CVC

Hahah, I think I'll keep my 21" barrel, it feels a bit more handy to me than the 24 did. You might be able to pick up a barrel from Beretta when they do a holiday sale. For a side saddle, you could always get one of the elastic sock style and slip it over the stock, then you don't have to worry about the rail blocking your view of the beads. I tried to replicate ECN515's ghost load issue and think I figured out what happened. Because the shell release operates by getting pressed along the long axis of the gun towards the stock, it can get depressed if the following series of events happens: 1) On a double or quad load, begin pressing the first shell into the tube, 2) drop the second shell partially into the feed port, 3) then allow both shells to get pushed backwards by the magazine spring 4) Guide them so that only the edge of the base of the shell hits the shell release. If the second shell is pushed down by your thumb/hand, you can't get step 4 to happen so IMO, this is not really an issue.

Disclaimer: YMMV, proceed at own risk, consult with an actual gunsmith, hold my beer, etc. etc. Received a 28" barrel (JBXPB28) today and played around with it a bit. The 28" barrel looks like it mates up to the 1301 comp pro. The bolt locked in place and functioned properly. In the pictures below, the factory 21" barrel is on the left, the 28" barrel is on the right. With the exception of the gas system, the appear identical. With respect to the gas system, the 21" factory barrel has both ports drilled out. Each port is roughly 7/64" in diameter (measured using a drill bit as a feeler gauge) and drilled through to the barrel. On the 28" barrel (JBXPB28), each port is approximately 3/32" in diameter, however, only one is drilled through to the barrel. Additionally, the gas valve spring is made out of thicker wire on the comp pro and seems to have an extra half coil or so of length. I'm wondering what folks thoughts are on the differences in the gas system. I think there is an AR-15 analogy here since the longer barrel will result in a longer dwell time for the gas which is compensated for with a substantially smaller port and an easier to crack gas valve. Shot it with some factory ammo and it functioned fine, but it did shoot about a foot lower than the stock barrel at 25 yards.

Length of pull is 14.5" without spacer, 15.5" with spacer

Put ~100 shells of assorted types through the gun over the past week. The only thing it choked on were the 980 FPS low recoil low noise target rounds. Other than that, all of the shells listed below fed well and were pretty accurate. I'm about 5'10 and kept the spacer in the stock. Overall, it fit me really well out of the box and was extremely soft shooting. The cast needs a little fine tuning to fit me perfectly, however, it was close enough that once I had the gun mounted I was able to stay in the gun throughout series of rapid shots with ease. The trigger is solid. It was smooth for a shotgun, did not stack and had a crisp break. As far as how the sights work out, it seemed to shoot flat. The gun wanted the mid bead lined up with the front bead and those beads lined up with the point of impact. I did not really do any accuracy testing per se, however, I am 100% confident that the gun is far more accurate than I am. The kick off stock helps...does it help as much as adding 3 or 4 lbs of mass to the gun? Physics says no, but IMO, a lighter gun is a lot more comfortable to hold for long periods of time. Subjective "felt recoil" Ranking: 1) Winchester AA Low recoil low noise (1 OZ #8 shot, 980 FPS) 2) Hornady American Gunner 1 OZ reduced recoil Slug (1200 FPS) 3) Winchester AA Xtra lite target load (1 OZ #8 shot, 1180 FPS) 3) Remington Slugger managed Recoil (1 OZ Slug, 1200 FPS, Green shell) 3) Remington Slugger managed Recoil (1 OZ Slug, 1200 FPS, Blue shell) 6) Remington Gun Club Target Ammo (1 OZ #8 shot, 1185 FPS) 7) Winchester AA Heavy Target Ammo (1-1/8 OZ #8 shot, 1200 FPS) 8 ) Broadhead Dupo 28 (1 oz slug, 1460 FPS) This is somewhat subjective. Realistically, ranks 1-6 all shot extremely pleasantly.

If anyone has an a400 in Southern California, I have a 1301 comp pro that we can use for comparison.

Recently picked one up but have not been able to go out and shoot it yet due to quarantine :/. I was wondering if anyone had any luck swapping barrels on a comp pro yet. I picked up a 21" model and was hoping to get a longer barrel (28") for skeet. The email I received back from Beretta was a two parter that seemed somewhat contradictory. The first email said "We do not recommend attempting to install an a400 barrel onto the 1301 receiver. The only barrels approved for use on that model are the 21 and 24 inch barrels specifically made for the 1301" and the second said, "The barrels cannot interchange, the gas system will not permit it, dimensions would not permit such a change". Does anyone know what the truth is? There are a number of posts which indicate that this swap should be possible, but none with enough specifics to feel confident that I would be ordering the right second barrel.