A300 Ultima Patrol

[gato naranja]

That's been my experience as well. A lot of people who've had outside instruction on it come to our class and say "Wow, I never learned it like this! It works so much better now!"

And that's not a knock on other folks who incorporate it, that's just a fact of Dad being the originator of the technique, and my having grown up immersed in it. We've done it so much that we've figured out subtleties, and seen enough students come through that we've experience with how to impart those little personalized tweaks that can make all the difference.

I THINK I have figured it out, but I am an old cat and (relatively) new tricks come hard; if I were 20 years younger I'd actually take a class, but I would be the pain in the arse who slows everything down to the pace of cold molasses. Think Tim Conway's shuffling old guy character, but more clueless.

On a more positive note, at least I am not blading the shotgun and pulling it back into my shoulder pocket with all my might (while delicately holding the forend like it was a Faberge egg).

[UncleGabby]

On a more positive note, at least I am not blading the shotgun and pulling it back into my shoulder pocket with all my might (while delicately holding the forend like it was a Faberge egg).

This made me literally laugh out loud as it describes my father-in-law’s “technique” perfectly.

He is pretty well off, and decided he needed a home defense shotgun that he didn’t spend $125 on at Walmart, so last year I sold him one of my 870 Police Magnums (at a loss for me, but whatever). He only fired 3 low recoil shells through it before calling it a day and saying he needed to replace the stock. I attempted to explain “push-pull” to him, as I understand it based on youtube videos. I had put XS big dot sights on one of my other 870’s and was blowing up milk bottles at 50 yards with slugs, and he even commented on how well I ran my shotgun, but absolutely refused to deviate from his ways.

[idahojess]

500 rounds through the A300 and the wost thing that happened was the mag tube clamp walked forward.

It seems like he is being punched by his own shooting hand thumb a lot.

I know I've heard at least one other instructor mention it, but isn't running your shooting hand thumb on the top of the stock a better way to keep from getting kicked in the nose by your thumb?

I've been trying to keep my thumb on the top of the stock since I took a local class in 2016 and my nose got smacked enough times to see the wisdom in not having my thumb in front of my nose. Plus, with a top tang safety on an over-under field gun or a Mossberg it seems like a good technique.

Has placing the thumb on top of the stock fallen out of practice with the Magpul stock?

Here is good video on Louis Awerbuck's take on where to place the shooting hand thumb, at 31:50 in (obviously, his stance and technique is different than what I think is taught now). Still a cool video:

https://youtu.be/GdOJRRlVtwI

Edited to remove embed of video. Don't really like the copyright issue -- but it is on youtube.

[LHS]

Yep, running your thumb on top of the stock instead of wrapped around is how we teach it. It's especially important with a shorter stock as the shooter's face is closer to the thumb. I use that technique pretty exclusively (much to my discomfort the first time I ran an Auto5, where it jammed my thumb into the hump back...).

It seems like he is being punched by his own shooting hand thumb a lot.

I know I've heard at least one other instructor mention it, but isn't running your shooting hand thumb on the top of the stock a better way to keep from getting kicked in the nose by your thumb?

I've been trying to keep my thumb on the top of the stock since I took a local class in 2016 and my nose got smacked enough times to see the wisdom in not having my thumb in front of my nose. Plus, with a top tang safety on an over-under field gun or a Mossberg it seems like a good technique.

Has placing the thumb on top of the stock fallen out of practice with the Magpul stock?

Here is good video on Louis Awerbuck's take on where to place the shooting hand thumb, at 31:50 in (obviously, his stance and technique is different than what I think is taught now). Still a cool video:

https://youtu.be/GdOJRRlVtwI

Edited to remove embed of video. Don't really like the copyright issue -- but it is on youtube.

[RevolverRob]

When I was learning to run lever guns I quickly learned there is zero need to do anything with strong hand thumb except lay it alongside the stock wrist/receiver). Otherwise it will just slow you down (or worse get jammed when you slam the lever back up). You can run a bolt action, a pump, a semi, and any traditionally stocked long gun the exact same way. It's not as though your strong hand thumb is doing anything important, except flicking the safety on a Mossberg.

I find the support hand thumb placement to be more important.

[JAD]

I hadn’t run a shotgun in like 10 years but recently picked up an 870 and took it to the range. I fired the first round and frowned a little; I couldn’t figure out why it seemed to be recoiling so much with birdshot. Then I realized that I’d have to be conscious of push pull. I worked that back out over the rest of the tube. By the time I’d reloaded, it was instinctive again.

It is the only ‘one simple trick’ thing I’ve learned in hundreds of hours of training.

[Lowspeed_highdrag]

The 1301 is the finest defensive shotgun made today, in my opinion. It runs with practically anything you can feed it, it runs even in terrible conditions where it's been stripped of lubrication, it doesn't require much maintenance and it patterns defensive buckshot better than most other options on the market.

It is a splendid shotgun.

If it were me, I'd keep the 1301 and modify it to my liking.

The Patrol is also an excellent shotgun based on a historically reliable design. As it comes from the box it's set up very well for defensive use. You can literally just put some MLOK rail (I recommend Arisaka) and a light on it and drive on. But it is not quite as adaptable as the 1301 is thanks to the excellent offerings from Aridus.

In your situation I'd recommend replacing the stock on your gun with the Magpul SGA, mounting a light, and drive on.

Based on your advice, I bought a GG&G Magpul Stock, Aridus Crom, and Aridus QDC. Took the 1301 out today and patterned it with quite a few loads.

The A300 was outfitted quite well, but clearly felt tougher than the polished 1301.

[GJM]

Yep, running your thumb on top of the stock instead of wrapped around is how we teach it. It's especially important with a shorter stock as the shooter's face is closer to the thumb. I use that technique pretty exclusively (much to my discomfort the first time I ran an Auto5, where it jammed my thumb into the hump back...).

Works well with a bolt gun -- avoids thumb to nose and faster to run the bolt.

[Lowspeed_highdrag]

Based on your advice, I bought a GG&G Magpul Stock, Aridus Crom, and Aridus QDC. Took the 1301 out today and patterned it with quite a few loads.

The A300 was outfitted quite well, but clearly felt tougher than the polished 1301.

By “tougher” I mean “rougher”. The A300UP is a rougher feeling gun in overall finish than the 1301.

[EzGoingKev]

It’s also e to rely possible that the beretta site is wrong. We keep hearing that the 1301 is going to have price increases.

Looking on Beretta's site the MSRP is now listed at $1720 for the field stock model.