Pistol caliber carbines are one of my joys within the firearms realm. They’re small and handy, economical to feed, don’t make a lot of noise, and perhaps the most interesting bit: Every manufacturer makes them differently. In an AR-15 dominated rifle market almost everything is going with “AR-like controls” with AR grips to the point where CZ completely redesigned their Scorpion to have more AR-like features.
Then you have models like the Beretta Cx4 Storm, a gun which seemed to have been designed with the big screen in mind. Is it a big pistol? A small rifle? Does it shoot lasers? (Sadly no.) What it is above all else is a fun, quirky, and incredibly distinct PCC.
My first time shooting one of these was in .45 ACP of all things and to this day I’ve never seen another. Every once in a while a 9mm will pop up somewhere and I’m always drawn to it, these carbines have a magnetic attraction. While there are plenty of pistol caliber carbines available these days (and a depressingly large number of them all utilizing various AR-15 designs and/or taking Glock mags) there aren’t too many which feed from the grip.
KelTec makes one with their foldable Sub-2000. Hi-Point has a carbine in various calibers. Masterpiece Arms also offers rifle-length models but I bet you’ve never heard of them before. This pattern of PCC is really quite uncommon which is curious since so many are designed around utilizing those Glock magazines. The benefits of having a grip-fed PCC is having familiar handgun-like controls and you can safely shave a few more inches off of the overall length while still meeting the legal requirements for a rifle. In fact, compared to a 7″ barreled CZ Scorpion with a muzzle brake the Beretta is only a few inches longer.
The Cx4 Storm, introduced in 2003, is part of a fairly small Beretta family which includes a pistol which is perhaps unsurprisingly called the Px4. P stands for Pistol and C for Carbine but I’m not sure what the “x4″ part refers to. Both make use of polymer but I can’t see they have much else in common.
At the time of writing Beretta’s website isn’t working correctly for me so I won’t be able to give exact specs. Being a direct blowback 9mm PCC it is unsurprisingly on the portly side with a large telescoping bolt thumping about. Blowback designs do add some weight but the Cx4 balances quite nicely and doesn’t have too sharp of a recoil impulse. Even with a bare muzzle I found it to be somewhat more gentle than the same 7” barreled compensated Scorpion. The Cx4’s bolt is also something like three times the size of the Scorpion’s which likely plays an equally big role in smoothing out the jolt. The Storm’s stock is also more inline with the barrel which provides more of a linear impulse whereas the Scorpion is a tad more jumpy.
For those curious about the .45 Storm my experience had been far more jarring, I remember it well after all these years. A .45 direct blowback is much more punchy than I enjoy, at that point I had more fun shooting a .45 Hi-Point carbine due to its built in shock absorbing stock.
Balance-wise the Scorpion is notably more top-heavy while the Cx4 manages to keep the bulk of its mass directly within the core of the design, perhaps a bit more front-biased but not by much. Adding a 30 round mag should further help balance things out.
Ergonomics are a bit of a mixed bag and what ultimately has kept putting me off buying one. Everything about the Cx4 honestly feels great in the hand with one critical exception. The pistol grip, the place where your dominant hand is going to be spending the most amount of time and the focal point for all manner of manipulation… It’s not great.
Despite feeding from 92 pattern magazines the grip feels nothing like a pistol. The polymer is completely lacking in any sort of texture and the contours are chunky. This grip feels far bigger than it has any reason to. This is more concerning to me as I happen to love the thumbhole style of stock but most of them for some reason completely ignore ergonomics and feel like trying to hold onto a 2×4. Place your bets if this is where the “x4” part of the name comes from. The Cx4 is better than the average thumbhole but it still feels unnecessarily awkward.
From the outside you might see the wider base of the grip and believe it’s funneled to aid in reloads. Unfortunately this is not the case, there are no tapered edges to speak of within the magwell’s territory. If you don’t bring the magazine in at the right angle it’s going to hang up. The 30 round mags in particular seem to give me the most trouble with reloading, probably due to necessitating a “beercan” hold rather than having the baseplate in my palm like a standard sized handgun mag. Because of this chunky grip I find that I have to break my hold to release the magazine which is handled by an almost flush button release similar to the 92 series.
The bolt release is a large polymer lever directly where your right thumb can reach and works exactly like the slide catch on a handgun, again lending to the pistol like handling which Beretta uses in their marketing of the Cx4. Unlike a pistol, the safety is a cross-block style which in current production models is heavily fenced in by the stock and, on this brand new example, also happens to be incredibly stiff. Earlier models didn’t have this fencing and being honest I would much prefer it without.
