The APX gets decent reviews on YT and other sources.  The pistols are affordable and reliable.  So, why isn't there more love for the APX series of guns?  



Is there something I should know about them that should steer me away?  I really like the ones I have shot.

Late to the party, low/no holster support, nothing exciting, clunky slide.

Initially the accuracy was meh.

Around the same time, guys noticed the CZ’s excellent accuracy, and Glock answered with their “marksman” barrel.

They came on board decades after many other options.

And brought out a better than mediocre polymer framed striker fired gun.

When only an absolutely amazing off the charts model better in every way would stand out and see widespread adoption.

With a company history of spotty, limited availability of factory parts/accessories, higher parts prices than competitors, and limited to no aftermarket for several discontinued, unpopular, etc. lines.

Tend to agree.  

BTW, there should be pics Posted in this thread already, so here goes:

Regarding the slide:

- I personally think it’s a great design.  It will certainly work well with gloves, when wet / in rain or snow.  Still,

- aesthetics should not matter in a fighting handgun.  But yet they do.  Some people probably could not get past “the look.” Sad, but that’s how it is I guess.

This is the target model / Optics-ready.

Looks decent.

I have the full sized, bought it the day it came out.  And have also added a compact.

I would buy that target model if I ever saw one available.

I did a pretty detailed review when it first came out.



03/2017
Price.
With the street price at $480.00 with three magazines it is priced competitively.

The box is much nicer than the usual breaking clasp flimsy ones we have become accustomed to.
It comes with a mag loader, rod, brushes, etc. the one year (three if you register) warranty is not the best out there.


The grip feels fantastic. It has good texture. The subtle finger grooves should satisfy those that want them, and not be intrusive enough to bother those that hate them. I really like how the gun points. Some problems do occur with the grip. The full sized gun leaves little room to trim the grip for a compact or subcompact version.


This appears to be due to a combination of the extra large trigger guard and mag release placement. Very reminiscent of the 92. On the 92, this led to not very compact Compacts and no Sub Compacts. The Cougar, PX4, and even the 9000 seemed to have addressed this, while the APX takes a step back.





Other models of firearms allow for more shortening of the grip.
Magazines have been available in popular lines and very reliable for decades with a notch or hole in the side. The APX magazine utilize a bulge on the front of the magazine. This complicates things for carry, tactical, and competitive mag pouch designs and options. They look very much like PX4 magazines except for this and the baseplate. The baseplates have a good design. I hope the plastic holds up better than the recent plastic seen in their other pistol lines. I hope the capacity to length ratio issues of the 92 are not present in this design. The front bulge is a very unfavorable design in my opinion. I prefer flush designs.





The sight design will not appeal to those that like slick no snag carry sights. It is great for tactical, one handed slide actuation. I like the shape of the sights. They seem robust. The proprietary dove tail is an idiotic move. The large front dot and smaller rear dots are above average fast, but not the fastest design I have used. They already easily fill will funk. They provided mediocre accuracy for a service pistol. It would be nice to readily change them. Adjustable fiber optic sights are 109$ on the Beretta site. I find this a turn off, for new novice buyers, competitors, or professionals..

In the day of slide mounted optics, why in the living fvck did they design a striker block disengaged indicator sticking up on the top of the side? I am pulling the damn trigger, what in the world do I need a visible and tactile indicator for? Sheer idiocy. Another step back.

The slide serrations I initially wrote off as a styling affectation. They are extremely functional. The most effective and functional ones I have utilized.

The shape of the mag release is great and also effective. Placement is suboptimal. A fraction too low for what I feel would be optimal.

The slide release I find to be horrible ergonomically. Placement is fine, but if you design a trigger guard large enough for a lineman wearing arctic trigger finger mittens to use, why in the hell make a slide release you can barely feel or actuate with your bare thumb? Plus, I can conceive of no possible reason to make this monstrous ass take down lever, but put a dinky little slide catch on. Almost like an after thought. "Oh shit, that big lever is not the slide release, it's the take down lever, can you squeeze a slide catch in?"

Take down is simple. I just pull the trigger. I am not going to use a tool to take it down advertised as a feature that it can be taken down without pulling the trigger.

Shooting consisted of 100 rounds of Winchester White box, 100 rounds of Federal Champion, 100 rounds of Fiochhi NATO, and 100 rounds of my subsonic 147 grain Missouri Bullets reloads.

