Guns 2012-08.pdf - Jeffersonian

The latest
9mm pocket pistol
FROM BERETTA has some
unique features.
Massad Ayoob
Photos: Robbie Barrkman
hat I’ve come to call “slim-9s,” subcompact 9mm
WParabellum auto pistols of pocket-size dimensions,
are the new rage for concealed carry. Beretta has joined
the market with their fascinating Nano, a striker-fired,
double-action-only design built around a “sub-chassis”
that lifts easily out of its polymer frame and makes
disassembly and cleaning a breeze. No manual safety,
no need for a decocking mechanism, good sights, a
sleek profile, and a slide with more 4140 ordnance steel
than some of the competition, to help control recoil and
enhance “shootability.”
It’s become customary in some
gun magazines to test these “pocket
pistols” at 7 yards or so, instead of
the traditional 25 paces. The theory is
they won’t be used farther than that.
Strangely, none of those guns owner’s
manuals explain the force field that
will keep anyone farther than seven
steps distance from shooting at
you and requiring return fire.
So, I test them at 25 yards like
anything else. They’ll surprise
you. This one did.
With a 9mm, I try to
test with the three most
popular bullet weights:
Firearms instructor Herman Gunter, III fires the Nano. Notice
upward cocked wrist, middle knuckle of firing hand in line with
radius bone of his forearm. Photo: Massad Ayoob.
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WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • AUGUST 2012