a from the factory defective gun. I really feel this should have been caught during their quality check. The gentleman I spoke with is going to send me a new lever for me to replace hoping it resolves my issue and prevents me from having to ship my gun off at my expense and waiting 3-4 weeks for turn around. If it does not resolve my issue I do plan on escalating this up and believe Beretta will be paying freight.


I guess this is more of a rant and an awareness for other potential buyers. Now that I know what it's doing and what it's cause is visually I think it could have been determined prior to purchase, and I would have never bought it. When reading the reviews of the gun I did not find any mention of this problem prior to purchase. I'm thinking it could be there is too much play in the mag well or the arm on the lever is too short for full contact.

Has anyone else has this issue? If so how did you resolve? Anyone else with a px4 sub-compact is your magazine able to shift side to side, locks in, but you have about 1/16" play from side to side?

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[tim007]

contact Beretta about this .... secondly do a full strip down .. remove everything including thetrigger group ect and clean clean clean .. reassemble and try again . past that sounds like something is busted..or worn

 

[skidoo j]

contact Beretta about this .... secondly do a full strip down .. remove everything including thetrigger group ect and clean clean clean .. reassemble and try again . past that sounds like something is busted..or worn

WORN??? if you read my post you'd see the gun is a week old, and all issues happening at first time on range. I also did contact Beretta, they wanted me to pay $50 in shipping to send a brand new gun in for service. I'd understand paying the freight if I'd been shooting with it for a month or a year and something broke, but they shipped this thing from the factory with this issue.

 

[tim007]

WORN??? if you read my post you'd see the gun is a week old, and all issues happening at first time on range. I also did contact Beretta, they wanted me to pay $50 in shipping to send a brand new gun in for service. I'd understand paying the freight if I'd been shooting with it for a month or a year and something broke, but they shipped this thing from the factory with this issue.

sorry i must have read it wrong ... let me ask you this did you take the whole gun apart and glean the shipping crap out of it before taking it to the range.....


also i have a px4 storm also

 

[skidoo j]

sorry i must have read it wrong ... let me ask you this did you take the whole gun apart and glean the shipping crap out of it before taking it to the range.....


also i have a px4 storm also

Did a complete tear down and got all the shipping crap out, then relubed with quality gun oil. I've had many friends recommend the px4 storm, but keep in mind is is the sub-compact px4. I'll take pictures of what's happening. It's almost like the mag well is too large, or the arm on the slide lock back lever that contacts the magazine raiser is too short. I went to the range again today after reassembly and it is happening at every mag change, unless i eject the magazine prior to the last round. Beretta when describing the issue understood, and did not try to offer resolutions like cleaning etc. I'm thinking this is a known issue, maybe uncommon but known. If they would have offered to send me an overnight shipping label it would be on it's way to Cali. I just refuse to pay another $50 to ship it overnight freight to Cali when it should not have passed quality control.

 

[tim007]

what about contacting the store you bought it from? .. they might just swap it for you .. some places are nice like that

 

[skidoo j]

what about contacting the store you bought it from? .. they might just swap it for you .. some places are nice like that

They're a small mom n pop place. I'm sure they obtained it through davidson's or rsr. He offered to look at it to see if he could fix it. My fear is Beretta's warranty is pretty strict on what they cover and how it becomes void. I'm trying to preserve my investment so it can be sent to them w/o question of coverage.

 

[tim007]

well hmmmmmm sounds weird best thing i can say is clean clean clean .. and if thats not it when its abart look for anything that might look off/wrong .. past that check the mag also and then eather let dealer check it of let beretta deal with it .. yeah its extra cost but sigh ya just bought it maybe they will recoop you on the costs by sending you free stuff

 

[Allfat]

They're a small mom n pop place. I'm sure they obtained it through davidson's or rsr. He offered to look at it to see if he could fix it. My fear is Beretta's warranty is pretty strict on what they cover and how it becomes void. I'm trying to preserve my investment so it can be sent to them w/o question of coverage.

