Beretta 1301 Tactical

[GJM]

I still plan on picking one up for hunting white tail deer.

buddy deal available

[JodyH]

Mesa Tactical Urbino stock for the 1301 is scheduled to be released next month.
The straight stocks kill my wrist, a pistol gripped stock would be a great upgrade for me.
Now if I can just figure out how to make the bolt/shell release into just a bolt release I'd be happy with the 1301.
Has anybody studied the bolt release to see if it can be modified to only drop the bolt? I don't mind having to cycle out every shell when I want to clear it.

[JodyH]

I'm going to dig mine out of the safe and look it over this evening.

[JodyH]

I was playing around with the 1301 some more today with dummy rounds and that dual purpose bolt/shell release is disaster waiting to happen especially for LE use where shotgun training isn't a big priority.
All it takes is for a guy to hit the bolt release instead of manually running the bolt from "cruiser ready" (empty chamber, hammer down, tube loaded) and he ends up with a locked down shotgun and not even the luxury of getting a shot off with it.
I can see that easily happening with a guy who gets in several repetitions of using the bolt release paddle to chamber a round on the range, then when he grabs the "cruiser ready" shotgun out of the car and attempts to chamber a round with the bolt release paddle...

[Haraise]

So you're saying there's not any real problem here, if you run with one in the chamber?

[JodyH]

No. It will still lock down if the paddle is activated while loaded, but at least you can fire off the chambered round. And under those conditions it'd probably be an accidental activation, which is a bit harder to do.

I can see mediocre training leading to a major user induced malfunction under stress if it's issued to LE and carried cruiser ready.

[JodyH]

A question for those with 1301's.
Does your bolt hit a distinct "wall" in the last 1/2" of travel as the bolt rotates into battery?
I really notice it when chamber checking or ghost loading, I have to bump the bolt back into battery.
It unlocks with no hiccups.
My Benelli M4 just smoothly rotates closed on its own with no assistance required.
It's never been a problem while shooting.

[LOKNLOD]

Yeah there's a bit of a "catch" there in mine too, just part of the camming action I think.

I spent a good part of the afternoon fiddling with the latch assembly. It really is a frustrating issue because I love the shotgun but it's such a huge potential liability. It's really not that hard to do accidentally. The paddle gives good leverage and by the nature of it, it's possible for it to hang on a something and actuate as well. The bolt handle above gives some measure of protection from that, but stranger things have happened.

If you just remove the large paddle, it's hard to make it crap itself, but also a little harder to make it drop the bolt. I suspect it's effectively the poor mans version of the TX4 latch.

I had the concept that if you could limit the rearward tilt, you could prevent the problem or at least make it require a lot more force.

To accomplish this, I started by cutting some slightly wedge-shaped rings of rubber out of some tubing, and placing them under the latch, so that it provided resistance to reward motion on the latch but still allowed it to be pushed forward to drop the bolt.

I ended up moving testing various o-rings because it was a little easier to duplicate, and it does work for making it really difficult to make it puke; unfortunately a thick enough o-ring also makes it difficult to drop the bolt. So I took my Dremel and tapered the part of the o-ring under the muzzle-side of the paddle body, and voila, no puke but still drops the bolt. New problem created: it's hard to load shells into the mag tube. The same motion that allows you to puke the shells, is the clearance for the shell latch to give way to let rounds insert into the mag tube. So if you make that motion impossible, it prevents easily loading as well.

I think it might be possible to find a correct size/durometer combo to make it significantly more difficult (not impossible) to dump the tube while also still allowing loading easily, but I didn't find it yet. If you want to fiddle with it a lot, be aware the screw that holds the paddle on is easily stripped with excessive use D'oh.

[Haraise]

LOKNLOD, that is some awesome news. Someone really tearing in to try and fix things is great to hear, thank you. Eager to hear what you come up with!

[Dave J]

I had the concept that if you could limit the rearward tilt, you could prevent the problem or at least make it require a lot more force.

I was messing with an idea over the weekend as well, but didn't want to jinx myself by posting too early.

Basically, what I did was to reverse the paddle, then add an "overtravel stop" to the back, so that it can no longer tilt rearward. It's not a 100% fix, but it's definitely much improved.

To make the paddle reversible, I used a knife and needle file to reshape the back, from the original U-shaped keyed groove, to a straight groove all the way across. Now, just reversing the paddle actually makes the situation much worse, since you have more leverage to tilt the paddle rearward...but if you add an overtravel stop to the back, it can no longer tilt. I considered using a set screw arrangement, but I don't think the plastic paddle lends is really suitable for this, so I simply used a big wad of JB Weld, and sanded to shape. The thickness is important -- too thin, and the paddle can still tilt, releasing the shell stop. Too thick, and the shell stop won't move enough to allow shells to enter the mag tube. About .110" seemed to work for mine -- the paddle has a slight taper, so the thickness varies slightly depending on where you measure it.

With this mod, I can still release the bolt fairly easily, but pushing on the face of the paddle anywhere does NOT cause an inadvertent shell relase. Unfortunately, it's not a 100% fix. If you pull the entire paddle rearward (like sliding your hand rearward along the reciever, i.e. imagine a motion similar to pulling the bolt back, but hitting the paddle instead), it can still release a shell from the mag tube. I have a couple of ideas for that, and hopefully will be able to test them before long.

Pictures to follow...