LTT Beretta 1301 shotgun ejection problem

Took my new LTT Beretta 1301 to the range yesterday. Brand new and I watched the Langdon Tactical YouTube video on cleaning the shotgun and followed the instructions carefully for its first cleaning prior to taking it to the range.

I fired fifty rounds of #PB127DPRS Federal slugs (1350 fps) through the shotgun and had failure to eject malfunctions the 1st, 12th and 16th shots fired. Hopefully I have correctly attached pictures of the malfunctions to this post.

I emailed Langdon but haven’t heard back yet. Anyone had a similar problem or have a suggestion as to what the problem might be?

Shameless bump / request for help.

Is it that unique of a problem or something simple I should know the answer to?

Unique. That should not be happening, especially on a new shotgun. I have had failures to eject like that only when my clays shotgun was extremely dirty -- on the order of 5,000+ rounds through the gun. If that were mine, my first call would be to Langdon, which is what you have done. Did you run anything lighter through the gun, or were they all slugs?

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Originally Posted by Shotgun

Did you run anything lighter through the gun, or were they all slugs?

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Thank you for the reply. No other ammo at all, just the slugs. They are Federal brand and I’ve had no issue with them in other shotguns. It wasn’t really dirty when I cleaned it, i just basically wanted to get it lubed before taking it to the range.

Not what I wanted to hear but I do appreciate your input.

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

Thank you for the reply. No other ammo at all, just the slugs. They are Federal brand and I’ve had no issue with them in other shotguns.

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1,350 fps should be ample to kick the bolt back, even if it were dirty, which it isn't. There may be something impeding the proper cycling of the bolt. I was not questioning the ammo. Was just curious if anything less hot cycled well. Very nice shotgun. I went and watched the Langdon video to see what modifications were made, but I did not see anything that should affect the cycling of the bolt.

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Originally Posted by Shotgun

1,350 fps should be ample to kick the bolt back, even if it were dirty, which it isn't. There may be something impeding the proper cycling of the bolt. I was not questioning the ammo. Was just curious if anything less hot cycled well. Very nice shotgun. I went and watched the Langdon video to see what modifications were made, but I did not see anything that should affect the cycling of the bolt.

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Sorry, I misunderstood about the ammo.

I did notice a slight “stickiness” to the bolt initially. If I locked the bolt to the rear and used the bolt release lever it went fully forward without issue. If I pulled the charging handle back partway and released it there were a couple of times it would fail to fully seat into the chamber. I didn’t notice it after I cleaned / lubricated the shotgun so I didn’t give it anymore thought.

This is a good looking shotgun but so far it’s not endearing itself to me. My heart sank when I had the malfunction on the very first round I fired. It stings even worse given that I have a couple of Benelli M4’s that have been 100% flawless. I was really hoping for the same level of reliability out of this 1301.

Again, thank you for taking the time to help. Much appreciated.

Snidely, go post your problem over in the Beretta 1301 Tactical thread started by GJM. There's 560+ pages over there. Someone there may have experienced your issue. I suspect your issue is the bolt isn't cycling like it should, especially with you describing the bolt as initially sticky. Shouldn't be that way. A new shotgun should be cycling wonderfully smooth and easy.

On edit I would add: should be cycling wonderfully smooth and easy, especially coming from Langdon.

You should be able to put a finger on the extractor and pull it outward towards the direction of the shell's ejection and it should move relatively freely. Does your extractor do that?

Disassemble the shotgun and check to ensure the ejector is still in the gun. It should be pinned in place inside the barrel extension, and should move fairly freely back and forth with some spring tension. Is your ejector there and does it move as described?

When you hold the barrel perfectly horizontally in front of you, the peak of the ejector should be visible. Is it?

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Originally Posted by TCinVA

You should be able to put a finger on the extractor and pull it outward towards the direction of the shell's ejection and it should move relatively freely. Does your extractor do that?

Disassemble the shotgun and check to ensure the ejector is still in the gun. It should be pinned in place inside the barrel extension, and should move fairly freely back and forth with some spring tension. Is your ejector there and does it move as described?