If they got it through Davidsons, you have a warranty from them. As long as the gun is available through Davidsons, they should send another one out right away if it is defective. Might give that a try.

 

[skidoo j]

Spoke with Beretta, they first sent a new slide lock lever, it was not the remedy. We then sent it to Beretta directly. Received it back very promptly. However the joy of receiving it back in such a quick time of course meant they didn't do a damn thing. I didn't even take it back from my dealer because it reproduced the same issues in the store. Calls were made to Beretta we were informed to "throw away" the magazines and they would ship new magazines that have been "corrected". Well received the magazines 11/2... one of the two mag followers does catch the slide lock back lever and the other does not. So I'll be calling them first thing Monday. I really think if they just had a slide lock back lever with a longer catch all would be resolved.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

contact Beretta about this .... secondly do a full strip down .. remove everything including thetrigger group ect and clean clean clean .. reassemble and try again . past that sounds like something is busted..or worn

^^ This^^

 

[skidoo j]

I'm posting here so that someone else looking to buy this gun is aware and will test for the issues or not buy it all together. Simply put an empty mag in the gun, rack the slide back with out touching the lock back lever, if the slide catches on the mag the gun is a POS!!!

If you read through the post You'll see The gun has been disassembled, cleaned and lubed well prior to taking to range. The gun is brand new, the issues happened on first time out. I've already sent the POS into Beretta actual Beretta not one of their "certified repair shops". They "tested" the gun by firing 25 rounds through the gun, making total rounds through the gun about 50... The gun fires fine as long as you change the mag before the last round.


Please don't respond if you're not going to contribute to the discussion or have not at least read the first few posts. Simply posting to increase your post count is not useful.

 

[skidoo j]

If they got it through Davidsons, you have a warranty from them. As long as the gun is available through Davidsons, they should send another one out right away if it is defective. Might give that a try.

they didn't get through davidson's but were willing to pay for shipping for repair and helped escalate the issue with Beretta.

 

[tim007]

well it sounds like your on the right path to getting the issue fixed..... but the question is do you trust this gun now? might be time to sell it and get something else or



oh and whoot one more post to the post count jk jk

 

[skidoo j]

well it sounds like your on the right path to getting the issue fixed..... but the question is do you trust this gun now? might be time to sell it and get something else or



oh and whoot one more post to the post count jk jk

Very valid concern regarding the trust of the gun. I really like how it shoots, like the round count vs my comparable sized sig... I highly doubt I'll be in a situation where I'll need to change mags other then at the range. It has not jammed once even with a random assortment of brands and weights in one mag. The issue of trust becomes in the event of a scenario when more rounds maybe needed, assuming I'm carrying more then one mag, this could be a critical failure risking my life. I will see what Beretta has to say come Monday and go from there. If they do not have a resolve parting with the gun will not be an option as I do not like to pass my problems off to others.

I do have the spare mag catch/lock back lever they sent, so I may try to tac a weld on the end of it, then use the dremel to smooth out. If I do that I'll do my best to post pictures of before during and a comparison.

 

[Swedish K]

Just out of curiosity did you strip the new mags apart and look at the followers to compare the one that works with the one that doesn't? could be that the followers are the problem... Just a thought.

After poking around a bit I did see a writeup where the guy mentioned that his follower was not connected to the spring correctly and it allowed some bullets to get beneath the follower - while not the exact issue it could be that the follower isn't positioned correctly or the spring isn't in the correct orientation. Another blog post mentioned something about spacers to fill the extra space allowing you to use the full length mags... wasn't all that clear but sounds like they may have changed the mag size and it requires a mag well spacer that goes on the back of the grip panels? Without seeing the gun in person and getting hands on to figure out the exact problem its a bit difficult to diagnose. If I recall correctly you said the mag is loose in the mag well. Also the slide stop is getting stuck on the side of the follower next to where the follower is supposed to engage the stop. sounds like 2 issues combined but as I said without seeing it in person the fix is just a guess.

