How's the Pico?

[HoosierQ]

Are folks liking the Pico? I am shopping for a gun in that class. LCP and Bodyguard and very nice but the triggers are disappointing to me. The LCP is not a true DOA in that the trigger has to reset with the slide. The Pico and the Bodyguard have "second strike" capability.

What I hear about the trigger, what little I hear, leads me to believe it's more like my 642 DAO revolver than anything else...which would be good news to me.

Is this little gun proving reliable? The LCP has a reputation for eating anything. How about the Pico? I realize it's quite new so maybe this is early but I am giving it a shot.

QB

 

[Coyote3855]

A friend ordered one, waiting a while to get it. Now it's for sale. The controls are tiny and hard to manipulate. The recoil spring is stout so the slide is difficult to rack, a problem exacerbated by the size of the gun. It's a very small pistol. I didn't get to shoot it or dry fire it before he put it on consignment so can't comment on the trigger.

I have a KelTec P3AT. Trigger basically sucks. I also have a Kahr .380. I would compare the trigger on it to my S&W 29 and 19. Somewhat long but very smooth.

Based on my friend's experience, I strongly recommend you fondle a Pico in person before you order one.

There's thread open in this section with a different opinion. The guy liked it.

 

[HoosierQ]

I have the opportunity to try one out...dry. I can't shoot one. I will be able, and plan, to test the trigger for myself. I am concerned about reliability as, given the newness, it has yet to make a name for itself in this market. The LCP and Bodyguard have very good reputations for reliability. I feel confident that I would be golden with those choices, bad trigger and all.

But if I can have a good trigger too...

 

[tommy.duncan]

LCP and Bodyguard and very nice but the triggers are disappointing to me

You REALLY need to feel the Pico trigger. I believe (my opinion)this is the worst trigger I have ever felt.
Please try it before you buy it!!

 

[HoosierQ]

Tommy

Worst how? I'm not being snarky...I value your opinion. Is it stiff? Heavy pull? Similar to what? I will try it out, the shops around here have them in stock. Please elaborate. Thanks.

QB

 

[lanceman193]

I bought a Pico, and took it to the range.The good news is I fired 100 rounds of Blazer 95 gr and 50 rounds of 90 gr Gold Dot HP loaded by Georgia Arms.There were zero malfunctions. This is a very little gun, but easier to hit the target for me than my Ruger LCP. The trigger is bad, comparable to my early LCP but heavier, and breaks earlier. The trigger seemed to improve a little as I kept shooting. I have some physical poblems in my right arm and hand, and the slide is very difficult for me, however it, like the trigger, seemed to improve slightly. I have seen a video where the shooter removed the inside recoil spring, leaving the weaker outside spring in place. I did not attempt this. As I understand, these double recoil springs which make the slide so difficult, are designed to reduce felt recoil. I think if you have large hands you are better off with the LCP. While I wear size 13 shoes, my hands are just medium sized, and I am fascinated with tiny guns. The Pico may be heavier than the LCP, but the Pico is smaller and deninitely thinner. My LCP has also never had a malfunction, with an estimated round count of 400.

 

[AustinTX]

I think if you have large hands you are better off with the LCP.

Not sure about that. That may be the case for some, but it isn't for me. I have large hands and long fingers, and the LCP, as much as I respect its record of reliability, is just a no-go in terms of how it fits my hand. The Pico's trigger is heavier than I would like, and it's not as comfortable in my hand as my terribly unreliable Kahr P380 by any means (which would be a perfect pocket pistol if it worked), but it's at least passable.

Aside from a couple of bobbles in an early batch, it seems to be drawing strong reviews for accuracy and reliability. People also say that the trigger improves with use. From handling and inspecting one, it's obvious that the build quality is excellent. I also like the fact that Beretta explicitly approves of the use of the so-called "+P" .380 rounds on the market from the likes of Underwood and Buffalo Bore. (I believe Ruger still explicitly prohibits these rounds.)

There are definitely some things I would change about the gun (trigger pull and serration height, above all), but it's looking like it might be the best candidate to replace my P380. I've shot all the rest and don't care for any of them. However, I'm also averse to adopting anything too early, so I'll probably wait until it's been out for a year or so.

