Baretta PX4 "Storm"

[Toepopper]

I had the opportunity to fire the new Baretta 9mm PX4 Storm pistol at the range. This design is an attempt by Baretta to open a new market aimed at police and civilians for personal defense. The gun operates on the short recoil principal and has a fully enclosed slide. The barrel turns on a slide cam machined into it for locking/unlocking which is similar to the hundred year old Austrian Steyer model 1912. The pistol was reliable and accurate and easy to carry. It comes with 3 backstraps of different sizes that may be changed to better fit your hand. It has a magazine capacity of 17 rounds and there is a sub compact model available also. I liked the balance and it was a fun gun to shoot.

[Toepopper]

So we are back to the old question of whether to get a 9MM, 40 or 45 cal pistol. The Baretta Storm carries 17 in the mag and 1 in the chamber. Thats over twice the capacity of my 45 and this fact alone might save your bacon if you should need to use it. Peace through superior firepower. Spray and pray tactics. Also, the 9 will shoot flatter for a longer time of flight. I have done long range experiments with the 45 and could not see where the bullets struck the ground. The military lists the 45 cal Thompson sub machine gun as having a maximum effective range of only 50 yards. The 9MM is 100 yards if you think you can hit a target that far away with a pistol.
Winchester manufactures a 9MM hollow point, the 147 grain RA9T and Remington came out with the 147 grain Golden Sabre bullet. Both of these rounds are sub sonic and are guaranteed to expand at the slower muzzle velocities and at close range. I have done tests on these rounds and they hit very hard and have good penetration and feed without jamming the weapon.
A person who was armed with the Storm and 2 spare magazines would have a total of 52 rounds while a person carrying a Sig 45 would have a total of 22 rounds with the 2 spare mags. That gives you 30 extra chances at dropping a potential assailant or group of assailants. Plus a petite woman could fire the 9MM accurately due to less recoil. Something to think about.