When you hold the barrel perfectly horizontally in front of you, the peak of the ejector should be visible. Is it?

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@TCinVA, Thank you so much for posting some suggestions!

I can pull the extractor outwards towards the ejection port and it moves relatively freely.
The ejector is still in the shotgun and it does move back and forth with some spring tension. It’s stiff but it moves with just my fingernail.
With the the shotgun assembled, the bolt pulled and locked back, and with the shotgun horizontal I can see the ejector through the port. Is that what you meant?

Hopefully I’ve attached pictures to this post correctly and you can confirm things look OK?

PS - It shames me to post pictures of a dirty shotgun to a public forum as I’m one of those OCD guys who finds it impossible to not clean a gun after time at the range but in this instance I didn’t want to do any more than I had to in case I have to send it in for return or repairs.

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Originally Posted by Shotgun

I suspect your issue is the bolt isn't cycling like it should, especially with you describing the bolt as initially sticky. Shouldn't be that way. A new shotgun should be cycling wonderfully smooth and easy, especially coming from Langdon.

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I’ve been messing with it a bit today and I can’t recreate the “stickiness”. Not sure what that means, if anything.

I really appreciate your taking the time to help with this. Between you and TCinVA it’s helped a lot being able to look at some possible issues so that I’ll be able to talk about the problem intelligently tomorrow when I call Langdon.

Edit to add: I’m not sure if this is correct function or not - If I ride the bolt forward slowly the bolt stops about a quarter of an inch before being seated fully forward/ in the chamber. A slight tap on the bolt handle let’s the bolt go the rest of the way forward.
Is that natural or does it indicate a problem?

The hesitation in the bolt going forward is normal. It’s the friction from the bolt lugs rotation into the locked position. Under normal operation under normal spring tension, it should lock up completely.

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Originally Posted by Pnut

The hesitation in the bolt going forward is normal. It’s the friction from the bolt lugs rotation into the locked position. Under normal operation under normal spring tension, it should lock up completely.

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Thank you!

Did you happen to keep or take photos of any of the spent shells that didn’t eject? It might not be a high possibility but there is the possibility that it was an ammunition problem and not a gun problem.

Had any of those rounds ever been run through the action before? IE chambered and then manually ejected without firing?

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Originally Posted by Caballoflaco

Did you happen to keep or take photos of any of the spent shells that didn’t eject? It might not be a high possibility but there is the possibility that it was an ammunition problem and not a gun problem.

Had any of those rounds ever been run through the action before? IE chambered and then manually ejected without firing?

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I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps that lot of ammo was out of spec… like the rim of the brass was too wide.

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

With the the shotgun assembled, the bolt pulled and locked back, and with the shotgun horizontal I can see the ejector through the port. Is that what you meant?

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I meant with the barrel removed from the shotgun. If you turn the barrel horizontally and look straight on at the underside of the barrel extension (the gas cylinder assembly and piston will be in line with the open bottom of the extension) you should see the peak of the ejector sticking up a bit proud.

My bet is that the ejector is fine, but that's a quick check to ensure it's projecting enough to do the job properly.

It seems to me there are three possible vectors for what I'm seeing in the picture:

1. The shell is not extracting properly. The shell is hanging up in the chamber (most likely caused by ammunition, but sometimes it could be a defect in the chamber of the shotgun) enough for the bolt to rip the extractor off the rim of the case and the action jams up. You should be able to see some artifacts from the extractor on the rim of the shell head if that's what's happening.

2. The ejector is not hitting the shell the way it's supposed to, preventing the shell from being kicked out of the action. for the shell to end up tilted outwards like that, it could be that the ejector isn't getting a proper bite on the case rim to knock it out. That could be caused by the extractor not having a hold on the rim of the shell, or because the ejector isn't set up right.

3. The bolt's travel is being retarded in some way. Could be something up in the trigger plate assembly or the ammo itself not giving the bolt enough gas to run it.