Function was flawless. It recoiled more than a 92, PX4, and Cougar I brought. It recoiled less than a Glock 19. It felt similar to an XDM 5.25 I brought, I suspect due to its lower bore axis. It has a favorable recoil impulse. Unfortunately, accuracy was underwhelmingly mediocre. Favorable compared to the Glock 19. Comparable to a Compact PX4, less than the 92. With regards to striker guns, the XDM 5.25 shot circles around it.

Two things negatively affected accuracy. The sights were not as fast or precise as the XDM's.
And I found the trigger pull and reset better on the XDM. Compared to stock Glocks, initial trigger pull is better and less "sproingy." Reset is a better pull, but longer to get to. They made this huge, flat trigger that should have felt great. But my drop safety does not pull flush. It sticks out over a millimeter. Pressing a thin ridge of a trigger significantly degrades trigger pull quality in my opinion.

As far as modularity goes, who cares? Are you really going to buy a bunch of frames and uppers? I would rather just have another full gun.

Overall, if you are a Beretta collector, get one.
But far better options with cheaper magazines, better factory support, a larger aftermarket, etc. exist.

It is not that the gun is horrible, unreliable, or a piece of crap.
It's just that there are several models of gun that offer more in the polymer framed, striker fired market.

Beretta did some really stupid things with this gun. Things that make it unattractive to a wide variety of users. I was wrong about the grip and slide being for looks, they are very functional. But I was painfully and unfortunately correct about other predictions. I had hoped to be proven wrong.

For this to be a hit,
It needed to be a culmination of decades of multi company and user determined successes.

It needed a trigger to rival or surpass the VP9 / PPQ.
It needed standard dovetails with a ready aftermarket of sights.
It needed a flat top amenable to those that choose to use optics.
It needed out of the box accuracy that wows the pros. Not respectable, average, mediocre capabilities on par with a decades old Glock 19.
It needed a magazine release position and trigger guard allowing for a compact that just fits the average hand like a Glock 19, and a subcompact on par with the G26 sizing. Not what is essentially a 92/M9 profile ammeliorated by an undercut.
Magazine compatibility, even with the PX4, let alone the 92 would have been a plus. (With the caveat that as much as I want 92 mag compatibility, that design does not optimize length to capacity capability).

Who is a proponent of a short length wise, flush fitting, but tall slide catch/release? I do not find it optimal ergonomically. Nor do I understand the ginormous extra long takedown lever.

What we get is a decent, reliable, serviceable gun with a few strong points and a few detractors that is overwhelmingly...
Mediocre in a crowded market niche.

With magazines that will cost half again to twice as much as one of the market leaders, from a company famous for poor selection and availability of factory accessories that are highly overpriced compared to other companies, with three failed and one legacy pistol lines that have significantly less aftermarket support than several other competitors.

Beretta sucks at marketing.
It's kinda ugly.

I was very interested in one, then I got a CZ P-10C, and never looked back. The APX isn't that "ugly" to me, but it would look good in futuristic dystopian scifi flicks. I would still not mind trying one out, just for grins and giggles.

I have a full-size in black.  Shoots better than me and functions as designed.  Like most full-size Beretta pistols, they're designed to meet a military/le spec and only after they win/lose a contract do they look to the civilian market.  

I wish they would release a model built to the MHS spec with the loaded chamber indicator , manual safety and FDE color... just because I want one...

I like my full-sized and Centurion models.  What really hurts it is what's been discussed before in here, the lack of aftermarket parts, sights, and holster options.  I'm hearing the Italian military is starting to phase out their M9s for APXs in the next few years and that might help a little, but with the US military going to Sig and everybody jumping on that bandwagon I don't see Beretta getting much headway.

Thanks for the detailed review. I've been eyeing the APX Centurion for about two years now for a few reasons, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to buy one. I think what initially caught my interest was just the idea that Beretta, an old traditional company with a solid reputation, had ventured into the polymer frame striker world. It's affordable, and I think the slide looks unique, even if it's not the most attractive design out there.

The cost of the magazines is actually something that's been catching my interest. I signed up for Beretta's webstore email list a few years ago, and the coupons they offer regularly can reduce the price of the APX mags by 20-30%, depending on how many you're willing to buy at one time. That made them affordable enough that I've considered ordering some just in case I eventually decide to buy the Centurion. I also like the modularity of the grips. I'm always interested in green framed pistols, and the option to order an OD green APX frame that can be easily swapped out is appealing to me.

