By Damon Williams
GSL Member
American gun owners are drowning in a plethora of Turkish made budget shotguns on the market today. Some are direct clones of current, more expensive, models.
Several years ago, I bought a semi-automatic version of one of these guns for combat style competition shooting. While I made several modifications to improve its performance and ergonomics, it never ran as reliably as I needed it to run. I cannot define why, but the clones just do not perform as well as the originals. When you lose faith in your competition gun, something must change.
My research revealed that the guns that I wanted, either a Benelli M4 or a Mossberg JM940, were excluded as choices from me because the Springfield troglodytes needed to “Protect Illinois Communities”. While the Benelli only has a five-round magazine, it has a pistol grip. While the Mossberg has a traditional stock, it has a seven-plus magazine capacity.
During the election campaign, Tampon-Tim Walz proved, on camera, to the entire world, his ineptitude in handling his Fudd version of a Beretta A300. (Wood stocks; three-round capacity.) A300? Isn’t there a tactical version of that gun called the Ultima Patrol? I wonder if they make a version of that gun in a tactical model that won’t make JB Pritzker stomp his feet and whine? Sure enough, Palmetto State Armory sells an iron-curtain legal five-round magazine version.
What is the A300 Ultima Patrol? The premier model of Beretta’s competition shotgun is the 1301 Tactical. For $1500, it has all the mods, bells, and whistles serious competitors demand in a performance competition firearm.
The A300 is the little brother to the 1301 Tactical. Nearly identical in appearance, each has features that the other doesn’t. The 1301 has a rotating bolt face and a high-speed gas system known as the “Blink” system. While super-fast, this increased cycling speed is only advantageous to the highest-level competitors.
Possessing a different gas system, the speed of the A300 is no slouch, and will hold its own when compared to the M4 or the JM 940.
The A300 also features a recessed loading port to accommodate quad loading, and a fiber-optic front sight. Features not found on the 1301.
More importantly, it holds a price tag about $500 cheaper than its big brother.
My first impression upon delivery was how light and well balanced the gun is. Like the 1301, the controls are oversized, easy to access, easy to operate, and smooth. As too, is the action. It points and swings naturally with aggressive texturing on the polymer stocks for a positive grip.
One would think that being a light gun would equate to harder recoil; this is not the case. I do not currently know exactly how the gas system works, but I get the impression that it somehow only utilizes the gas that it needs to operate the action and vents the excess off. This translates to manageable recoil and faster re-acquisition of the sight picture.
All the shotgun models that I have previously mentioned possess a feature which allows an extra round of capacity. The practice is known as “ghost loading”. On most shotguns designed to drop the carrier when the bolt is in battery, an extra round can be manipulated to ride the carrier below the bolt. Five in the mag, one in the chamber, and one on the carrier is seven, and it’s legal. In your face AG Raoul!
When all of this PICA nonsense is quashed by the courts, the A300 magazine capacity can be upgraded in less than 5 minutes for around $75. (Carlson’s magazine extensions are currently available on eBay.)
To test its performance, I loaded a Federal target load, a buckshot load, a 3” magnum slug, a hand loaded trap load, and a three-inch turkey load all in the same magazine.
The A300 handled all of them in sequence without the slightest hesitation. I played with ghost loading; flawless. Twin loading (because I have not yet learned the dexterity of quad loading)? It will take some getting used to, but I could do it right away.
My overall price tag for the A300 was $1200 with tax, shipping, and FFL transfer. Yes, it is spendy, but it is still $500 cheaper than its big brother, the 1301. It is my opinion that the features offered by the 1301 are just not worth the extra expense for a mediocre competitor such as myself. The A300, without a doubt, will hold its own against its rivals, the M4 and JM 940.
[Editor’s note: The pump shotguns from Turkey are usually great entry-level guns. The semi-autos, on the other hand, suck. I bought one of those Turkish semi-autos on sale for $200 at SCHEELS. It wouldn’t fire three shots without a malfunction, sometimes two. It shot 27” low and left at 25 yards. I wrote a scathing review that was so caustic that my editor at The Truth About Guns refused to run it.
I’ve handled two others by different makers. They shared the same flaws with reliability and sighting issues. Frankly, I’m not convinced that they’re not all made in the same factory by the same intoxicated staffers with just different name badges on the guns.]