Shotgun ammunition is more sensitive than the metallic cartridges we're used to. They are more easily impacted by moisture and temperature changes than most metallic cartridges. I had a couple of ammo boxes get caught in the rain and I forgot to open them back up when I got home. The one with metallic cartridges in it was fine. The one with shotgun shells in it was a rusty mess and about 1/3 of the shells end up with problems ranging from not going bang at all to giving a barely audible "poot" and then spitting the payload out at anything from barely enough velocity to clear the barrel to maybe less than 1/2 the velocity the payload is supposed to have.

The 1301 is generally pretty agnostic about ammunition, but it's still possible to have ammo that has issues or doesn't work well in the gun.

Since your main parts seem to be there and in proper working order, I'd suggest trying a different type of ammunition and running a couple of hundred shells of it through the gun. If the exact same problem persists with two or three types of ammunition, it's likely something up with the gun. If it doesn't reappear with two or three other types of ammo and only those slugs, you've narrowed it down to possibly that specific slug load. If you like that slug, try a quantity from a different production lot and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't you've narrowed it down to that specific lot of ammo.

...and given how hard life has been for ammunition manufacturers lately, a lot of bad ammo isn't an unreasonable explanation.

By all means, call LTT...but I think they're going to tell you to try running the gun with a few types of different ammo to see how it functions.

When I run into a gun that's having issues I try running it as fast as I can with as many different types of ammunition as I can. That usually tells me whether or not to start looking hard at the gun.

As far as a dirty gun goes...a dirty gun means you're shooting it.

This ain't the Smith & Wesson forum were people polish revolvers with diapers and take porn pictures that they hope other forum members beat off to. If you're training with it, it's a tool. And we're all about becoming proficient with the tools here.

I think that's a problem. The bolt should be closing on its own at that point.

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Originally Posted by TCinVA

This ain't the Smith & Wesson forum were people polish revolvers with diapers and take porn pictures that they hope other forum members beat off to. If you're training with it, it's a tool. And we're all about becoming proficient with the tools here.

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That right there is one of the many reasons we have a great forum.

OK, I really should have inspected the shells that got stuck better. Water under the bridge now I guess.

You guys makes great point about the ammo. I think my strategy going forward will be:

(1) Monday: Call Langdon and let them know I’m having a problem. Maybe they have some ideas or know of others experiencing the same issue with this batch of shotguns.

(2) Monday: Give the shotgun a good cleaning and lube and see if anything is obviously amiss or doesn’t look right as best as my novice eyes can tell.

(3) Tuesday: The ammo I was shooting was from a freshly opened case (Federal slugs #PB127DPRS). I have a case of Federal Law Enforcement slugs (#LEB127DPRS) manufactured about a year later than the others that I’ll open and take 50 rounds back to the range with me on Tuesday. If the range has any other slugs I’ll buy several boxes and try them as well. Nearby ranges only allow slugs so until I can get to a range that has clay shooting stations I really can’t try anything lighter.

(4) If there’s no problems on Tuesday I’ll go back to the range on Friday with some more Federal Law Enforcement slugs to confirm that the problem is apparently ammo related. If I have more problems on Tuesday, I’m comfortable that I’ve tried as much as I should be obligated to with a new shotgun and somebody (LTT or Beretta) is going to have to step up to the plate and make things right.

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Originally Posted by TCinVA

I meant with the barrel removed from the shotgun. If you turn the barrel horizontally and look straight on at the underside of the barrel extension (the gas cylinder assembly and piston will be in line with the open bottom of the extension) you should see the peak of the ejector sticking up a bit proud.

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You’re explaining this great but I’m too dense to follow it. Last picture attached that I think shows what your referencing.

I’ll post updates as the week goes. Again, I don’t mean to sound like a broken record but I cannot thank you guys enough for taking the time to comment and provide advice and suggestions. It’s really been a big help. This shotgun was a huge dollar amount for me, not just the shotgun itself but the associated accessories (Aimpoint, light, mounts, etc), so it has been weighing pretty heavy on my mind that I had these malfunctions right from the start.

