We’re kicking off 2018 with a look at the Beretta Px4 Compact Carry — a gun that’s been the subject of more review-requests than almost any other since we first launched the Lounge. I mentioned this gun when it was first announced at SHOT Show 2015, and again when I reviewed the standard Beretta Px4 Compact. The guns first started shipping around the beginning of last year, but they sold out so quickly that Beretta wasn’t able to send us a sample to review. Since it is so similar to the Compact that I already reviewed, I didn’t think there would be much demand for me to review the new one, so I more or less forgot about it. Well, I was wrong. Apparently, you guys really do want a review of the Compact Carry. And you told me as much. A lot.
Fortunately for you, a few months ago, I made the decision to go “all in” with the Px4 Compact for the foreseeable future and consider it my go-to pistol for training, carry, home defense, and whatever else I need to do with a pistol (that’s not to say I won’t be reviewing other guns for the Lounge!). So, like I explained in the last post of 2017, I bought a Px4 Compact Carry to… well, carry, and the original Compact has been relegated to range-only use. After a couple of minor modifications and a thousand-ish rounds to verify function and reliability, the Px4 Compact Carry finally gets its own review. Details in the video below, or scroll on down to read the full transcript.
If you’re like me, then maybe you fall into that obscure intersection of shooters who prefer traditional double action pistols, but who also appreciate lightweight polymer carry guns with modern features. For people with such… sophisticated preferences, I think one of the best options available is the Beretta Px4 Storm Compact Carry.
When I reviewed the original PX4 Compact 9mm a year and a half ago, I was really impressed with Beretta’s factory aftermarket support for this gun. You can customize all of the controls and even change the internals with parts available directly from Beretta. The vanilla Px4 Compact is a good pistol right out of the box, but most shooters who are really serious about training and concealed carry are probably going to find a few things they would want to change. So early last year, Beretta answered that demand when they introduced the PX4 Compact Carry.
This variant is the brainchild of shooting instructor and Beretta consultant Ernest Langdon. Based on his recommendations, the Px4 Compact Carry takes advantage of some of the existing parts from Beretta’s catalog to improve the gun’s overall ergonomics and concealability. The wide ambidextrous slide-mounted safety levers have been replaced with low-profile “stealth” decock-only levers that sit nearly flush with the slide. Instead of a large ambi slide catch lever, it has a narrower left-side only lever. And in addition to the small magazine release found on the original Px4 Compact, the Compact Carry also comes with a medium and a large mag release, which can be installed for right or left-handed use. Inside the gun, you’ll find the Beretta competition trigger group installed, which reduces the weight of the single action trigger from about 5 pounds to 4 pounds.
The only non-Beretta parts on this variant are the Ameriglo sights which include a bright orange front sight with a tritium insert and plain black rear sight. In the box with the pistol, you also get a set of Talon grip decals which you can apply to improve the gun’s grip texture. To distinguish the Compact Carry from the original, the slide has a Cerakote Sniper Grey finish, and in case you had any doubts about the overall value of this package, Beretta includes a third 15-round magazine.
This is not just a review gun for me. This is actually the gun that I carry almost every day. I carried the Compact for several months back when I first reviewed it and then I came back to it this past summer. Now I’m using the Compact as my dedicated training gun that gets used and abused and the Compact Carry is what I actually wear on my belt every day and it only gets fired occasionally.
I’ve got two holsters I really like for this gun. One is the Wing Claw 2.5 from JM Custom Kydex and the other is The Keeper from Keeper’s Concealment. Both of them are really good, but the Keeper gives me a slightly quicker drawstroke while the JM Custom prints a little less at the belt line.
If you saw my Px4 Compact review, you might have noticed that minus the Cerakote finish, I already had my Compact set up with pretty much the same modifications the Compact Carry comes with, and I can tell you, it’s much cheaper to start with the Compact Carry than to buy all of those parts individually.
I’ve also made a few extra changes of my own to the Compact Carry which, again, mirror what I did to my Compact. The most important is the decock lever. I appreciate the idea of the low-profile levers. The original levers are big with sharp edges that are really no fun if you use an overhand grip to rack the slide. But the stealth levers are just too flat to operate with my thumb unless I shift the grip in my hand. So I left the stealth lever on the right side and on the left side, I’ve got a 92-style lever that Beretta makes for the Px4. It makes decocking easier, but it’s not sharp like the standard levers.
