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590A1 and M4 are the Thunder and Lightning of the combat and HD shotgun world

The fundamental difference between Benelli M4 and Beretta 1301 is "short stroke vs long stroke" piston systems. After the shotgun is fired, the gas piston strikes the bolt carrier group back to start the cycling process. Benelli M4 uses a simpler short stroke design. There are fewer parts in the bolt carrier group. It means "less weight to move". Beretta 1301 is a long stroke design. If you take it apart, you can see that the bolt carrier group has many parts to move together. It means "more weight to move". Fewer and lighter moving parts usually translate to better accuracy. In addition, the more moving parts, the higher chance something could go wrong. It has an impact on the long-term reliability. Therefore, Benelli M4 is intrinsically a better design. Well, in theory at least. In practical usages, it probably doesn't matter to most users. If you are worried about Benelli M4 not cycling lighter loads, you just need to change the buffer tube spring to a softer one (or cut off a small portion of the stock spring). Benelli intentionally uses a stronger spring in the buffer tube for long-term reliability on firing hot defense shells. In other word, it's not a defect in Benelli M4. It's a design tradeoff. If you fire A LOT of hot shells, you would need to replace the buffer spring more often on Beretta 1301 than on Benelli M4. If you uses a softer spring on Benelli M4, you'd also need to replace it more often than using the stronger stock spring. That's it. For hot shells, you feel softer recoil on Benelli M4. For lighter loads, you feel less recoil on Beretta 1301. Depending on what loads you use, it has different impacts on the accuracy of your following shots. In short, Benelli M4 is designed for combat. Beretta 1301 is designed for hunting and competition, and is being repositioned to "one shotgun for all purposes". Which is right to you? It's really up to you. For me, I don't hunt nor go for competitions. So, I have Benelli M4 as my primary shotgun and Mossberg 590A1 for apocalypse. But, I am also considering to get a Beretta 1301 Comp Pro and modify it into a tactical shotgun. That'd be a sweet shotgun!

Replied. Still available.

Except you can't just buy a short barrel and slap it on a stamp-less gun. Owning both at the same time without a stamp is also super sketchy. Lastly, California has restrictions on working collapsible stocks and it is basically impossible to enter NFA territory here. soooo.... ugh yeah...?

Yup, here is mine from bk02; looks great, fits well and won't rub.

Looks and works great. Plenty of room for my piece of mind. Thank you for making this for me

For a muzzle device on an SBR length barrel to take it to non-NFA length and be a non-NFA weapon, it must be pinned/welded. Loctite and other adhesives are not satisfactory, per letter of the law. Further, if it's going to be that long anyway, why give up burn-time and sight radius? I think you are doing the functionally/technically/legally sound thing.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol recently traded in their first gen Beretta 1301's The police supply sold them for $700 plus tax. I bought two. They had seen very little use. A couple of friends got lucky and got "spare" guns that had not been fired. (They are all gone now). They had the Mesa Tactical pistol grip stocks and two shot extensions. I know some that were resold for as much as $1599. I bought two, but have not had an opportunity to shoot it yet. The only problem is that I bought a Benelli M3 the week before they became available. What's interesting it the Beretta stock is too short for me and the Benelli is too long. The only criticisms of the Beretta is the issue of the bolt carrier release being inadvertently pressed and locking up the gun. This issue was fixed on the Gen 2 and has been fixed on my guns by addition of at $5 part from Beretta. The other (and its nothing but a personal preference) is the safety in the Beretta is forward of the trigger. I'm used to the safety being behind the trigger. The Beretta is noticeably lighter than the Benelli.

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