The polymer trigger has the same 92 profile but feels nothing like the handgun’s pull. It’s heavy, gritty and with a bit of mush, though the break is clean and over-travel doesn’t seem to exist. Reset is fairly long with a soft but audible and tactile reset.
The reciprocating charging handle can be swapped to either side and I suspect the magazine release as well but I can see no means of swapping the bolt catch for left-handed use. On the other hand (which may be an intentional pun) you can change which side the ejected brass travels.
My next negative is with charging the Cx4. Being a blowback design with a heavy bolt and short range of travel it also rides on heavy springs. This gun is incredibly stiff! The best way I’ve found is with the charging handle on the right side and with the stock tucked firmly into the shoulder, the right hand’s index finger can hook down over the top of the handle and draw straight back. This presents another problem in that there’s no hope of easily engaging the bolt catch. Just after dry-firing and resetting the trigger a few times my hands are not content.
Up top there’s a decent amount of Picatinny rail for optics with some not great fixed polymer iron sights which is another scratch I have against the design. The iron sights are functional but that’s all I can say about them, they’re cramped and block a lot of your view. The front utilizes a windage and elevation adjustable post while the back is a dual aperture design simply marked “SR” and “LR” for short range and long range. Exactly what those ranges are I have no idea.
Running an optic above them is the way to go but then you run into another issue. You can either have a high mount to clear the iron sights and have more of a jaw-hold than a cheek-hold as there’s no way to adjust the height of the stock, or you can run a low mount optic and deal with the extra polymer bulk interrupting your sight picture. One nice added feature here is both the front and rear sights can be completely folded down which helps some, however the polymer “ears” will always be with you in your shooting endeavors.
One more point against the Storm: No barrel threads. It isn’t an option from Beretta, they simply do not exist. I can’t say a muzzle device is necessary and with the blowback design with a significant opening on either side of the receiver I would imagine suppressor use would see plenty of blowback to the face, but still. In this day and age offering any kind of PCC without barrel threads is a big mistake.
Accessorizing the Cx4 isn’t so easy, either. Aftermarket support is quite limited and official Beretta accessories are, like the guns themselves, not so easy to come by. The very front of the stock has locations for small rail sections at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions with one very limited piece of Pic rail found waaaay up front. The only way to access this rail is, I kid you not, by pushing the front swivel stud in and sliding the rail section out like a serving tray. It’s about two and a half inches long but I don’t see that you can use all of this space and its single notch for accessory mounting.
If you can find it, Beretta does offer a U-shaped polymer extension which adds another piece of rail beneath the fore-end but it’s still quite far forward. Fortunately since the Cx4 is so short overall it’s still in a good place to add a vertical foregrip if you felt so inclined.
One area where the Cx4 scores very highly is build quality. I’ve handled an HK SP5 with a lot of slop in the lower, the back plate and the charging handle. Every Scorpion I’ve ever handled either starts out with, or quickly develops, loose fitment where the trigger housing meets the receiver. The Cx4 has an upper and lower which slide together on very tightly fitting polymer rails molded directly into these halves. Fully assembled the body of this gun is so tight you’d be forgiven for thinking it was all made out of a single piece.
Disassembly of the Storm is quite easy. Having the hammer cocked first is recommended. There’s a teardrop shaped button which can be pushed completely through from either side which allows the upper and lower receiver (really more the front and back in this case) to slide apart. From here slide the charging handle fully rearward then lift it straight out of the bolt body. This frees up the huge UZI-like bolt along with the recoil spring and guide rod assembly which can now fall out of the receiver as one contained unit. Fully field-stripped you’re looking at just five components. I do love such simplicity, however the bolt face is not quite so easy to access for cleaning and with a blowback design I do wonder about long term care of this area.
The Cx4 Storm does benefit from having seen limited service use as a submachine gun. These guns were designed to run and having such pedigree goes a long way in my opinion rather than something which was made specifically for the civilian market. As such, features like an iffy trigger and stout springs are to be expected; Some creature comforts are exchanged for durability and reliability. From what I’ve seen it does appear to be a durable design.
The Cx4 Storm has a lot going for it and its few negatives I feel can be fairly easy to overlook. It’s solid, pleasant to shoot, has a very distinct look, and has service history. Factory magazines from ten rounds up to thirty are affordable and easy to find. The biggest downside is a lack of aftermarket support but from my own opinion there isn’t a lot which needs to be changed in this design, it’s a solid performer straight out of the box.
Besides being a good gun in its own right the Cx4 is a glimpse into what the future might hold for us. Beretta has recently confirmed their newest 9mm sub gun called the PMX, a platform designed to replace their aging M12 submachine guns, will be coming to the civilian market. If the Storm is any indication then I’m expecting we will soon have another solid option to choose from, and one which I am very excited to try out.