The competition trigger group really only impacts the trigger in single action. To lower the weight of the double action trigger from 10 pounds to about 8 pounds, I installed the Beretta D-series hammer spring. Like a lot of shooters, I have trouble reaching the small mag release button, so I’ve been taking advantage of the optional medium and large buttons. But with both of those, the sharp edge of the mag release will dig right into the web of my support hand, so I just round it off with some sandpaper and now I don’t even notice it’s there until I need it.
If there was only one other thing I could change about this gun, it would be the grip texture. It’s just way too smooth and slippery. The Talon grip decals help with that, but the rubbery texture is not the same as if the frame itself was textured. That might not seem like a big deal, but I’ll tell you where I’ve noticed a difference.
A polymer grip frame with aggressive texture doesn’t really add any resistance from friction until you apply grip pressure. But the Talon decals have kind of a sticky feel to them even when you touch them with light pressure. For me, this becomes an issue when I’m drawing the gun. For an efficient drawstroke, I want a full firing grip on the gun before it even comes out of the holster. So I want to be able to slide my fingers into place and get all the grip I’m ever going to get before I actually draw. The sticky Talon grip texture makes that kind of difficult. But once I actually start shooting, I don’t want the gun slipping around in my hand and that’s where the Talon grips are really helpful. So my compromise solution is to trim the grip tape off the front and backstrap where the gun already has some decent texture anyway and leave it on the sides. That’s worked out pretty well, but I think the gun could still really benefit from a good stipple job.
The Ameriglo sights are a huge improvement over the factory three-dot sights. I have all of my handguns setup with a plain black rear and a high visibility front sight, so this should be right up my alley. But I really wish the front sight wasn’t so wide. This pistol has a relatively short barrel which means a short sight radius. Combine that with a wide front sight and you’ve got a sight picture that’s really unforgiving of any minor misalignment. I have found that I can more reliably get good hits on small targets and targets at long distances when I have a slightly more narrow front sight.
In the grand scheme of things, those are only minor complaints. The fact is that every handgun is a compromise. I have yet to find a pistol for any price that has everything I would want a carry gun to have. But this one has most of what I want and everything I need. It’s accurate and reliable. It’s got a good balance of shootability, concealability, safety, and cost. It’s a gun I can carry but also train hard with and take to high round-count shooting classes.
But even if this pistol isn’t really your thing, you have to give Beretta some credit here. The time between when the Px4 Compact Carry was first suggested and the time it hit store shelves can be measured in months, not years. That kind of responsiveness to consumer demand from a major manufacturer is almost unheard of in this industry. So hopefully, Beretta continues this trend and it’s a sign of more good things to come.
Its my everyday carry and I just love it
what holster do you use?
Maverick
I use a Wright Leather (predator OWB) its the best
Chris; what is the part number for the 92 style safety decocker? Thanks
This is the one you’re looking for: http://www.berettausa.com/en-us/safety-assy-px4-f-large-le-part-c5d666-c5d667/c8a000/
In some of your previous videos, you’ve used your trigger finger to activate the decocker (I don’t recall if that was the PX4, the 92 Compact, or both). Does the low-profile lever work in that situation, or have you gone to only activating the decocker with your thumb?
I don’t recall ever having decocked the gun with my trigger finger. Not even sure how that would be possible, actually.
I only checked one video, but it looks like I may have misunderstood what I was seeing. I think you just had your trigger finger indexed higher than I was expecting and slightly bent. If you look at the “The Handgun Test: Making Reviews that Don’t Suck” video, you can see what I am talking about at 3:53. Sorry for the confusion.
Okay, I think I see what you’re talking about. The decocker on that particular Beretta is especially stiff and I was probably raising my trigger finger to get additional leverage on the decocker with my thumb.
Great review. Do you know part numbers for the Ameriglo sights? Would be handy if making a vanilla PX4 Compact more PX4CC like.