I think what TCnVA was referring to was to remove the barrel and look down from the end to the front (breach to muzzle) to see if the ejector sticks out enough.

As for stripping the gun and reassembling, make sure the barrel, foregrip, and endcap are in place and tightened down. I ran into a problem do to operator error when I first took my gun to the range. I’d pull the trigger on alive round but no boom and no primer strike!!! Turned out I foregrip wasn’t fully seated when I tightened down the end cap. After giggling the grip in place, I was able to do almost 1/2 a rotation of the end cap to get it to seat fully. Problem solved!

I’ve now drawn a witness mark on the endcap to ensure it’s fully seated after every tear down.

Was the shotgun properly lubed or was it bone dry?

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

You’re explaining this great but I’m too dense to follow it. Last picture attached that I think shows what your referencing.

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Picture is exactly what I was describing. The ejector should look just like that.

@Snidely Whiplash

You are doing everything right. Please report back. In my experience with a couple the 1301 is dead nuts reliable with all sorts of ammo and a delight to handle and shoot. Don’t second guess the purchase.

Also in my experience, Beretta is an awesome
company to deal with if something isn’t right. They will fix it. Langdon is similar.

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Originally Posted by Pnut

As for stripping the gun and reassembling, make sure the barrel, foregrip, and endcap are in place and tightened down.
……
I’ve now drawn a witness mark on the endcap to ensure it’s fully seated after every tear down.

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You’re not kidding. My handguard adaptor is really finicky about fitting into the front of the Zhokov handguard. I have to push my handguard forward and get the adaptor seated then slide the adaptor over the magazine tube to keep it lined up before sliding both back and installing the magazine extension. If I’m not paying attention the adaptor doesn’t seat right in the handguard and it’s not immediately noticeable.

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Originally Posted by Paul Blackburn

Was the shotgun properly lubed or was it bone dry?

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I lubed it pretty liberally.

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Originally Posted by TCinVA

Picture is exactly what I was describing. The ejector should look just like that.

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Thank you for verifying that it looks OK. Much appreciated!

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Originally Posted by Doc_Glock

@Snidely Whiplash

You are doing everything right. Please report back. In my experience with a couple the 1301 is dead nuts reliable with all sorts of ammo and a delight to handle and shoot. Don’t second guess the purchase.

Also in my experience, Beretta is an awesome
company to deal with if something isn’t right. They will fix it. Langdon is similar.

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I talked to Langdon today. Some of the the rep’s comments echoed those who posted here. Basically we agreed that another trip to the range is in order and I still plan to follow the game plan I posted a couple of messages above this one. I’m hopeful for tomorrows time at the range, but I think my 54 year old shoulder is a little reluctant for 50+ rounds of slugs again. 😀

Thank you for your encouragement about the shotgun. I really hope this gets resolved and I’m as happy with my shotgun as most here seem to be with theirs. It perfectly fits a very specific role for me but I need it to be reliable.

:DI think all your ammo is BAD… send it to me and I’ll dispose of it properly!!! :)

Fifty rounds of #LEB127DPRS Federal LE Tactical TruBall Deep Penetrator Rifled Slugs (1350 fps) this morning and zero issues. I ran the shotgun as fast as I could given the indoor shooting range’s “one second between shots” rule. It’s a long way from my even considering this for an HD role but this is certainly a step or two in the right direction. Three malfunctions within the first sixteen rounds fired, but now eighty-four rounds fired without issue.

The ammo I used on my first range trip was #PB127 DPRS Federal Vital-Shok 1 oz Deep Penetrator TruBall Hollow Point Rifled Slug (1350 fps) and, according to Federal, it is the same shell as the #PB127 DPRS I was using today but my cases of ammunition were made about a year apart and they do have different color hulls. I don’t know if they are run on the same production line but given it was all I had I figured it might be different enough to at least determine if my issues were ammo related or not. Since, with a lot of help from users here, my extractor and ejector seemed to look OK, I’m wondering if I don’t have a case of ammo that might have some issues. I’ll run some of the suspect ammo in a known reliable shotgun later and see if I experience more problems with it. As best I can recall it was purchased / manufactured in the middle of the worst of the Covid era.

