25Aug06

Staple-Guns:

Pistol-cartridge-firing longarms, colloquially called "staple-guns, " have faded from interest recently in the wake of the plethora of excellent 223 rifles now available. Police and non-police alike appreciate the power, durability, and magazine capacity of these compact, 223, military rifles. In fact, most staple guns are just submachine guns that fire semi-auto exclusively a nd are often sarcastically described as "big, heavy pistols."

However, I have come to like Beretta's CX4 rifle, in 40S&W, for a n umber of reasons. It is a seventy-five meter gun, no doubt. But, within that range , it is deadly accurate, coming with excellent iron sights and an integral ra il on top that will handily accommodate an EOTech or Aimpoint. It is wonderfully compact, shorter than most folding-stock rifles, even with thei r stocks folded! It is relatively quiet, with low muzzle blast, recoiling like most

223s. Finally, the CX4 is light, devoid of sharp corners, edges, and protrusions, easy to carry, low profile, and deploys quickly. For a small- statured person, with limited upper-body strength, it is eminently useable.

Staple guns, like the CX4, make most sense in 40S&W and 357SIG caliber. These high-pressure rounds can take full advantage of the sixteen-inch barr el, rendering muzzle velocities considerably higher than will the same cartridg e fired from a pistol, typically an additional 150-200 f/s. Low-pressure pis tol rounds, like 9mm and 45ACP benefit far less from the extra barrel length.

There are two things I'm going to change on my copy of the CX4: There is a plastic piece that joins the rear of the pistol grip to the stock. It is there mostly for political reasons, as some jurisdictions prohibit isolated " pistol grips" on rifles and shotguns. The CX4 is surely useable tha t way, but the piece ads bulk, serves no legitimate purpose, and sometimes gets in the

way. I am "form-follows-function" oriented, so I'm simply going to cut it out and get rid of it.

The pistol grip is too long, and the magazine, when fully seated, is thus recessed too far into it. This needlessly ads time to the reloading proces s and fairly invites the magazine to fail to lock in place. So, I'm going to cut away the bottom of the pistol grip until, as in a pistol, the base of the seated magazine protrudes properly. This minor surgery will all be accomplished next week by master riflesmith and good friend, Colby Adler. I'll report back on the results.

Other than that, I have no complaints. The CX4 is a sound product that competently addresses a legitimate need.

/John