( 4 out of 5) Great if it's what you need

by Mike from Nashua, NH on September 7, 2019

I purchased my ARX 100 in March of 2018 when the prices dipped below $900. After years running around with an M16A4 and M4, I wanted something different for my personal use. Initially, I was thrilled with the rifle and its performance.

There started to be some hiccups after a couple months, however I shoot more than most and have something like 5-8k rounds through it 18 months later. One was the case it ships with. While it looks decent, it is not particularly high quality, nor does it have much in the way of storage. After 2 months, the zipper just separated from the fabric and I junked it, replacing it with a S&W M&P soft rifle case that has much more storage and has held up ever since.

I also began experiencing failures to eject after the first couple hundred rounds. It started with one every 100-200 and got progressively worse the more I fired. I initially thought it may have been magazine related as I have a large pile of old GI tin mags I had been using. I bought some gen 2 PMAGS and a bunch of Hex Mags awesome mags btw, since Gen 3 PMAGS aren't an option for this rifle and the problem persisted and intensified.

Finally, I contacted Beretta having never filled out the warranty card because I just forgot about it in my excitement and with no questions asked they gave me an address in MD to ship it to with details of my issue. Two weeks later I hadn't heard anything so I called to check on it. They informed me that there had been a manufacturing defect in the bolt face and they had replaced the entire bolt, tested it, and it was on its way back to me already. When I got it back the Beretta tech had even replaced the bottle of CLP that was in the case with a brand new full one. 10/10 customer service.

The only other complaints I've had about the rifle are the proprietary underbarrel rail that Beretta will sell you a pic rail that attaches to it....for another $30-something. That's kinda rude. And the stock badly needs a check riser. Fortunately, there is some genius on Ebay making them and they work perfectly. Since I got the rifle back it has been 100% reliable. The light weight makes it easy to keep on you all day, and it just keeps running even when it gets wet, muddy, or even can't be cleaned for extended periods.

The thickness of the front end is nothing like an AR so you WILL have to modify your grip if you're used to that platform. That said, different does not mean worse and with a top-mounted pressure switch, the risk of light ND is significantly reduced while it is still easily reachable by thumb even with my smallish meat hooks. This is a service carbine, not a marksman rifle. If you are looking for 1-2 MOA this is not what you're looking for. Go get a 20 M16A4 clone for the same money if that's what you want. Beretta says anything under 4 MOA is within spec which is true and will not do anything for you if it's shooting 3.75 MOA. The thing has a quick detach barrel. Of course its got some inherent inaccuracy.