BERETTA APX A1 CARRY 2500RD UPDATE

At this point, I thought it would be appropriate to provide a performance update on the Beretta APX A1 Carry. I do not know of any other reviewer who has taken a budget gun to this round count. 2500 rounds is not a heavy lift for a pistol, but most people are not going to spend the time and money to shoot a tiny 9mm pistol this much. With that said, many prospective buyers like to know how their gear might last and perform in the long run. Here is a data point for your consideration

AMMUNITION USED

1500 of the 2500 rounds fired from the APX A1 carry has been Winchester 115 grain High Pressure. This stuff exceeds 1300 FPS in the 3” barrel, according to the chronograph, which is flying, even for a 115 grain. Also, many manufacturers frown on this ammunition due to its chamber pressure being closer to the pressures of +P+.

I like to use this stuff because it is a great way to train with an ammunition that has just as much, or more, recoil than your carry load. Most people shoot regular cheap ammo and then flinch when they have to shoot their hotter carry ammo. I do the opposite. This ammunition is actually a bit hotter, so I actually get a break when I fire defense loads.

The last 1000 rounds out of the APX A1 Carry was PMC Bronze 115 grain. This stuff felt like mouse fart loads compared to the High-Pressure ammunition I typically use. This ammunition has an advertised velocity of only 1150 FPS out of a 4” barrel. This is typical SAAMI spec 115 grain 9mm ammunition.

RELIABILITY

I am going to do a bit of story telling for this section to recap on the reliability of the pistol and some of the adventures I have had along the way. For the first 800 rounds, the APX A1 Carry only saw the High-Pressure ammunition through it. Then I started having consistent failures to feed. They were very specific failures where the flat nose of the bullet would just barely catch on the flat wall of the barrel.

I sent the gun back to Beretta and the process was super simple and convenient. Honestly, I was upset by Beretta customer Service because they tested the gun with regular SAAMI round nose 115 grain Winchester instead of the service grade stuff, like I asked them to use. They returned the pistol and just said it was dirty and probably needed a cleaning. I was incensed and took the pistol to the range, ready to film the gun failing with the flat nosed ammunition. I brought out 300 rounds of the High-Pressure ammo and blazed through it, ready for a failure at any moment. I had zero issues.

I cannot explain why the fourth round left in the mag gave me an issue, even on new magazines I bought to test with. All I can say that since that time, I have not experienced any issues. To be fair, the APX Carry design is just a rebranded Nano. It was designed with a chamber throat that was machined to feed round nose ammunition reliably since most 9mm is round nose, except 147 grains. However, even 147 grain ammo has a more tapered nose, generally.

You will find that the High-Pressure ammunition has problems of some kind in all guns it is shot out of from Glocks, to M&Ps, CZs, etc. It is a weird design that is even problematic in some of the guns supposedly designed to run it, EHUM, SIG! So yeah, I give the Carry a pass on the hiccups because they have not shown up since then.

DURABILITY

The APX A1 Carry has a very short history in the arena of durability. It has no problem with parts breakages and all the springs in the pistol are still taut and solid. I was expecting to have an issue with the recoil spring at around this round count due to the High-Pressure ammunition. However, aside from some scraping that might be happening against the barrel during cycling, the gun is doing just fine.

However, the bane of any pistol or semi-auto system is going to be the magazine, and it is true for this pistol. On my last 500 rounds, the pistol started having intermittent issues with not locking back on the last shot fired, causing those embarrassing flinches that show how reflexive we are at controlling recoil. When I pushed down on the followers of the 7 round magazines, I could feel the spring tension is a bit low. Only the 7 round magazines were giving me drama, but I am sure that the 8-rounders are not far behind. Time to call Beretta…

WEAR AND TEAR INSPECTION

The Nitride finish on the slide has surprisingly little wear on it. I thought it would wear a lot more from all the holster work, but it is seriously hanging in there.

The breech face is the only part showing any serious wear, and honestly, it isn’t much.

The barrel is showing wear and so is the recoil spring guide. This wear looks super sexy to me, and I love it. The crown has some hard crusted firing residue, but is looking good with equal amounts of wear from the powder combustion at the muzzle

When inspecting the pistol during the first detailed disassembly and cleaning, the inside looks really good. The firing pin and springs were in great shape despite my constant dry fire with snap caps.