 

[tommy.duncan]

You stated you did not like the triggers on the LCP and the bodyguard. I believe the trigger is not as good as the LCP.
I like Beretta and I own a LCP. I also work at a gun store.
The trigger is long and heavy.

I believe (my opinion)this is the worst trigger I have ever felt.

The gun is not comfortable in my hand and it is very difficult to pull the trigger because of length of pull. You should go to your LGS and try one out. I hope you like it but my gun store has stopped buying used Beretta Pico pistols.
I hope my opinion doesn't affect your purchase but I am not a Pico fan, good luck.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

The few people I know that own Picos say the trigger gets radically better after a few hundred rounds. And they also say the near-impossibility of removing the mag also goes away after the gun loosens up/breaks in.

 

[tlatoani]

You saw my other thread. After posting I stumbled upon this huge thread on the Beretta forums. It seems that the later models are behaving much better than the early ones. http://berettaforum.net/vb/showthread.php?t=111214&page=87


I have XL hands and the size is no problem for me. Each person is different, so definitely go try one if you can.

 

[WardenWolf]

Well, I can't say anything about the Pico specifically, but Beretta has a very bad track record with small handguns. The Nano went through several iterations, and the frame and slide cracked on all of them. The Pico is newer, and time will tell if it proves reliable. But based on their current track record, I would not stake my life on a Beretta small pistol.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=767874

Mine's in my pocket as I write this with about 1000 flawless rounds down range. I absolutely love mine *but* as you'll see in the above range report the gun is a teeny, tiny, gun. It's a compromise as are all teeny, tiny, pocket sized guns.

For me? The Pico beats the LCP to death with real sights and about half the recoil - yup, the Pico is probably the mildest recoiling .380 pocket gun second only to the Glock 42. The trigger after 1000 rounds and many more dry fires is just fine. It's a stiff but crisp DAO trigger. The gun is snag proof and the controls are tiny. The gun is not for everyone. It is fantastic for me.

VooDoo

 

[AustinTX]

The Nano went through several iterations, and the frame and slide cracked on all of them.

Huh!? That's just ludicrously inaccurate. There have been no problems with frame or slide breakages with the Nano.

The only thing I can guess is that you're thinking of the Tomcat, which is an aluminum-framed blowback .32 pistol based on a frame originally designed in 1952 and intended for .22 Short. That particular gun has had predictable problems from pushing its basic design too far, and I would never recommend one, but its performance has no bearing on that of the Nano or the Pico. The Nano is a very robustly-built pistol, as is the Pico for a .380 mousegun. The only functional complaints about the Nano in the early going were that it was too stiffly-sprung for the weaker 115-grain FMJ rounds.

 

[HoosierQ]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=767874

Mine's in my pocket as I write this with about 1000 flawless rounds down range. I absolutely love mine *but* as you'll see in the above range report the gun is a teeny, tiny, gun. It's a compromise as are all teeny, tiny, pocket sized guns.

For me? The Pico beats the LCP to death with real sights and about half the recoil - yup, the Pico is probably the mildest recoiling .380 pocket gun second only to the Glock 42. The trigger after 1000 rounds and many more dry fires is just fine. It's a stiff but crisp DAO trigger. The gun is snag proof and the controls are tiny. The gun is not for everyone. It is fantastic for me.

VooDoo

Thanks VooDoo. That was probably one of the best threads I've read on any gun. Very informative. Fact packed. Truly High Road in terms of quality reading.

Not sure if it sold me, or sent me away from the Pico. I am not now, nor will I likely ever be, the shooter that you seem to be. When I lived in the country I shot a little bit...all the time. Now I shoot a passable amount...about 3 to 4 times a year. That would seem to make me more of an "LCP man". But I place a very high value on well made things. Having something that may well be best in class appeals greatly to me.

So this is fantastically "nourishing" food for thought.

The Pico is certainly an appealing option.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Thank You. I think one of the cool things about The 'Net is that we can accumulate lots of opinions and perspective in a short amount of time - I try to make my input objective and help folks remember that few things in Life are "perfect" for everyone, everywhere, all the time, right out of the box and that there is usually more than one great solution to any one given problem.

