The Holy Grail of loading port mods for Beretta 1301

[Neomet]

I've been searching forever to see how Roberto Vezzoli modded the loading port on his 1301. Finally found it and it is a monster. Go to 0:20 in the vid. Clearly he has had the serial number moved back but holy huge gaping hole Batman!! Also note how far forward he has opened the port up towards the handguard.

[jh3g]

This is my second iteration of the loading port on my 1301. About to make the third iteration on my new 24" gun as well.

Yes, the serial number is a pain. I found that I got the most gains by lowering the left side of the port, so my thumb goes deeper into the port. Seems to work well for me.

[crossgun]

Your work looks great! What are you planning to do different on the next one?

[swordfish]

Not all that drastic. Pretty typical to what we do to our Stoegers and 930s. Of course, that's where we got the idea from You should see our 1201 with it's extended tube

Edited April 12, 2016 by swordfish

[Ming the Merciless]

You can see the relocated serial number at 2:06 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?vTZBkB-44Ec8 HIGHLIGHTS, ROBERTO VEZZOLI IPSC 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

[jon49erfan]

If only you could do that in the US

[Neomet]

Go to the :20 mark again and look at the top shotgun on the table. Asymmetrical opening and cut very far forward. Far enough to expose the pin hole in the receiver. It leaves the serial number unmolested but seems really open the port up. I would guess your thumb has to come in from that side however and I assume exposing the pin hole doesn't damage the receiver.

[swordfish]

If only you could do that in the US

But you can, as long as it's stamped.

Edited April 13, 2016 by swordfish

[Neomet]

If only you could do that in the US

But you can, as long as it's stamped.

While not agreed to by all here the majority opinion is that to do so is a felony. A minority feel that certain gunsmiths with the appropriate paperwork can legally do this. The potential consequences of a felony firearms conviction for guessing wrong will lead me to either work around the current location or go get a M2 that I can hack to my heart's content. :-)

[swordfish]

If only you could do that in the US

But you can, as long as it's stamped.

While not agreed to by all here the majority opinion is that to do so is a felony. A minority feel that certain gunsmiths with the appropriate paperwork can legally do this. The potential consequences of a felony firearms conviction for guessing wrong will lead me to either work around the current location or go get a M2 that I can hack to my heart's content. :-)

Ah, that could be it. I "work" in a gunshop with a 30 year veteran of the craft plus a machinist who formerly worked at Ares building canons and machineguns for the government. So we might fit into that little niche. Or, the people on the Internet might actually be wrong. Not sure. Let me contact the ATF and see what they say. I have a 930JM so it's a non-issue for me, but we're starting to get a lot of shotguns into the shop for 3gun porting work, and we go heavy on the milling, so it would probably be a good thing to make 100% sure. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but these guys deal with NFA and the manufacturing of stuff all the time, so I'm inclined to believe them.

[Jadeslade]

I've posted pictures of Roberto's mods for a couple years now. On this forum. Not sure what your holy grail is. His main innovation is to eliminate welding the lifter, which is opposed by every manufacturer, gun smith, semi-pro modder here in the US, for obvious reasons. It works really well. Serial numbers can be moved, per ATF, no regulation against it. But check for yourself. It's about 3 clicks of a mouse. I hate it when people propagate hearsay or opinion as fact on here. But really, there is no need to move the serial number on the 1301 Comp. If that is causing you loading problems, it's not the gun.

[jon49erfan]

Serial numbers may not be destroyed. You can add another one but may not remove the original.

[Pat Miles]

His main innovation is to eliminate welding the lifter... It works really well..

I modded my lifter like his and yes, it works REALLY well. No stuck thumbs even though I can nearly stick my thumb into the chamber and pull it out. Haven't botched a reload yet because of the mod.

[Ming the Merciless]

Serial numbers may not be destroyed. You can add another one but may not remove the original.

And you found that where? What document, paragraph, line? Post up the links.

[Paul49]

Without looking up the law, but having dealt with government regulators for nearly forty years in health care, I've experienced them making up rules as they go along. The inspector general for Medicare came to our large university system looking for fraudulent Medicare billing, such as faculty billing for care provided by residents without direct supervision. They had already nailed several other prestigious universities for fines upwards of twenty million dollars. In our case after six months they hadn't found anything. They said they'd keep looking until they did or we could give them ten million dollars to go away. Their whole search was for fraud or overpayments. They were not the least bit interested in making good on any proven underpayments.

If you restamp the serial number elsewhere and obliterate the original, how can you prove to the ATF you didn't change that number to hide something nefarious? Look what happened to Stag Arms over serial numbers. I'll bet several other companies quickly cleaned up their processes after that. With an actor in New Jersey currently facing jail time for a semiautomatic BB gun, you gotta be careful. It probably depends on where you live and how the local police chief or sheriffs look at the second amendment.

[Neomet]

I've posted pictures of Roberto's mods for a couple years now. On this forum. Not sure what your holy grail is. His main innovation is to eliminate welding the lifter, which is opposed by every manufacturer, gun smith, semi-pro modder here in the US, for obvious reasons. It works really well. Serial numbers can be moved, per ATF, no regulation against it. But check for yourself. It's about 3 clicks of a mouse. I hate it when people propagate hearsay or opinion as fact on here. But really, there is no need to move the serial number on the 1301 Comp. If that is causing you loading problems, it's not the gun.

Not going down this ATF road with you again. It is why I said there are several opinions, yours is one of them. Can you point me to where the photos are at? My searchfu must be weak. Would really appreciate some good photos as I can't find them on the net either and I am trying to see how far forward he opened the port. I referred to this as the holy grail just because it is the biggest darn opening I have seen on a 1301.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Neomet

[Kedfors]

Here's som pictures of my 1301 after some grinding , took me about 6 months to come this far but now it works great.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Kedfors

[Neomet]

^^^^ Very nicely done Kedfors!!

[swordfish]

Here's som pictures of my 1301 after some grinding , took me about 6 months to come this far but now it works great.

deeper! go deeper!

[Jason Klein]

I like what you did to that lifter. The asymmetrical cut looks promising. Do you load righty or lefty?

[TonytheTiger]

I'm still trying to discern the purpose of the angled lifter cut.

[MarkS_A18138]

Sent my wife's gun to get the serial number moved!

[Neomet]

I'm still trying to discern the purpose of the angled lifter cut.

Makes it a No-pinch zone for the thumb.

[crossgun]

I am liking what I am seeing here. That cut seems to make sense.

[crossgun]

Mark

Where did you send it and what mods are being done?