I need to find an APX to rent so I can try it out and hopefully address my negative first impression of the trigger. When I handled one in a store a couple years ago, I thought the trigger pull felt like what I can best describe as squeezing a marshmallow trying to find the firm spot in the middle. It felt very spongy to me, rather than a smooth take-up to the wall. I'm sure it will feel different when actually shooting, but I was disappointed at the time after hearing positive things about the trigger.

I also got a mediocre first impression about the design / texture of the slide from... (I know, I know) watching MAC's torture test. If I recall correctly, he said that despite the raised rib design of the slide, he found that it was surprisingly slippery once it got wet and not as easy to manipulate as he had expected. Again, that's something I should try to find out for myself, but it added to my reluctance to invest in the APX.

Having said all that, my overall feeling is that while it looks like an interesting pistol, it doesn't offer enough of a difference or edge over something like a Glock 19 to make me want to invest in a whole new product, magazines, etc. The shortage of aftermarket options (especially holsters) definitely doesn't help either, as that was what originally drove me to move away from HK and SIG to Glock.

While true, there are a plethora of other options on the market that perform as well as, if not better than, the APX, and do so while looking a helluva lot better. I’m not rich/independently wealthy, so when I spend money on a firearm, I don’t want it to look like a turd. The criteria of “must look good” is WAY down on my list, but it’s still there. If every other well-performing option on the market also looked like their slide was made by a five year old who molded a playdoh turd and then squeezed it until it oozed out from between their fingers to form the slide serrations, then the APX would get more love from me.

But the Glock is far more proven, and while it looks like a brick, it still looks better than the APX. And the APX can’t even begin to hold a candle to the 92 series. Sometimes designs just flop, even from ages old makers like Beretta. Life goes on.

Long live the 92!

Sounds like every FN pistol too, ha

Love mine.

Just like the Px4 storm series, these are just not as popular as some other guns. As far as I can tell, these live up to berettas standards which are pretty high.

If Langdon starts working on them and making parts for them, they will sell like crazy I’m sure. FYI, these can be found new for 350-375, and are a steal at that price.

Yeah I’m surprised Langdon took up modding glocks over the apx, but glocks probably sell 10:1 over the apx so it was probably and easy choice.

But I love my apxs, best feeling grip on a pistol I’ve ever held. If I have to make one complaint it’s that the slide is a little too chunky - like it’s designed for 45/10mm since it’s very similar in dimensions to the Glock 20 slide.

I haven't had good luck with my APX Centurion.  1st issue was a broken/bad recoil guide rod.  2nd issue (not really gun's fault) had a round of Tula 9mm go bang out of battery.  Gun handled it well other than the extractor went into orbit and I couldn't find it.  Waiting for a new one to come into stock (probably months due to Go Brandon Shortages).

That's probably the biggest issue.

The crazy panic buying or 2020 and much of 2021 not withstanding. It would help if other models besides the basics were available. I haven't seen an FDE (been looking for quite a while), Target, etc in a long, long time.

A guy involved in the military testing posted in GD awhile back. He couldn’t disclose brands, but based on his comments about the pistol that won reliability qualifications and timing of being kicked out, it was likely either the M&P, APX, or FN.

We all know the 509 is a dumpster fire that wouldn’t pass water testing, so the APX potentially has one of the best resumes in modern times that will never be publicized.

Honestly, I was tremendously underwhelmed by the APX that I shot last weekend. Trigger was pretty bad, accuracy was unimpressive (not bad, just not great), and it just looked and felt cheap. Of course, this was also a comparison that was made side by side with my new PDP. However, it is notable that my friend, the APX's owner, said that he was regretting his purchase after shooting my PDP.

I think it hasn't taken off because it genuinely offers nothing that isn't available better from someone else. It's not a bad pistol. It is accurate enough, seems to be reliable... but I can think of very few polymer 9mm pistols made by the big manufacturers that I wouldn't buy before an APX.

Buddy just picked up an APX Compact. We shot it for the first time yesterday and a P365XL mine.

My first impressions. Bulky, robust, not a great option for Carry. Trigger wasn't great.

Shooting it, it seemed to have more felt recoil than any 9mm I have fired. I guess that massive slide popping back and forth didn't absorb recoil. It intensified it.

It was way harder shooting than the P365XL. So much it felt like a different round all together.

All together I was left completely unimpressed and disappointed in a great company like Beretta.