Well, since no one else is offering up any opinions or reviews of the Px4 Storm Subcompact I’ll give you mine. As I said before, I liked the way it fit my hand. That makes it easy to hold even though with the magazine extender I can hold it quite well with just two fingers on the grip.
The thickness of the gun is a bit of a problem with respect to concealed carry, but that is the price of a 13-round double stack magazine.
The glow-in-the-dark three dot sights are probably my least favorite part of the gun. I wear progressive lenses (tri-focals) and have a significant astigmatism in my dominant eye. This makes it some difficult for me to form a good sight picture with the three dots. I’m considering changing to XS 24/7 Big Dot sights (which are available for Px4 Storm…I just don’t know if they work on the subcompact or not). This is the front sight on my S&W M&P340CT and I can see it quite well.
A second problem with the sights/gun is that it shot significantly to the left when I got it. I have adjusted the sights for windage to correct the problem as best I can.
I have recently fired my 1,000th round through the Px4 with zero malfunctions (except for one failure to feed due to operator error—an improperly seated magazine).
I don’t have any bench rest accuracy reports, but I’ll tell you how I do off hand. As a point of comparison, I rented a Beretta 92FS at my local range and did a little side-by-side comparison. In all cases the ammunition was American Eagle 115gr FMJ.
First, slow fire at 7 yards. For this I used my own version of an NRA D-2 Target (tombstone with 6-, 4- and 2-inch diameter rings). With the Beretta 92 my best effort was 20 shots in a 4.25 inch circle. The POI was just a little low with most shots inside the 4-inch target circle. With the Px4 Storm SC my best grouping was about the same—a 4 inch circle, but the POI was left of the POI. As I mentioned there was some windage problem with the sight alignment, but some of the problem could be my eyes.
Next, rapid fire at 5 yards. For this I used a homemade target for something I’ve heard referred to as the “quad-five drill”—5 shots in 5 seconds at a 5-inch target at a distance of 5 yards. With the Beretta 92 it was fairly easy to hit the target consistently. I show two examples for the 92, one with 5 shots on target and a second with two 5-shot groups all on target. Although a little less consistent over the course of the day, I was also able to shoot some good groups with the Px4 Storm SC. The two examples shown both have 5 shots on target (sorry for the funky looking targets—I had a little set up problem with my printer and ran them through a second time).
As for recoil, there was less difference in the two guns than I expected. Although the Px4 Storm SC had a little more recoil than the full size 92, I’d say the difference was minor. Any difference in the target acquisition time between shots is probably related as much to the shorter sight radius on the 3-inch subcompact compared to the 5-inch full size gun as it is to recoil.
So, although I was initially concerned that my accuracy with the Px4 Storm Subcompact was not good enough, I now think that it is acceptable. Even my worst groups at the Quad-Five drill would fall within the 9-ring (12.187 H x 7.812 W) on a standard B-27 silhouette target at 5 yards. And after using my M&P340 with the XS Big Dot, I think that adding that to my Storm will improve my shooting.