Beretta’s web store has all of this stuff conveniently sorted by model. The sights are here: http://www.berettausa.com/en-us/px4-cc-night-sights-px4-compact-cc/eu00065/
I believe the only part you can’t get directly from Beretta is the frame plug for making the slide release non-ambidextrous. Last time I checked, that’s available from Brownell’s.
I bought my Compact Carry stock as it comes from Beretta and not one of the custom guns Robar/Langdon is offering, so it’s not a MOD anything. The spurless hammer is cool, but the hammer spur isn’t something I’ve had trouble with when carrying the gun, so I’m not sure if I’ll spring for one. I will be trying the new Langdon “trigger job in a bag” though.
Chris, your excellent original review of the standard PX4 Storm Compact is what lead me to look at the Compact Carry version, which lead to me buying a MOD4 from Robar. Could not be happier. I did end up getting the grip stippled by a small shop in Jacksonville, NC and it turned a incredibly well. It’s the ultimate hi-capacity 9mm EDC gun, at least in my opinion.
Thank you for posting this! i have started looking for one recently and i saw your old video on the compact – love seeing your update for the CC. Do you have a IWB holster recommendation?
Also – did i hear you say you are putting the wilson #12 spring in there? thanks!
For holsters, I recommend JM Custom Kydex or Keeper’s Concealment. I have used both the Beretta D spring and the Wilson 12# hammer spring. The Wilson spring feels slightly lighter, but I can’t tell a huge difference. Other Px4 owners have reported a more significant reduction in trigger pull weight with the Wilson spring. You’ll spend less than $20 if you buy both of them, so I say try both and use whichever one you like better.
Good advice on both counts – thanks! PS – i see on your bio that you’re a native Carolinian, go tarheels! take care
Chris, Have you heard/read anything regarding the 11# Chrome Silicon Hammer Spring listed on Langdon Tactical’s site?
NCBrian: I would also like to recommend the Black Arch Protos-M IWB holster. I picked up one last year for my Inox PX4 Compact and LOVE IT… super, all-day comfort; and the craftsmanship is top notch. Per Chris’ recommendation, I do plan on picking up the JM Custom Wing Claw 2.0 AIWB holster as well, but if you’re looking for a hybrid… definitely consider Black Arch 🙂
Thanks for letting me know Toby! I think I have seen that one as well, I will definitely take a look. Take care
While I have never had my hands on a compact carry I have done so with the compact. My main carry pistol is a full size PX4 which I carry in a Alien Gear holster. I found the compact’s grip too short for my hands and I appreciated the extra two rounds in the full size. I have modified the full size somewhat by going with the decocker only, target sights, and steel guide rod. It’s loaded with regular 9mm Hornady 135 gr Critical Duty. Hardly any of my friends have ever had a PX4 in their hands but when they hold mine they nearly always admire it.
Chris, great review on a gun I call the “potato”, because my friends think the Px4 Compact is ugly–until they shoot it. I like the 92 style safety/decocker, definitely going to give that a try (thank you for the link). The Px4 Compact has become my EDC too, thinking about getting a second–again thank you.
I tried the CZ P-07, but didn’t like the bulky feel of it and all of those small pieces parts. Currently, as you know, there’s not a lot of choices for a polymer DA/SA, but the PX4 Compact is actually better than many think.
Chris, I have a question. Why have a blacked out rear sight? If trying to use the pistol in low to no light conditions, there is no full sight picture as the rear sight becomes invisible. My concern is that without a rear reference the attitude of the pistol could and probably would shift up, down, right or left, and accuracy goes with it. Am I wrong and if so why?
The short answer is that I think night sights are highly overrated for the average armed citizen. The long answer is that there are not very many lighting conditions where you can see your target (and they can see you well enough to attack you) but where you don’t have enough light to see your sights. The tritium dot might help me track the front sight under recoil in dim light. I don’t need to track the rear sight because it doesn’t move up and down. In normal lighting conditions, I find dots on the rear sight to be a huge distraction, so I prefer a plain black rear. Sherman House has a good article with more on this topic here: https://civiliandefender.com/2016/04/01/low-light-red-sights-and-tom-givens-glock-35/
My Px4 CC is about a year old. I came to the same conclusion with the grip. After the first couple of months, a thousand rounds and lots of dry firing I thought the front/rear checkering worked well and only the grip sides needed better traction. I’m very satisfied with the grip after only installing the side portion of the Talon rubber grip leaving the front/rear checkering exposed. My only change is swapping out the hammer spring with the Wilson 12#. My DA is 6.5lb and SA is 2.8lb. My quest for the “perfect” concealed carry compact pistol ended right here with this pistol. Great review and thanks!
