18July06 I just got off the phone with a good friend who is Rangemaster with a large, metro PD in the Midwest. The topic was rifles in beat cars, used by patrol officers. His department is equipped with Beretta Storm/CX4 Carbines in 9mm, and they are delighted with them! What he likes most is the fact that the Carbine shoots the same ammunition as his department pistols, and both weapons use the same magazine! Practice is pleasant, and officers, even small ones, consider recoil and muzzle blast eminently manageable. Their qualification course requires reasonable accuracy out to fifty meters, and the little Beretta Carbine delivers in spades. Several carbines assigned to the range have now logged in excess of 20,000 rounds. On several, maintenance has been minimal, including deliberately not lubricating them (as a test). Even so, there have been extremely few stoppages, all corrected on the spot. So far, they've broken one extractor. I now have my own copy of the CX4, in 40S&W, and I'll be using it over the next few months. I must say it is short, handy, and light, easy to maneuver, even inside of a car. The cross-bolt safety button may be an issue with left-handers. I'll get a reading from by left-handed students as to how big an issue it actually is. Beretta may have something here! Get hold of my friend Craig Turner at Beretta at 321 777 5453. He has all the details. More later. /John