Beretta is the oldest firearms company in the world. Having been founded in 1526, it has been owned by the same family for almost 500 years. The parent company, Beretta Holdings, also owns Beretta USA, Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Stoeger, Tikka, Uberti and the Burris Optics company.
Beretta handguns come in many styles. I counted approximately 20 different handgun models in a recent catalog. The 92FS became the US Army M9 handgun. Next came various APX models. “A” for Automatic, “P” for Pistol, “X” is kind of like a wildcard for the many options. The APX became available in the U.S. civilian market in April 2017. This design was Beretta’s entry in the contest that saw the Sig Sauer P320 replace the M9 as the Army’s new handgun. Over the next three to four years, several improved models were added to the APX line including a subcompact and a combat model with a threaded barrel and mounting plate for optics. In 2019, Beretta introduced the APX A1 Carry, a single-stack magazine variant intended for the concealed carry market. That’s the pistol that is the subject of this review.
Aggressive texturing on the APX A1 Frame helps facilitate keeping a good grip while firing.
The APX A1 Carry is an ergonomically-improved standard APX. The slide is red dot optics-ready. It features more aggressive slide serrations alongside a newly-designed frame with more aggressive stippling. Colors are black, tan, gray. I’m kind of partial to gray so that’s the one I picked. Even with the new models and improvements, Beretta has managed to keep the most popular models available at a street price below $500. I’m not a big fan of little guns, but I do acknowledge they have some advantages when it comes to carrying a concealed gun. It’s a striker-fired, 9mm pistol with a polymer frame, red dot optic-ready slide, with tritium front sight, blacked-out serrated rear sight, crisp light trigger, aggressive front and rear slide serrations, undercut trigger guard and ergonomic grip with enhanced texturing. The combination of texturing, stippling and serrations make handling the gun a breeze. The trigger guard is big enough to work with or without gloves. It’s accurate, too, which is not always the case with a small gun.
Beretta APX breakdown is available online
I’ve always been impressed with the workmanship on Beretta firearms and this one is no exception. It has operated flawlessly since Day One. Beretta provides several holsters in various configurations. I found a Kydex IWB holster that works well for Appendix carry, but my favorite way to carry the gun is in a DeSantis pocket holster.
The Desantis Pocket Holster makes for easy concealment
The large and growing concealed-carry market has prompted all gun makers to develop lightweight, compact, polymer-frame semi-auto handguns for personal defense. Beretta has been making pocket pistols for decades.
Since the original APX Carry launched a few years ago, the handgun world has embraced carry guns with optics. For the APX to succeed, it would have to come optics-ready, and Beretta understood that, so now the company is offering the APX A1 Carry, a semi-auto 9mm handgun that’s cut for mounting optics. Though Beretta is an Italian brand, the APX A1 Carry is manufactured stateside at the company’s Gallatin, Tennessee, facility. This 9mm has a modular frame that at the widest point on the grip measures less than an inch. The slide, too, measures under an inch, and with a three-inch barrel, and an overall height of 4.2 inches without optic and a length of just 5.6 inches, the 19-ounce Beretta is one of the easiest guns on the market to conceal.
It’s smaller than Ruger’s EC9s, which measures 4.5 inches and 6 inches overall. At 19.3 ounces, the Beretta is heavier than the Ruger. The slide stop is large enough to be useful, and the gun has a reversible oval magazine release button. There’s also a striker deactivator (opposite side), so the gun can be disassembled without pulling the trigger. The Apex A1 Carry comes with a serialized chassis that can be removed from the polymer frame. There are four different polymer frame colors: flat dark earth, OD green, Wolf Grey and black. So you can swap out colors if you’d like without purchasing a new gun. Despite its small size, the Beretta’s grip is still comfortable to shoot. There’s mild, modern-looking texturing on the surface of the sides of the grip and more aggressive texturing on the front strap and back strap. That’s sensible because a pistol’s axis of movement under recoil is almost exclusively vertical. The Apex A1 Carry also has a low bore axis that helps further mitigate muzzle rise. Beretta didn’t opt to include an accessory rail on this gun. While some manufacturers feel the need to add every gadget to each gun, the folks at Beretta understand that only a handful of buyers will want to add a light or laser to a subcompact gun—especially one that’s cut for a red-dot sight. The trigger guard is oversize for the APX A1 Carry’s small dimensions, so there’s never an issue accessing the trigger when wearing gloves.
The APX A1 Carry comes with an improved trigger with a stop molded into the frame. Take-up is more consistent than earlier Beretta carry pistol triggers. The APX A1 Carry’s rear sight is dovetailed into the cover plate, so when the plate is removed the sight goes with it. That means there’s no co-witnessing with the gun’s iron sights. When the cover plate is removed, there are two tapped holes for mounting a base plate and another opening through which the firing pin block spring protrudes. When removing the cover plate, take care not to lose the spring; it is small and could easily be damaged or disappear underfoot. Beretta doesn’t include any base plates with the gun but has base plates for most popular mini-red dot sights available on the company website.
The A1 Carry’s front sight is a simple post and white dot and is dovetailed into the front of the slide.
The sides of the slides are beveled including a substantial cutout at the rear of the slide opening. A large, aggressive extractor is nestled into that slide opening cutout. I don’t know whether someone in Beretta’s engineering department really despises weak extractors or what, but the Beretta takes a big bite on the rim of the cartridge, and it will pull stubborn cases from the chamber. The original APX Carry came with bold, vertical slide serrations that looked like nothing seen on competing brands. That original serration pattern was fine, but Beretta has opted for a look that blends in with the crowd a bit more. The front and rear slide serrations are angled, and they do make it easy to manipulate the slide. The Beretta’s controls are basic but functional. There’s a reversible oval magazine release button and a slide stop large enough and pronounced enough that most shooters can manipulate it even during stress. There’s been a move toward itty-bitty slide stops, and while I understand the concept—a smaller control doesn’t dig into the body when the gun is carried and is less likely to hang-up when drawing—I’ve never understood the value of adding a control that’s virtually impossible to operate. The Beretta’s slide stop isn’t 1911 big, but it’s more accessible than many competing guns. Two magazines come with the gun. One is an extended eight-round magazine and the other is a six-rounder. The latter comes with both finger-hook and flat base plates.
The other primary control is the take-down lever. Disassembly doesn’t take any special tools, but Beretta recommends using a ballpoint pen to press the striker deactivation button on the right rear portion of the frame and then rotating the take-down lever and removing the slide assembly. You can pull the trigger on an unloaded pistol instead of pressing the striker deactivation button, but having the ability to disassemble the gun without pulling the trigger is nice.
One six-round and one eight-round metal magazine are included. The eight-round magazine comes with an extension that is dimpled on either side so it can be pulled manually from the pistol’s frame. The six-round magazine comes with a pinky extension as well as a flush-fit cover. I’ve found two pocket holsters that work very well with the APX A1 Carry. One is by DeSantis, and the other is a Blackhawk Size 3. With either of these holsters I prefer the eight-round magazine.
A typical 7-yard off-hand target. The APX carry is plenty accurate for a pocket carry gun.
When testing a small carry gun, I generally shoot freehand from the seven-yard line. I tried five different ammo types and experienced zero malfunctions. The redesigned trigger doesn’t lead the class, but it’s functional and has a very smooth take-up with a break at about 6 lbs. All my shots grouped within 2.5 inches.
I have examples of all of the popular double-stack micro-nine pistols. Why would I choose to carry a six to eight round Beretta in place of a Shield or a Hellcat or FN Reflex? It’s for the times when you head out for a quick outing and you only have time to grab a pocket pistol. The APX A1 Carry is just the ticket.
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