I always find it "interesting" that folks many times tout or try to convince folks to do as they have done and buy the guns that fit them and work best for them without any regard to these concepts. There are many good/great firearms out there now and the Pico is one of them. It's overbuilt and like a small tank....unbelievably accurate, fit and finish beats most guns I have that cost 2X as much. Uber reliable...OK, the trigger is not fantastic but it does not matter as it makes the gun deliberate and safer and affects accuracy not at all. If one trains with a gun then getting used to the trigger takes about 200 rounds.

But recommending the gun without regard to the other persons hand size, experience, preferences, training options, hand strength, etc is irresponsible as is trashing the gun without paying attention to the same criteria. I was put off of Glocks for many years because "Haters" depicted them as ugly black plastic boxes and ignored the fact that they are awesome tools and equally put off of them by the "Fan Boyz" who declared and lived "Glock Perfection" ignoring the fact that *nothing* is or can be prefect especially when we are talking about firearms and matching the best tool to each individual. Of my favorite guns now Glocks are at the top of my list.

As is the Pico and I have done the range time and training and dry fire practice to gain that perspective. It's annoying to get input from folks (on any gun!) that know a guy who dated a girl whose best friends brother held one once at the LGS and hated it...it's ugly and the trigger sucks. He couldn't figure out how to drop the mag and couldn't operate the flush slide lock so, based on this opinion (which anyone has a right to) we decide the gun is a nightmare and not for anyone, ever, at any time, and we wonder what Beretta was thinking when they marketed and designed the gun.

Ya gotta shoot em and train with them to make these decisions and observations credible. I have bought, passed, and sold more guns than I now own because they didn't measure up *for me* and those guns include some top selling and highly touted pistols that the Generic Opinionist touts as "The Best" for everyone all the time.

Sorry for the rant. I wish more folks would strive for some degree of objectivity when helping others decide if certain guns are for them or not. It's OK to let some folks enjoy guns that are not "perfect" for us or for everyone, all the time, everywhere, right out of the box.

I'd bet my life on this gun...I'm shooting hot hand loads and getting just short of 1100 fps out of a 100 gr. bullet. I get 7 rounds out of a pocket sized gun that I can deploy from a pocket and get 4X in a 4" group in under 2 seconds while moving at 21'. The gun has never failed to fire save the fact that if came with a busted firing pin and I understand that Beretta recalled early pistols and fixed that...mine was one. Other than the fact I don't care for or use the mag with the pinky extension the gun *RoCkS!* *For Me* and has changed the way I carry and the tactic I deploy.

It might do that for others but to decide that you'll have to shoot one and make an investment in time and money - yer unlikely to figure out if it'll work for you by reading about it via 'Net Experts.

Just sayin'....

VooDoo

 

[tlatoani]

Hey Voodoo, the link I posted to the Beretta forum is interesting. Some have modified the extended mag with a sander, with very nice results. Just FYI.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Thanks for the heads up...I think eventually, if the Pico exists long enough, someone will offer mag extensions/pinky extensions that are a little more to my liking. I think one of the coolest things about the Pico is that the "Gun" portion is a tiny modular serialized chassis.

Theoretically that chassis could be dropped into any number of custom or specialty frames to accommodate different hand sizes and back straps, mag sizes etc. I love the concept and cleaning is a matter of field stripping, pulling the chassis, spraying it with Powder Blast and waiting 15 seconds for it to flash off, and then spraying it with Breakfree CLP in a can and re assembling the weapon.

Literally cleaning the Pico is a 5 minute deal. Hopefully we'll see custom frames and "stuff" for the Pico and if not we'll surely see other modular guns soon that do. I think the Pico is more of a .380 platform and that if somebody gets creative we could see some really cool uses for the modular chassis concept.

VooDoo

 

[tlatoani]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying mine. I just need to break it in a bit better.
I backordered the white frame at brownells. I talked to them to see if they had an ETA; they weren't sure, but guessing mid-march.