I like my Beretta Pico as a carry piece, so under the "one is none, two is one" rule I got a another one. I went to the range Sunday with a mixed bag of ammo to use in breaking it in. The range is outdoors, 25 feet fixed distance, 100-yard rifle target (I'm breaking the thing in, not practicing for a bulls eye match), and 4 types of ammo - Hornady Critical Defense FTX, Remington Golden Saber, Federal Hydrashock, and some roundnose reloads from a trusted source.

I started with 20 rounds of Hornady. As was my experience previously, the first slide rack was stiff but manageable. After that, the next three magazines went with bullet chambering from the locked back slide with the slide release; this was very stiff the first time but much easier after that. There were no problems with the Hornady. I then mixed Hornady and Golden Sabers. In the first few magazine's worth, there was one stovepipe of the Golden Sabers with each magazine load fired. Generally it was when the Golden Saber was the second round. I ran out of Hornady and switched to Golden Saber only. There were stovepipes the first two magazine loads, after that the next 35 rounds with Golden Saber went without a hitch. I stared mixing Hydrashocks in after that. I had no hang ups with 3 magazines worth. I then switched to Hydrashocks only - there were no hang ups for the remainder of the box. Ran one magazine of the reloads, but was tired by that time; there were no problems with the rounds.

Summary:
Hornady Critical Defense FTX: 25 rounds, no problems
Golden Saber: 70 rounds, FTE second round first 5 magazines, no problems after that.
Hydrashok: 50 rounds, no problems.
Reloads: 6 rounds, no problems with rounds, but wrist hurt.

I will likely get a laser for one of the Picos. I'll report after installation and test firing. Will probably be in a couple of weeks.

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