 

[skidoo j]

Just out of curiosity did you strip the new mags apart and look at the followers to compare the one that works with the one that doesn't? could be that the followers are the problem... Just a thought.

After poking around a bit I did see a writeup where the guy mentioned that his follower was not connected to the spring correctly and it allowed some bullets to get beneath the follower - while not the exact issue it could be that the follower isn't positioned correctly or the spring isn't in the correct orientation. Another blog post mentioned something about spacers to fill the extra space allowing you to use the full length mags... wasn't all that clear but sounds like they may have changed the mag size and it requires a mag well spacer that goes on the back of the grip panels? Without seeing the gun in person and getting hands on to figure out the exact problem its a bit difficult to diagnose. If I recall correctly you said the mag is loose in the mag well. Also the slide stop is getting stuck on the side of the follower next to where the follower is supposed to engage the stop. sounds like 2 issues combined but as I said without seeing it in person the fix is just a guess.

It very well could be the magazines, The one mag that the gun works well is is very tight, almost like it's from different specs. It still drops cleanly, but is tight front to back, has some play side to side. Whereas the original two factory mags (now disposed of) were sloppy front to back and side to side. The followers from both mags that I currently have appear to be the same, 0.009 difference in them probably slightly different measuring points. I neglected to measure the differences in the mags casings for the one that works vs one that doesn't. I'll have to compare them. The followers feel solid on the spring, I did take one apart and re assembled, I even tried putting the spring in backward and reversed(either wouldn't assemble or other issues could arise), so I don't believe the assembly of the mag is the issue.

With some mags working and some not, it will be good to get a few mags that work with out issue, but I don't consider it a resolve if it doesn't work with any Beretta factory mag. I did think about shimming the right side of the mag well to force the magazine tighter to the catch... con to that is if i don't find some sort of adhesive that bonds supper well to the composite frame it could come off when it shouldn't..

 

[wyolaw53]

I'm posting here so that someone else looking to buy this gun is aware and will test for the issues or not buy it all together. Simply put an empty mag in the gun, rack the slide back with out touching the lock back lever, if the slide catches on the mag the gun is a POS!!!

If you read through the post You'll see The gun has been disassembled, cleaned and lubed well prior to taking to range. The gun is brand new, the issues happened on first time out. I've already sent the POS into Beretta actual Beretta not one of their "certified repair shops". They "tested" the gun by firing 25 rounds through the gun, making total rounds through the gun about 50... The gun fires fine as long as you change the mag before the last round.


Please don't respond if you're not going to contribute to the discussion or have not at least read the first few posts. Simply posting to increase your post count is not useful.

I purchased a px4 subcom today, it pulls back fine, not catching on the mags while empty, at least, but once slide is opened the slide release lever is very hard to depress, is this normal? I can release it by manually holding slide while depressing lever then letting it close, but I haven't even made it to the range yet, is the stiff release normal? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[skidoo j]

I purchased a px4 subcom today, it pulls back fine, not catching on the mags while empty, at least, but once slide is opened the slide release lever is very hard to depress, is this normal? I can release it by manually holding slide while depressing lever then letting it close, but I haven't even made it to the range yet, is the stiff release normal? Thanks for any help you can give.

Yes the springs in the slide are very strong due to the light weight. If you release a small amount of tension off the lever by holding the slide back just a little and the lever is easy to move it should be fine, as long as you notice the follower moving down at the same time. When this is happening does the magazine drop freely? If the magazine doesn't drop freely it sound exactly like the same issue I have.

I've sent mine back two more times since the original post. They have more or less told me there is no remedy. They've sent me different slide locks. Still issues. They never offered to replace the POS or anything, I"m just stuck with it. My dealer even quit carrying them by choice not be availability because they'd have 5 others have significant issues too.

 

[slind]

i had one and sold it. i had a ton of issues with certain ammo. and critical defense took the ammo back and got the gun from Beretta dn tested it and said it was fine but it didn't work for me and so its no longer part of my collection. I am sorry for your issues with them. I have to admit. the customer service with Beretta and hornady are the best. and fastest ever! good luck.