Beretta Nano Review

Atticaz...Nice looking Nano.
Perhaps if Beretta sells enough of them they will offer them that way.

Joined the club. Picked up my Nano today from LGS. Won't have time to shoot until Wednesday, but will post results then.

Bad news II: The LGS owner fired my Nano over the weekend at his ranch and diagnosed a failed extractor mechanism and is sending it back to Beretta in (I think) Maryland for either repair or replacement. So now I've got this really nice made-by-Beretta-in-Italy IWB holster and nothing to put in it. So it's back to big, bulky, ugly, utterly reliable Glock 19 for EDC (also my duty gun). OR, a Smith&Wesson J-frame Model 36-1 with the odd 3" barrel.

Lack of a external slide stop kills it for me too. I remember a Beretta rep saying that "it's completely ambidextrous so there's no external slide stop"

At the same time the magazine release is one sided until you swap it, couldn't they have done a swappable slide stop?

exdetsgt said:

I got a notice Thursday about 8 round mags being in stock, but made the mistake of waiting until yesterday PM to order. Oops, out of stock.

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I missed out once and got lucky the second time. Forget about leaving your address for the e-mail notification. By the time they get around to e-mailing, they're already gone. Just keep checking the Beretta site. That's how I got mine.

There's one issue with the extended mags: They don't want to seat. You have to have the slide open, and you have to REALLY whack them to get them to lock in. I haven't taken mine to the range yet, but I hear that they lock in easier when they're loaded. I have no idea why this would be, but that's what they're saying on the Beretta forum.

I've had a difficult time deciding what I wanted to get as a back up and after reviewing this thread, I think the Nano might be the best fit. Thanks to everyone who posted-your insight has been a great help!

dbp said:

Joined the club. Picked up my Nano today from LGS. Won't have time to shoot until Wednesday, but will post results then.

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Ok - finally got to shoot my Nano. Only had the time to run through a box of 50 but had no problems at all. Accuracy was there and just felt good overall to shoot.

I'm satisfied, but will wait until I can go through a few hundred rounds to put it into daily carry rotation.

Had a nano when they first came out had some FTE. I traded the gun for the Shield and I also had FTE with the shield. I like the shield but not the safeties and controls. I just bought another nano, the newest model. I just shot 225 rounds without any issues with a variety of different ammo and bullet weights and all were flawless. I like the nano better than the shield except for the trigger. By the way the shield shoots right and high the nano shoots on the money.

What do you mean new model? Just a newer gun?

Unfortunately in the rush to get a new gun to market there are plenty of makes and models that have had issues in the early production stages and it sucks that the customer becomes the beta tester but if the maker clears up the problem and addresses the issue with future productions all the better.

I mean the newest edition which does not have the barrel cutout. I also think the newer guns have a smoother lighter trigger than the early nano I owned. Sometime it pays to wait until all the bugs are worked out of a new gun.

I didn't know they made changes. Can you show me the difference?

I didn't know that either, although the trigger on mine beats that of my previous small 9, the Kahr.

Here is a great review on a Nano: http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/non-xd-handguns/223126-new-beretta-nano-review-w-range-time.html

dbp said:

Ok - finally got to shoot my Nano. Only had the time to run through a box of 50 but had no problems at all. Accuracy was there and just felt good overall to shoot.

I'm satisfied, but will wait until I can go through a few hundred rounds to put it into daily carry rotation.

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Shot another 50 yesterday. Sorry to say I did have two FTEs. Shooting the same ammo as the previous 50 that I had no issues with (115gr Blazer brass).

I can't try my carry ammo right now as I got caught shorthanded and only have enough for the mags on the Nano and G26. I will have to wait until this ammo shortage eases to be able to put enough rounds through it to really determine reliability.

Also, I definitely have a newer model being 4XXX serial.

Better accuracy today as I'm starting to get used to the trigger.

New Nano owner...

Just noticed this afternoon that the extended clips are back in stock -- at least they were when I ordered today.

When you have an FTE how do you get the mag out? The mag release is now jammed and won't depress. What I did was run the small blade of a Swiss Army knife between the mag release base pad and the grip frame, give a slight twist, and the mag popped loose. Then I was able to clear the weapon.

I shouldn't have to do that. The Nano is definitely not a Glock.

Try this. With your right hand hold the grip. With your left hand push the slide back enough to take pressure off the spent casing. Use your right thumb to eject the mag. Clear the casing. Put the mag back in. It is really pretty simple to do.

Thanks, I'll try that. Makes sense. (When and if it ever comes back from the factory).

The indentations in the grip lets you grab the magazine to rip it out. I just grab the magazine and rip it out, but the pinch grab on the slide will work.
Other guns like the Walther ppk has the same system and I have to say I like the internal slide release without the external parts. Maybe I just got use to not using them being a lefty. Most auto's though out the past only had right handed controls anyway, so why do I need them.

Nano65 said:

Try this. With your right hand hold the grip. With your left hand push the slide back enough to take pressure off the spent casing. Use your right thumb to eject the mag. Clear the casing. Put the mag back in. It is really pretty simple to do.

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I wouldn't want to do all this under duress.

Well..............I guess the other choice you have, under dourest, is to throw the gun at the BG as hard as you can and hope to knock him out.

Cocojo: I'm pleased that what you did worked for you. Didn't for me. First, the slide had become an immovable object; secondly,all the indentations on the grip did was give me a better hold on the grip, which I believe they were designed to do. It had no effect on loosening the magazine despite pulling on it with all my strength. Maybe I should go to the gym more often?

Nano65: I just realized that you gave a perfect description of how to do it with a Glock.
I have been shooting Glocks since 1997 and your how-to works every time.

Unfortunately, this is no Glock. The slide was jammed in position - you could not move it in either direction. Depressing the mag release did not release the mag no matter how hard I tugged on the base plate.

dbp said:

Shot another 50 yesterday. Sorry to say I did have two FTEs. Shooting the same ammo as the previous 50 that I had no issues with (115gr Blazer brass).

I can't try my carry ammo right now as I got caught shorthanded and only have enough for the mags on the Nano and G26. I will have to wait until this ammo shortage eases to be able to put enough rounds through it to really determine reliability.

Also, I definitely have a newer model being 4XXX serial.

Better accuracy today as I'm starting to get used to the trigger.

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Shot another 50 rds and had another FTE. Spent casing came halfway out and was jammed by round trying to feed. After much effort I got the mag to drop and casing fell out.
I am beginning to get a little uneasy about the Beretta as it has had a FTE out of every 50 round session. Have 350 rds through it now. I'm not giving up on it yet, but summer is right around the corner and this was to be my pocket carry.