On January 2, 2012 I returned my Beretta Nano to Beretta in Maryland to determine why I keep getting an occasional failure to extract. The spent case is left in the chamber and the slide moves all the way rearward and then returns, loading the next round directly behind the spent case, or sometimes under the spent case that is still in the chamber. This has happened 13 times out of 2580 rounds fired during 6 different range sessions.
On one occasion I shot 675 rounds and experienced just one stove pipe where the spent case was extracted from the chamber but was caught in the closing slide. Ammunition Range session 1 and 2 – 300 rounds various ammo – No problems noted. It was freezing and my hands were so uncomfortable that I didn’t pay attention to any jams or FTE. Range session 3 (675 rounds) – Three failures to extract
- 50 rounds Federal 115 grain FMJ from Wal-Mart – One FTE
- 100 rounds Remington UMC 115 grain FMJ
- 150 rounds American Eagle 124 grain FMJ
- 125 rounds Federal Classic 115 grain Hi-Shok JHP
- 100 rounds ECO 124 grain FMJ made in Switzerland
- 100 rounds 115 grain Sellier & Bellot FMJ – Two FTE
- 50 rounds Tula Ammo 115 grain FMJ made in Russia steel case
Range session 4 (650 rounds) – Seven failures to extract
- 150 rounds American Eagle 124 grain FMJ
- 200 rounds ECO 124 grain FMJ
- 200 rounds Winchester white box 115 grain FMJ – Seven FTE
- 50 rounds Federal 115 grain FMJ
- 50 rounds Sellier & Bellot 115 grain FMJ
Range session 5 (675 rounds) – One stove pipe
- 500 rounds American Eagle 124 grain FMJ – One stove pipe
- 150 rounds Federal 115 grain JHP
- 25 rounds Remington Golden Saber 124 grain JHP
Range session 6 – Three failures to extract
- 250 rounds American Golden Eagle – Three FTE
- 30 rounds Sellier & Bellot 115 grain FMJ
Total rounds fired = 2580 I think the Beretta Nano is an excellent small pistol. It could easily be the top CCW pistol. The only problem is the occasional failure to extract. At this time I don’t know if the problem is ammunition related, gun related, or grip related. That is why I ended up shooting so many rounds. I was trying different ammunition and trying to improve my grip. Just when I thought I had it when it shot 675 rounds with just one stovepipe, I decided to bring the total rounds up to 2500 and I experienced three FTE using what I thought was good ammunition (American Eagle 124 grain). So this is why I contacted Beretta to try to answer the question, is it ammunition, gun, or grip? I think it is important for Beretta to address this failure to extract issue right away. There are several negative comments about the Nano on some of the gun forums on the Internet. This is a perfect opportunity for Beretta to be pro-active. Whether the problem turns out to be ammunition, gun, or grip related or a combination of low power ammo, and poor grip this is a perfect opportunity for Beretta to produce a short training video that explains the idiosyncrasies of the small 3 inch barrel pistol and how important it is to use quality ammunition and develop a proper grip. After two weeks I received my Nano back from Beretta with the following information: (Note that the following is retyped exactly as written on the packing slip) “prechecked and safety checked firearm. inspected firearm and noted customer’s concern. polished chamber, polished feed ramp, lubricated firearm. fired (24) rounds of gold dot 124gr jhp ammunition with no malfunction. fired (24) rounds of federal hydrashock 147gr jhp with no malfunction. fired (24) rounds of black hills 115gr jhp with no malfunction. 01/12/2012” Of interest is that I had polished the feed ramp to a mirror finish, and had also polished the chamber. The chamber was not polished to a mirror finish but just so that spent cases could be easily inserted in the chamber and would either fall out or could be pulled out with fingernail. I don’t see that Beretta did anything to the pistol except test it by firing 72 rounds of high quality JHP ammunition. I still don’t have an definitive answer. I am disappointed that Beretta didn’t show any personal interest and provide an answer to my question. The information in this post was provided along with my Nano to Beretta asking for help and an answer to my question. All I received was pretty much a form letter to verify that their product works. My experience with shooting over 500 magazines shows that the Nano always fires the first round, and does not have any feeding issues. The failures to extract/eject have always been with low cost ammunition such as WWB 115 grain, WalMart Federal 115 grain, Sellier & Bellot 115 grain, and including 3 rounds of American Eagle 124 grain. All this low cost ammo was purchased in the $200.00 per thousand price range. My opinion at this time is that using high quality, premium ammunition will eliminate the FTE issue. I have no reservations using the Beretta Nano as my self defense concealed carry weapon. For more information about this topic check my Beretta Nano 3000 Round Update.
The Beretta Nano is an exceptional little 9mm. An extended 8 round magazine is available from Beretta USA for $38.00.
My Nano jamed twice within the first 25 rounds. I se3med to have solved the problem by tapping the magazine to move all rounds to the back for uniform seating in the magazine. When doing this I have no more stovepipes within the next 150 rounds or so. I also changed my grip to prevent likely interference with slide action. Accuracy is impressive with this little pistol. At 30 feet had all upper torso hits 36 of 36.
It would help it they designed and extended magazine for more stable pinkie placement and gripping.