Free For All Friday 5-30-2014: 40 vs 9, PX4’s, Boron BCGs and…oh yeah…a new writer!

9I met my buddy Chris at my very first SHOT Show. He was there as Gabby’s photographer and that’s when we were introduced. After 5 minutes of chatting, it was like we’d been buddies since high skool. I’m proud to say that as of today, Chris will be coming on board as a writer for Gun Noob! I’m sure he’ll be making a post soon to fully introduce himself but in the meantime let me just say he’s going to be bringing a great new perspective to the site. So welcome him aboard!

Questions? Oh yeah, we’ve got a couple. The first from the excellent Skylar!

“I have been thinking about getting the Beretta PX 4 storm as a carry weapon. Any thoughts on this gun? Also. Not that I want to start a flame war. 40 or 9mm?” -Skylar R.

Concerning the .40 vs. 9mm battle, I’ve personally never been fond of the .40. I’ve always considered it a solution in need of a problem. It has all the advantages and disadvantages of the 9mm and the .45 just in different ways. As snappy as it is, I just can’t stand shooting it and it’s that snappiness that has caused a lot of police departments to give up .40 and go to 9mm. Your mileage may vary but for my money, I’ll go 9mm or .45 every time.

As far as the Beretta, I have never shot a PX4. I have held it, however, and it feels great in the hand. That’s not a good answer though. If only I knew someone that’s owned one. Hmm…Oh yeah! The new writer! Chris?

Thanks for posing a questions that I am capable of answering on my first official day as a writer here at  Gun Noob.  I have owned, and carried, a 9mm PX4 compact for the past 2-3 years.  It is a wonderful alternative to the standard Glock, XD and M&P holy trinity and has a lot of nice features going for it that these others don't.  It has a manual safety/decocker (ambidextrous even) and a very nice double-single hammer-fired action.  I carried mine in an inside the waistband leather holster (Don Hume) with a round chambered, hammer down, safety off.  This meant a long trigger pull on the first round and nice, sharp single action on the follow up shots.  All of this being said, I recently retired it in favor of an XDS 3.3" in 9mm for concealed carry and a M&P CORE for range time.  When I purchased the PX4, the Beretta Nano, Springfield XDS and Ruger LC9 (among others) hadn't been released yet.  I consider each of these to be a better gun for concealment simply due to slimness and weight.  On the other hand, if you are going to be using this gun to fulfill multiple roles, aka home defense, concealed carry, range toy, then it is a great purchase.  One last piece of advice; throw a decent set of night sights on this, and any other gun that you plan to carry at night.  Cheers!!! -Chris-

“A few months ago, I stepped up and purchased myself a Colt LE6920 with all the usual refinements. Along the way, I’ve added an EOTech 512 sight, and swapped out the flaky-feeling (to me…) Magpul handguard and put in a quad rail.

Now, since I tend to obsess over cleaning and so forth, one thing I really focus on is the bolt carrier group. The one in my rifle now is the standard Colt M16/M4 auto BCG, which serves the purpose. When I was at my LGS, I saw a $200 Spike’s nickel-boron auto BCG, and then of course in my research, I came across the Failzero BCG for around the same price.

From a cleaning perspective, the silver-finish BCGs look easier to clean, since you can visualize the crud and buildup. Other than that, is there any specific reason to upgrade the BCG beyond the mil-spec one in my rifle? “ -Pod

First off, very nice purchase. I know you’re going to enjoy the heck out of that carbine. One of the advantages of those boron BCG’s is that they are, in fact, easier to clean….for a while. There are many who say “once you go boron you’ll never go back” but, depending on how much you use your AR, that coating is going to wear off. Depending on the quality, it could wear off surprisingly fast. At that point you’re left with a really scratched up $200+ BCG that is just as easy to clean as a mil-spec. Even though I include ease of maintenance in my reviews, the cleaning should be at the bottom of the list. How the gun fires is the important part.

The precision and milling of a BCG is much more important to the function of an AR than the BCG’s coating. For the price of a fancy coated BCG, you can get a very nicely made plain black one. For my money, in this particular case, I want quality over looks. Think about it a different way: Good coffee is good. Decaf coffee is usually never as good (and usually a waste of time but that’s another discussion). Why? Because the decaffeinating process is very expensive and in order to keep the price point equal, they have to use lower quality beans. In terms of the BCG, it’s kind of the same: a plain old $200 BCG is going to be, in theory, higher quality than a $200 boron coated BCG because the coating process costs more.

Long story short: if it were me I’d spend the money on the best quality BCG in terms of the manufacturing itself.


Thanks for the questions!

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