The Beretta 1301

When it was first released, the 1301 was a shotgun that was simply wrong and would not interest me under any circumstance. Then the wrong was made right and so I picked one up a few years ago to see what all the fuss was about. Compared to my go-to semi-auto of the time, the Benelli M2, the 1301 was more ergonomic (stock, safety, bolt release, lifter, and bolt handle), more reliable, softer shooting, less expensive, and weighed less. Could it be better in any other way?

Having been an 870 user of the Louis Awebuck and Rob Haught schools, it took me a long time to care about semi-auto shotguns. Much like other types of guns though, semi-auto shotguns simply have too many benefits to ignore. The biggest benefits are reliability, ergonomics, weight, and ease of use. Does anyone want to trade those things in for less? I didn’t think so.

So, if we can agree that a semi-auto shotgun is “better” than a pump gun and that a 1301 is superior to the other semi-auto options, what is the best way to set up and employ the 1301? For field use (animal protection or hunting) I normally prefer the weight and balance of the 5-round magazine of the original 1301, though the current 7-round magazine on the 1301T is just fine for most stuff. I would load 7 shells in the magazine and then drop one from the magazine onto the carrier. If using a 5-round magazine version, I load 5 in the tube and add one onto the carrier for a total of 6 in the gun.

My main role for the 1301 is home defense. I have also used it for large animal defense out west and I’ve hunted with it once and took a deer. LEOs may have other uses still for the repeating claymore that are outside my current needs. In the home defense role, I simply have to pick up the gun and run the bolt to chamber a round. 6 rounds of buck is a lot for most home defense scenarios, which is how I kept my original 5 round magazine version. I keep a 5-round Vang Comp sidesaddle on the gun, just in case I need a slug or another round or two of my preferred Federal Flight Control. I realize that civilians have probably never reloaded a shotgun in a fight but I find a 4 or 5-round side saddle to be the best blend of extra ammo while retaining the handling characteristics I want in a shotgun. With the old Tac-Star saddles on my 870s, I always went with the 4-shot version rather than the 6, and that idea still works well.

I have an Aimpoint Micro on the gun, but if it was strictly for home defense, I would probably skip the optic. In my case, it is zeroed for Brenneke slugs for field use. It also has a mount for a flashlight, but I leave the light off in the field unless I am camping out. And that’s it…until recently.

I always liked the factory stock and forend, seeing no reason to switch to the popular Magpul furniture. Don’t get me wrong, all of my 870s have the Magpul stuff, and I’ve written before that I think the Magpul stock is the best-designed shotgun stock ever. I stand by that, but on an 870 with a steel receiver, the weight of the Magpul is less noticeable and affects the balance of the gun less. Plus, most factory and aftermarket stocks for most shotguns are pretty terrible. On the aluminum receiver of the 1301, I was worried about the balance as well as the overall weight. The factory stock, while not as ergonomic as the Magpul, is probably the best factory stock ever offered on a defensive shotgun.

I’ve wanted to try the 1301 Comp for some time now and I wanted to shoot up a bunch of full power slugs and buck in more comfort than the very light 5-shot 1301T allows. Push-pull, as taught to me by Rob Haught many years ago, is extremely effective. On a 6.5# gun though, there is a limit to what it will do. I feel almost nothing in my shoulder when firing full power loads, even 3″ magnums, but the shoulder is the least of your worries when handling that kind of recoil. Ever get a headache after shooting some of the thumpers? That’s because you have given yourself a mild concussion. No 6.5# gun, great technique or not, can handle the speed and power of that kind of repeated recoil. A heavier gun though, is slower to start moving and moves slower overall. That should reduce the chances of getting a concussion.

So, I bought a 21″ 1301 Comp from my friends at Eurooptic. They have a lot of excellent guns and gear and have taken really good care of me over the years. I see this gun as a modern version of a Rhodesian A5. If I wanted a fighting shotgun for the bush, this would be it. To stay within 922(r), as well as to try and reduce recoil, I added a Magpul stock to the gun. To balance the weight out and hopefully retain the wonderful handling characteristics of the 1301, I added a Briley forend to it. I rounded it out with a made-in-the-US magazine follower, which I would prefer to leave OEM but cannot. I do have an optic in mind but for now, I intend to run it as is and compare it to my other setups. It also has a 5-shot Vang comp side saddle on it as well as a Briley-made match saver that bolts right onto the M-lok on the forend.

Since it is still 922(r) compliant, I added a Nordic 3-shot extension to the magazine tube. With 8 rounds in the gun and 6 spares on the side, it weighs 9#s, and balances just like it did from the factory. I can plus it up 2 extra rounds by loading the chamber and ghost loading it, and once I add a flashlight to it, it should weigh a bit over 9.5#. This is a pretty soft shooting shotgun, which allows me to shoot up a ton of full-power ammo in practice.

Speaking of ammo, I see no reason to load full-power ammo in 2023, with one exception. My buckshot of choice is the lower velocity Federal Flight Control, which still hits about as hard as can be but shoots like a .223. If you are carrying a shotgun for defensive use, I prefer buckshot. However, if you need a slug, for range or penetration, nothing beats the Brenneke line. My friend Doc Roberts, who is likely known to all of you, feels that nothing else on the market gives you quite the wound channel that the 1oz Brenneke’s do. Certainly, nothing else penetrates like they do, whether shooting at big bears or cars.

I have rambled on quite a bit already and still have way more to say on the subject, so I will end here for now. In the next post, I should have some video of the 1301’s in action and we will more directly compare the original version with the gen3 and the comp.