I’m curious… I currently have the D-spring installed on full-size and compact, Inox PX4’s. Langdon Tactical has an 11# Chrome Silicon Hammer Spring that is described as the “ultimate reduced power hammer spring” for the PX4. What’s the difference, if any, between the D-spring and the WC 12#… AND has anyone tried out the 11#?
I’ve ordered 2 of the Langdon Tactical 11# springs but haven’t received them yet. Changing to the WC 12# brought the DA on my CC to an unimaginably level of sweetness. I would have never believed the DA on a semi auto pistol could be this good so I’m looking forward to testing out the LT 11# springs.
Great! Let us know how you like the 11#. 🙂
Chris,
JM has several options on the AIWB wingclaw holsters to choose from. Why did you opt for the 2.5 version over the original or the 2.0? I have an order placed for the 2.0 and after watching your review I am wondering if you know something that I don’t. Thanks.
Honeslty, I don’t remember. I talked to Tony (the owner) about it and he suggested the 2.5 for me.
If the slippery grip is such a problem, why doesn’t Beretta just stipple the frame at the factory rather than having the buyer apply tape to their beautiful design?
That’s a really expensive change to make to the manufacturing process. They’d have to sell more than just a few thousand guns to justify the expense. I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually see some kind of gen 2 Px4 with an updated frame, but they probably wouldn’t even make their money back if they changed everything for a fairly limited run pistol like the Compact Carry.
I agree with Chris — the PX4 Storm is not very popular, actually DA/SA is still lagging behind the striker-fired crowd. But with that said I’m grateful that Beretta is still producing this auto.
Because, as Chris has stated in his vids, the PX4 Storm is probably the best choice we have in a DA/SA auto.
I’ve noticed that the prices for the PX4 Storm have increased since the summer, which tells me that between Chris and Ernest there is now a stronger following. As for me, I’m looking for a good source to stipple my Storm.
Great review, as always. This is my EDC — I love carrying it and shooting it. I put a D-series hammer spring in to lighten the DA pull. Also added a stainless recoil spring assembly that adds balance and recoil control. The Talon grips are pretty much a necessity. With a RDS the PX4 CC is incredibly accurate. Thanks for the tip on the 92-style decocker lever — that will speed up reloads!
What RDS do you have and how is it mounted?
Hey Chris – really appreciate the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of your videos!
I have several Beretta pistols, including a Compact Carry that I picked up last year. I haven’t had it to the range yet (…add tale of woe here) but when I’ve field stripped it, I am concerned about the somewhat weird hinged plastic recoil spring housing. Compared to the 92 series, it looks…a little less than robust. Have you had any failures or issues with the recoil spring/guide rod assembly?
Hi Daniel — I’ve had my PX4 Storm Compact for over a year (just ordered a second) and have put 2000+ rnds through it. I carry it all the time and have dry-fired the snot out of it with no issues. The part you are describing concerned me too so I bought an extra, bus so far this auto is as tough as any Glock that I have owned….shoot with confidence.
Ernest put 52,000+ rounds through his Compact with no trouble… I think we’ll be okay 🙂
Great review, Chris! Your two piece review on your first PX4 Compact was pretty much what brought me back to exploring Beretta products again. I picked up a PX4 Compact Carry of my own a little over a month ago after deciding to pass on the Sig P229 Legion. Zero regrets and no remorse on that decision! Great pistol and it even conceals well in my OWB kydex holster under a large shirt! Another awesome thing is that practicing with the DA/SA trigger on it has made me a much better shooter with the all the other hanguns I already owned!
Thank you for yor diligent work on the reviews, Chris! Your educated opinion/advocacy for DA/SA pistols and the PX4 Compact led me to what I feel is probably the best gun purchase I’ve ever made!
