Type Semi-automatic pistol Designer Beretta Manufacturer Beretta | Place of origin Italy Designed 2016 Produced 2016-present | |
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The Beretta APX is a semi-automatic pistol designed and produced by Beretta, designed largely for the U.S. Armed Forces' XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. Beretta had offered to provide their M9A3 model at a reduced price as a continuance of M9 procurement program, but were informed that the changes to the M9A3 were so significant that it fell outside the scope of an Engineering Change Proposal (ECP), and that the Defense Department preferred to go through a new procurement instead.
Contents
History
Should the Beretta APX have won the MHS competition it would have been manufactured in the Beretta factory in Gallatin, Tennessee. Beretta maintains administrative offices at the location of the first factory in Accokeek, Maryland, but moved the factory due to the Maryland Legislation posture of unfriendliness to firearms makers, dealers, and owners.
On Feb 28, 2017, Beretta USA annouced the APX availability for the US civilian market starting on Apr 15, 2017.
Design
To comply with the MHS specification the firearms must support different grip sizes to fit shooters of different stature. The APX supports this with replaceable grip straps. The distance from the axis of the barrel to the top of the handgrip has been kept to a minimum of 21mm in order to reduce muzzle whip, which increases the ability to fire accurately on quick follow-up shots.
The APX design is a major departure from the M9. The M9 uses a P38-style locked breech short recoil system, but this has not been carried over to the APX. The APX, instead, uses the system pioneered on the SIG Sauer P220; instead of a tilting locking block, as in the M9, the breech is now locked by the breech block being cammed into engagement with the slide, in the same manner as was first seen on the SIG Sauer P220. The core of the system is a stainless steel chassis which allows true modular reconfiguration.
The APX is striker-fired. When cocked there is a protrusion from the rear of the slide indicating that the chamber is loaded. Unlike a number of striker-fired pistols, such as the Glock, which have to have the trigger pulled during take down, the APX has a striker deactivation button that must be pushed to deactivate the striker, thus preventing accidental discharge, which other striker-fired pistols can suffer due to user negligence during disassembly. Additionally there is also an automatic striker block safety.
The trigger mechanism features a drop safety. If the pistol is dropped, this prevents inertia from causing the trigger to fire the weapon, thus preventing accidental discharge.
As specified in the MHS specification, the APX also features a MIL-STD-1913 rail under the front of the frame.