The extractor hook is thick and solid and the spring is ridiculously tough still. If anyone has an issue with the extractor on the APX line, I will think the extractor hook is the culprit rather than the springs. You will understand if you ever take the slide back plate off.

The chassis system looks immaculate and the camming pin looks hardly touched despite the wear on the barrel. The pin freely spins in the chassis and acts as the pivot point for the slide release/stop lever. The chassis is polished where the slide stop rubs against the chassis, but it is minimal.

The sear is slightly chipped on the end, but it doesn’t affect the function of the sear. For as wide as the sear is, it only really engages the striker on a 3rd of the face. This is the case for all the APX pistols of all sizes in my collection.

The slide stop and disconnector springs are still pretty taut and operating well. The controls are smooth and have good tension.

I am not necessarily surprised that the APX A1 Carry is doing well and has taut springs still, but with my dry fire schedule and constant use, I have broken springs on other pistols in the past, so it is worth noting that this “budget pistol” is doing terrific still after the rounds and the dry fire.

The only parts of the pistol that I am having an active sense of dread about is the magazines. They are getting a little weak and they are so weak that the slide release lever spring seems to be stronger than the upward tension of the magazine springs. This means the magazines are not locking back reliably on the last shot. This doesn’t mean I will start having cycling issues soon, but it is a sign that the wear life of the magazine springs, at least of the 7-rounders, is fading.

PERFORMANCE

In the last 1500 rounds of the APX A1 Carry, the pistols performance was pretty smooth. As I shot and practiced with the pistol, the trigger smoothed out more and more. The trigger got to the point of feeling like any other striker fired pistol trigger. It has a defined wall and then with a little pressure, it breaks clean. It is not perfect, but it is smooth and is able to be shot well with only a little bit of practice.

I took the pistol out to 50yd on an 8” gong. The short sight radius made it somewhat difficult to get right onto a tiny target at range, but if I did my part, I was able to send 9mm at the gong reliably. At 25 yards, I was easily able to PING the gong with no issue. Granted, I have taken a liking to shooting longer ranges. I think it is a better test of your skills and is a better trainer since you have to be much more deliberate and have greater attention to detail in all your little movements and holds.

The pistol handles recoil from hot ammunition with grace, and much better than other more modern double stack micro 9mm pistols. The pistol is not the lightest pistol on the market, and that is probably a saving grace. I also think that a lot of the recoil control comes from the design and how the slide impacts the polymer frame on a wide frontage, theoretically distributing the forces along a wider area. Also, you will notice the slide is dense and thick, which has its roots in the Nano pistol, which was designed to shoot .40 S&W. Slide weight and a nice stiff recoil spring and wide area of impact make this pistol capable of handling very hot loads.

One of the recent skills I have come to enjoy is shooting at distance one handed. I was able to shoot relatively fast and very accurate at 25 yards. Some pistols are difficult to shoot and control when one-handed. This pistol is very easy to control thanks to the grip texture and the sights being squared off in the front.

The pistol was able to control the ejection with a terrific level of consistency. I found that the pistol was more consistent when it shot hotter ammunition. Of course, powder load variations can have an impact, but I think this is more of a testament to how good of a design this pistol is. Beretta states that they want you to shoot a good amount of really hot ammo to break in the pistol before trying to shoot really light loads. It is sprung to shoot hot ammo and be used and trained with. The Nano was kind of inconsistent in quality and performance, but with the APX Carry, it seems Beretta perfected the part and spring designs and have made a solid pistol for the average Joe.

PARTS REPLACEMENT

After conducting a thorough inspection on the springs and internals, I cannot see a point in replacing the recoil spring at this time. According to Beretta, the recoil spring can last 3500 to 5000 rounds, depending on ammo used and usage habits, etc. I will keep an eye on the ejection, since it will start showing in poor ejection consistency. Also, I was surprised to see that the striker spring was tight as well, but that makes my job much easier.

I already have a considerable number of parts I acquired from Beretta. I simply sent in a parts request for spares of the pistol and Beretta and they were very accommodating with giving me things that were high wear parts like springs and such. Thankfully I have always had an easy time getting parts for Beretta pistols.

FUTURE TESTING

I am going to continue to use the APX A1 Carry as my carry training pistol. I have another APX Carry just for carry while this one is meant to take a majority of the dry and live fire from training. I will keep training and using the pistol until the next milestone, which will be about 5k, which I already have allocated for training.