Dallas, TX PD is authorizing the 1301T. First Beretta firearm authorized since 1988.
Last edited by Exiledviking; 06-27-2022 at 12:03 AM.
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
...and this is a special level of concern with semi-autos that have shell cutoffs.
I'm as big a supporter of the 1301 as you'll find...but it's not the gun I would hand out to people as a defensive shotgun.
I see people using the 1301 under mild levels of stress on a regular basis and it's abundantly clear to me that my class is the only real training they're doing on the gun. As a consequence, at various points through the day I watch them sort of staring slack-jawed at the gun because they can't remember which button does what. It's something that is easily rectified by spending more time on the gun working in dryfire with good dummy shells, but even people enthusiastic enough to buy a 1301 and come to class show how perishable their understanding of the gun's function is if they haven't invested the time away from the range to become proficient in making it work.
This is one of the reasons why every drill I perform in Home Defense Shotgun starts from a "cruiser ready" position. The truth is that in a single day I cannot possibly get someone all the time they need behind the gun to be proficient. With limited time that has to cover some aspects of home defense and police/citizen interaction, I have limited range time and I use the strategy of starting every single drill from cruiser ready to give them as many experiences charging the gun to get it into action as possible. They also get just as many reps setting the gun up for cruiser ready as possible as a result.
It wasn't hard for me to learn the 1301 to the level of proficiency...but the first gun I ever fired was an 870 Wingmaster and I had almost 2 decades running a wide variety of guns at a pretty high level before I ever picked one up. I'm wired differently on shotguns than your typical person. I've been asked multiple times if there's any point in other shotguns now that the 1301 is out there. Absolutely, and for precisely this reason.
The 1301 is a superb tool, but it requires a higher level of investment to get to the point where you can run it under fighting stress than a pump gun. It's worthwhile to make that investment for the benefits you can get from the gun. An example is the ability to still effectively run the gun while using a shield...hard to do that with a pump gun. But the reality is that the typical defensive shotgun is rarely touched and when needed its operation needs to be as simple as humanly possible.
If I were running a department the general issue scattergun would be an 870. The 1301 would be a personally approved option provided the officer using it can demonstrate a higher level of proficiency in manipulating the gun or for tactical units that do more training.
3/15/2016
I know the NC State Police issued or at least authorized them at some point.
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
It was mainly detail stripping the gun and learning what parts you could replace and what were considered factory only operations. A lot of that has likely changed since then, as even their armorer's manual was showing things that the trainer said were factory only operations.
3/15/2016