Beretta APX Review

During the military MHS (Modular Handgun System) competition to replace the U.S. Armed Forces service pistol. Beretta came out with its own striker fire pistol – the Beretta APX.
This pistol has been around since 2015, initially was only available to the military and law enforcement. By now you may have seen it at gun shows and is available to the public.

Modular Design
This Beretta APX is a full size service pistol with a 4.24 inch barrel. Competing for that coveted MHS service pistol is no joke. With all the modification that went into the design its no wonder the APX performed so well.
Before we get into the specs lets go over some features that makes this APX standout among other striker fire pistol.
The stainless steel chassis design means that you can get different frame colors and sizes as well as different slides and barrels to create subcompact, compact, and full-sized versions of the pistol just by moving around the fire-control group, without any additional paperwork, 4473 forms, or transfers.
Currently, the APX is offered in 9mm and .40 S&W, the magazine capacity holds 17 rounds in 9mm and 15 rounds in .40 S&W.

–As a striker pistol, it fires in “double-action” only with a trigger safety, just like the Glock. Totally uncommon for Berettas.
–The gun weighs at 28.24 ouces unloaded – compared to other pistols in its class, the APX is evenly balanced and comfortable to handle.
–The full length slide serrations makes the slide manipulation easy under any conditions.
–The slide stop mag release button is ambidextrous which accommodates the right or left handed user.

–The polymer frame is available in black, OD Green, Wolf Grey and Flat Dark Earth.
–The APX’s trigger breaks at 6 pounds with a very short reset.
–Dual-coil recoil spring is a captured design, so it may look a little bazaar. So far most shooters haven’t run into issues after a thousand rounds. Beretta states the coil springs were design to last 20 thousand plus rounds before it needs replacement.

First Impressions
This Beretta APX does stands out visually, similar to another lookalike Glock. Nobody will be mistaking that prominent boxy slide serrations and the entire pistol’s body of rounded curves and edges make the gun feel futuristic.
While its true how a gun feels has little or nothing to do with how it actually shoots, many that have shot the APX agree it feels good.
The sights were easy to pick up under rapid fire, which is a plus. These are three dots, big dot at the front with the two rear smaller dots.
As stated earlier the trigger break is about 6 pounds. The actual crisp break and an easy short reset is really great to know if you’re a Glock user. Some have said that the recoil is a little more than the Glock17.

The Down Side
The modular design on the APX is cool and exciting if you’re constantly looking to swap out frames and so forth. The concept is similar to the AR, where you can switch out your upppers. With that said, its not super simple to make the swap on the APX. You do have to follow Beretta instructions of sequences to do this. (You’ve been Warned)
Here’s a quick verbal description on the swap out:

1. Pistol needs to be field stripped.
2. Remove the takedown lever.
3. Simultaneously pry a small spring out of the way, push a pin through the frame and then depress the striker-deactivation button.

Once this has been done, the FCG (Fire Control Group) lifts out of the frame and is ready to be swapped into another. Once you’ve done this more than 5 times you’ll get it, but at first the steps will slow you down a bit.
Here’s the video on this.


Should you Get an APX?
Should you get a Beretta APX? The shooting results on this has been superb according to all shooters. If you’re ok with a little work in swapping out the slides and you don’t care that it looks like another futuristic Glock box. Why not add another to your collection.

Some photos are from Beretta, Guns&Ammo and GunsAmerica