I am pretty sure I have put 10k through my 391, and I have been shooting my 1301 at three gun for a couple years, and I would say you would be fine with a Beretta that has not been fiddled with (including with bulk pack ammo). No personal experience with the A300, but I plan to buy one, I think you could have high confidence in those as well.Originally Posted by gato naranja
A deliberately small Home Defense Shotgun today.
Class equipment -
Wilson Combat 870, never fired before
Mossberg 590A1 with Vang Comp internal barrel work, no porting (which is the smart way to go, IMO)
870 Police Magnum with bead sight & corn-cob forend
870 Police Magnum with Streamlight forend
1st Gen 1301T with Aridus SGA adapter and Holosun open emitter installed on factory rail
Beretta A300UP (that had never been fired before)
Mossberg 590
Benelli M4 SBS
We experienced heavy rain mid-way through the day, to the point where hours later my guns are still wet and my case is still soaked. This had the effect of stripping every drop of lubrication off the guns entirely. The guns were also being decked on the ground between drills meaning they were exposed to mud and grass and standing muddy water, too.
The average height in this class has to be a personal record as almost all of them were surplus to God's perfect plan for combat effectiveness. (AKA, they had the unmitigated temerity to be taller than me) Multiple shooters had Magpul SGA stocks with multiple spacers installed. After the first set of drills everybody saw the light and the spacers were removed. This cleared up pretty much any issues with the pump guns. Once the stocks got shorter the cycling of the pump guns got better. Naturally being pump guns, they didn't care about mud and being stripped of lubricant.
The A300UP was brand new just out of the box coming to class. It had never had a live round fired through it. It had also never been lubricated. As such, it had a few failures to eject. The shooter was running the cheapest Winchester bulk ammo and handling the ammunition it seemed to have some sort of sticky film on it that wasn't helping either. Spent shells from the shooter's supply were barely dribbling out of the gun. I ran some of my ammo through it as fast as possible, cycling and ejection were significantly better with the Federal Top Gun ammunition. I also snagged some lube from another client and liberally lubricated the A300UP. After cycling the bolt to work the lubrication in the right spots, it felt like an entirely different gun and started running everything a lot better with far superior ejection.
Semi-autos like lube, folks.
The Gen1 1301 wasn't brand new, of course, but it hadn't been shot very much. Naturally being a 1301 it didn't care a tinker's cuss about the environmental conditions or lack of lubrication. The only issue it experienced was when the owner hit the rear of the bolt release and backed two shells on to the lifter. He didn't know about the Gen1's proclivity for that or about the collars Beretta now sells to address that. He will remedy his situation promptly. Apart from that in nearly 200 shells downrange through his gun today nothing else was an issue. Even his optic stayed screwed firmly in place on the factory plastic rails.
Esstac side saddles once again proved their frustrating inferiority to the Vang Comp shell cards.
The Benelli M4 SBS...well...
I had a feeling it was going to be a rough day because as soon as it was out of the case I saw an aftermarket safety, an aftermarket shell release (Benelli calls it a cartridge drop lever), an aftermarket bolt handle, an aftermarket follower, an aftermarket bolt release, and the lifter looked wrong. Turns out the lifter was also aftermarket. To GG&G's credit, the've apparently modified their previously god-awful bolt handle so it no longer yanks out of the bolt every time you try and use it to charge the weapon, and it doesn't seem as inclined to spontaneously yeet itself from the gun. So that's good.
The gun showed issues early on. Firstly, it was dry as a bone before we had any serious rain so that didn't help. It was exhibiting issues where it would drop a shell part way on the lifter locking the gun up hard, or it would drop the last shell on the lifter and then the lifter would stay down. The magazine tube was extremely difficult to load because the shell stop (which is on the other side of the bolt release) did not want to move out of the way.
I asked the owner what modifications he made and after he noted the extensive list of what was modified on the gun, I said "Ok, so when you get home what you need to do put all the Benelli parts back into the gun." He looked somewhere between crestfallen and offended, but the frequency of his gun's issues (which persisted with any type of ammunition we tried) did an effective job of making the point for me. By the end of the day he was convinced that the Esstac cards had to go, and that his M4 is a better defensive tool with the actual Benelli parts back on the gun.
I rarely see a stock Benelli M4 in class. The kind of person who has the income to allow them to buy an M4 tends to have enough money to sate the desire to modify it for better ergonomics and more gooder go-faster. This rarely works out. What it actually seems to produce is extended periods of staring at the gun trying to figure out WTF is up with it this time, usually resulting in a raised hand and at least one or two instructors trying to unfuck the goat rodeo going on inside the poor thing.
Its not the owner's fault. They don't know that the purpose of aftermarket parts is to make you pay money for aftermarket parts moreso than it is to give you useful enhancement of the gun. Follow Nancy Reagan's advice and Just Say No.
3/15/2016
What lube is recommended with Benelli and Beretta shotguns, and what areas do you lube.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
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