This is Beretta's entry into the polymer frame striker fired handgun market, and is available in both full size and compact versions. The one I have here is the full size model, with a 4.25" barrel chambered in 9mm and a 17 round capacity. It is 7.5 inches long, 5.6 inches tall, and 1.3 inches wide. That puts it somewhere in between the Glock 17 and Glock 19 in terms of size; or a better way to look at it would be to say it's about the same dimensions as a Glock 19X. The APX A1 weighs 29 ounces according to Beretta.
MSRP for the APX A1 is $499, but it can almost always be found for less than that. I paid 400 for this one at Brownells. Additionally, it's worth it to note that Beretta runs very frequent rebates on these, which saves you even more money. At the time of this video, in late September 2023, there's a hundred dollar rebate available for both the full sized APX A1 and the Carry sized APX A1. This puts it as $399 all in after rebate, which undercuts the Glock 17, 19, and 19X by at least 140 dollars for the standard versions, and about 220 dollars for the MOS or optic ready versions. That difference in price and the features you get for it is one of the key features of the APX A1, as we'll see.
From front to back, the APX A1 has a full length dust cover with a 3-slot 1913 rail section for attaching a light. Just behind that are textured pads on both sides of the frame for indexing a trigger finger or support finger. Below those is an oversized trigger guard with some texturing on the front and a double-undercut underneath. The grip itself has a nice shape to it, with a nice short length of pull to the trigger. The grip has three different kinds of texturing: some aggressive checkering on the front and back straps, some less aggressive texturing on the side panels, and some very faint texturing at the top of the frame where the thumb of the firing hand rides. The backstraps are interchangable, with Medium coming on the gun and Large and Small backstraps included in the box. It has a nice beavertail area that is cut very deep that lets the hand come up nice and high as well.
As for controls, we have a rotating takedown lever, and ambidextrous slide lock/slide release lever, and a there is also a striker deactivation button on the rear right side of the frame. Finally, we have a reversible magazine release button. The button itself has some nice texturing on it.
In states without magazine restrictions, the APX A1 is available with 2x 17 round magazines. Beretta also offers SKUs with 10 and 15 round magazines included for states with restrictions in place. The magazine I have here is one of the 15 round magazine options; there is also a factory 21-round magazine as well. The magazines have steel bodies with witness holes for round count. They are stamped with "9x19" and "made in italy".
The slide is one of the areas where Beretta has made some significant changes to the A1 over the original APX. The A1 now sports a factory optic cut that can accomodate a slide mounted optic. The cut is covered by this cover plate, which Beretta includes in the box in case you don't have or don't plan to run an optic. Mounting an optic necessitates the use of an adapter plate. The plates are steel, which is also nice, and they screw into the slide via these drilled and taped holes. Beretta also redid the design of the cocking serrations of the A1 to a more traditional deisgn with 2 sets of serrations. Both sets are nice and deep and let you run the slide or press check very easily. There's also the "APX" logo etched into the top of the slide near the muzzle here. Beretta calls their finish "Aquatech Shield" and looks to be something close to a nitride finish, though it does seem like it might be a bit more prone to bumps and scratches than other nitrides I've seen.
As far as sights go, the APX A1 comes with what I think is a very solid setup. It has dovetailed steel sights front and rear, with a blacked out serrated rear sight and a white dot tritium night sight in front. This is my preferrd sight setup, and the fact that the front sight is a night sight is a really nice bonus. It's worth it to note, though, that the sights will not cowitness with an optic mounted as they are a standard or low height.
Inside the slide is a flat wire recoil spring around a steel guide rod. We also have a 4.25" barrel made out of hammer forged steel with a 1:10 twist rate and a nice feeding ramp.
The APX A1 is striker fired, and as such has a pretty typical striker fired trigger. Teh trigger shoe itself is polymer with a safety blade in teh center that serves as a trigger safety; if you don't fully depress the safety blade the trigger will not pull. There is a pretty short amount of takeup before it hits the wall. The break itself is not very crisp; it's got a little bit of squish in there before the sear drops away. The pull weight is between 6 and 6 and a quarter pounds on my scale. The reset is decently short, and it is very tactile and audible. I did notice that at first, the reset felt slow or heavy, like the trigger return spring was too light and not doing it's job. That changed pretty quickly after about 50 rounds at the range, and it now feels what you'd call normal.
The biggest thing that I like about the APX is the value you get for your money. For 400 bucks you get a solid striker fired handgun from a company with literal centuries of experience. That's something that is hard if not impossible to find in today's firearm market. The second thing that I like about the APX is the shape and texture of the grip. It's very friendly to those with smaller hands like myself, with a nice short reach to the trigger, the magazine release, and the slide lock lever. The grip also has some nice aggressive texturing on both the front strap and back strap, where you need it the most for recoil control. The trigger guard double undercut also helps out with comfort as well.
Regular readers know that I like to say that nothing is ever perfect, and the APX A1 is no exception to this. My primary gripe here is the disassembly of the weapon, and the takedown lever in particular. It is VERY stiff and difficult to use the first few times you disassemble for cleaning. (For reference, in order to disassemble this for cleaning, you need to push in the this button on the right side of the frame, which causes the lever to pop out a bit on the left side. You can then rotate the lever down which lets the slide come off.) The first time I went to use it I thought for a moment that the lever might be broken because of how much force I had to use to push to get that lever to pop out, and also how much force I had to use to get it to rotate. It doesn't really break in too much after that, either, and even now its still pretty annoying how much force is needed to use it. I can definitely see this being a hurdle or even a dealbreaker for some people.
One smaller gripe that kinda eats away at the value proposition is the fact that Beretta does not include any optic adapter plates in the box, nor do they include a coupon or QR code or anything to get at least one plate for free like other manufacturers do. Plates cost about 30 dollars plus shipping, and I paid almost 50 bucks shipped for one plate. I suppose you'd save some money on shipping if you bought multiple plates at once, but I would think that most people will only be buying one plate for the optic that they plan to run. Not including a plate with the APX I think is a missed opportunity for Beretta, especially with competitors like Canik throwing in multiple plates at a very similar price point.
Overall, even taking into account the cost of an optic plate, I think that the APX A1 represents a great value in a do-it-all handgun. I think its definitely underrated by a lot of people. The money you'd save buying this over something like a Glock 17 would go a long way towards training or practice rounds at the range. That's all I have for you this time, so until next time, stay safe!