I think the CC ships with the standard spring. As Chris Baker mentions above changing to the Beretta D spring lowers the DA pull as it did on my CC. Changing to the Wilson Combat 12# lowered it more on mine. I’ve ordered the Langdon Tactical 11# spring. After I receive it I planned on breaking out my Lyman and measuring the DA with the standard, D, WC 12# & LT 11# on my CC pistol. I’ll post the results here.
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Cool thanks! I am a new owner of the concealed carry and i have to say the SA TP is unbelievably light. i need to put more rounds through it to be sure, but i think the DA is about perfect for safety reasons. But like he said up thread – for a few dollars you could just try both and see which you like best.
Chris,
I asked you for the part number from Beretta for the larger profile decocker for the Compact Carry and you supplied. I recently had a gunsmith install it and now it functions as a decocker/safety. I went into great detail with the gunsmith that I was only looking to “enlarge” the switch–once I received the pistol the new decocker does not release up once you pull it down–it decocks and remains decocked. When I pull the trigger the hammer DA’s but can’t engage the firing pin. Now I must push the decocker lever up DA to fire. The gunsmith was emphatic that this is the only way to use the supplied large profile decocker. Blue in the face and $50 poorer I walked out. So my question to you; do you have to now push up on your decocker to get it into DA SA?
Thanks Chris
Mike Bailey: The 92fs R.P. levers for the PX4 operate as safety/decockers if left stock, as from Beretta. The lever is operating correctly, as a stock lever; however, you (or the gunsmith) will need to remove the little ball bearing and spring on the lever assembly to disable the stock safety functionality… making it decocker only (Type-G). It’s not hard at all to do and there are several videos on youtube that will walk you through the process.
I recommend Mrgunsngear’s How-to video: How To Convert A Beretta PX4 Type F To A Type G [Decocker Only] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWc6i506oEQ
I received the 11# spring from Langdon Tactical this week and completed a study comparing the trigger weights of available hammer springs using my Lyman digital trigger pull gauge. I took 10 measurements for each value and averaged for the weights below in pounds:
Wilson 12# Chrome Silicon
DA – 6.53, SA – 2.57
Beretta Factory Spring
DA – 8.66, SA – 2.97
Beretta Factory D Spring
DA – 8.55, SA – 2.89
Langdon Tactical 11#
DA – 6.08, 2.19
The average for the factory spring that came with my Px4 CC looks very close to the Beretta Factory D spring which makes me think that my pistol came with the D spring. I noted that there is a significant felt difference between the factory springs and ones offered by Wilson and Langdon Tactical. The Langdon Tactical spring improved what I thought was an amazing trigger pull for a DA/SA pistol using the Wilson spring. I plan on running a couple of hundred rounds through the pistol using the Langdon Tactical spring to test it and give myself complete “warm and fuzzys” but I’m already confident that it should work as advertised as it has already been tested by Langdon Tactical. When all tests good with this spring in my pistol I will be “warm and fuzzy” complete.
Note – I posted previously using MJE. I logged in using Google this time.
Those numbers all seem a bit low to me. On what part of the trigger are you placing the Lyman gauge, and what direction are you pulling it? If you put the scale on the bottom portion of the trigger, you tend to get artificially low numbers.
They could be a bit low. I held just below the center point of the trigger bow. Not on the bottom. Measurements were much lower when pulled from the bottom. The position slightly below center is where I saw my finger having the most pressure on the stroke. Pulling straight to the rear keeping the rod parallel with the slide.
The numbers I have are best for a comparison of the different springs not necessarily some kind of ANSI traceable accuracy. I really focused on measuring exactly the same way each time, (position, speed, alignment).
With a hand held gauge there is a lot of variation from person to person and also with the same person if they aren’t repeating focusing on keeping everything the same with every measurement.
Since my goal was to give a good comparison of the springs I was really focused on precision more than accuracy.
I took 10 samples each and compared stdev and ranges. Wow, this is getting really long so I’ll just stop now. My engineer brain runs away sometimes.
I have had my PX-4 compact for around 1.5 months, and have put a 1000 rounds down range. The weapon is very accurate and shoots flawless. I truly like this gun and it is now my everyday carry. Awaiting Predator OWB holster from Wright leather these are awesome holsters. I hope they soon come out with some Tru Glo sights. happy shooting