As it stands now I’m hoping to be back at the range this coming Monday or thereabouts with another fifty or so rounds to confirm zero on the Aimpoint and zero the CROM iron sights.

Glad your on your way to sorting out the problem!

Do you have another semiautomatic to test the bad shells and see if the problems follow them? I wonder if you could replicate the problem.

I’m wincing more for your wallet than your shoulder. Those shells are not cheap.

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

I’ll run some of the suspect ammo in a known reliable shotgun later and see if I experience more problems with it.

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I would suggest, now that you have a good run with reliable ammo, that you run some of the suspect ammo in the 1301 again. Seems like if it still has an issue you can be looking at the ammo instead of the gun.

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Originally Posted by Pnut

Glad your on your way to sorting out the problem!

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Thanks, so am I. I’m feeling much better about things than I was a week ago.

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Originally Posted by Chewbacca10

Do you have another semiautomatic to test the bad shells and see if the problems follow them? I wonder if you could replicate the problem.

I’m wincing more for your wallet than your shoulder. Those shells are not cheap.

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I have a Benelli M4 that’s been 100% with any slugs and buckshot I’ve put through it. As to price, you are not kidding. I have several cases on hand with an average price per shell of about $1.18 or so. The range had some standard Federal slugs they were selling for $13.00 per box for range use. Not a mistype - $13.00 per box….. $2.60 per round. I’ve paid less for Brenneke slugs!

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Originally Posted by mmc45414

I would suggest, now that you have a good run with reliable ammo, that you run some of the suspect ammo in the 1301 again. Seems like if it still has an issue you can be looking at the ammo instead of the gun.

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Thanks for your suggestion. I’ll work it out so that I have at least another 100 rounds or so through the LTT 1301 before I start to get comfortable with its reliability. Since it’s running good with the Federal LE ammo I’ll probably stick with that for a while. I am curious to run the “suspect ammo” through a known reliable shotgun.

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

I am curious to run the “suspect ammo” through a known reliable shotgun.

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The more I think about it, there could be an issue with a few of the shells in the new batch, they are mass produced in larger quantities more so than the shotgun.

But I have two 1301s and a 391 that I ran like I stole it for years (probably >10k rounds) and none of them have ever missed a beat, so I wouldn't start sweating it until it bobbled on another batch of ammo. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Snidely Whiplash

As it stands now I’m hoping to be back at the range this coming Monday or thereabouts with another fifty or so rounds to confirm zero on the Aimpoint and zero the CROM iron sights.

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Check all your mounting screws. They loosen.

Update: Back at the range yesterday morning. Another fifty rounds of #LEB127DPRS Federal LE Tactical TruBall Deep Penetrator Rifled Slugs and still not another fail to eject. Total rounds since the last fail-to-eject issue stands at 134.

I did have an issue where I fired a round and the next round in the magazine failed to load. I pulled the trigger to a “click” on an empty chamber but could then feel / hear the next shell load itself onto the carrier. I looked and saw there was only the one shell on the carrier, pulled the charging handle which loaded the shell into the chamber, and it fired fine. No problem with about a dozen shells afterward but I have no idea what that was about.

Final update: 50 more rounds of the LE slugs this morning and zero issues. Haven’t had a chance to try the PB127DRRS in a known reliable shotgun yet but looking more and more like the ammo might have been the issue. Or the shotgun just needed broken in. At 184 rounds since the fail-to-eject malfunctions I’m feeling much better about the 1301.

I got a 1301 4 months ago, 10/22 and have experienced the failure to eject issue also. I had shot slugs for the most part, as I began using it at an indoor range which only allows slugs in shotguns. I got the snags on one type of ammo, Fiocchi 1300 fps slugs. I have found that any rounds 1350 and above cycle smoothly. I've deduced that the gas powered system requires a certain amount of pressure to make the cycle happen, and that slower slugs fail. I'm still working through the issue.