BAD BAD BAD day for my Beretta 390!!!

A barrel is $400. A duck hunter will buy that much ammo pretty quickly at $40 a box so replacing the barrel was a good move on their part even if they didn't think their ammo caused the failure.

 

Translation: bad barrel design, and/or materials, and/or manufacturing processes.

I'm surprised it was the ammo guys that took care of you. Maybe they have an agreement.

 

WOW the stuff I learn here, Beretta has no idea how to make a semi auto shotgun Barrel. Beretta 390 series guns are junk!!!

:banghead:

 

Based on how the barrel failed IMO it looked to me like a material failure. Could of been a machining step, heat treat, bad raw material, a thousand things.

A decent design, but I wouldn't call it “over-built”. It's an upland gun and they want those as light as possible. Big selling point. Thinning up the barrel saves a lot of weight, and reduces the safety factor.

It's to bad they put out a bad one, happens to every OEM, Beretta is otherwise a fine company. Good enough to know the 390 series needed improved hence the new models that replaced it.

 

Did Beretta thicken the barrels on the 391 and A400?...I honestly don't know, enlighten me!

My 390 has shot thousandssss of rounds at the range, bays and blinds. It has been my go to waterfowl gun for almost 2 decades and has digested every 3" steel load I've ever sent down its barrel.

Personally, I'll take a 390 over the 391....I also don't like "over built" shotguns. I prefer dynamic shotguns built just right. I have no reason from my experience to believe my fragile 390 is ready to puke its barrel at any moment!

 

^^^

Thanks. You make my point. Had to be a flaw in that one barrel.

 

If you ever cut open a shell of Hevi-shot you would understand how it could cause such an issue. It has all kinds of irregularly shaped, sharp edged shot resembling small foundry slag in there that could occasionally bind up like crushed limestone and create a blockage behind the choke instead of flowing through as more regularly shaped round shot will.

 

I have cut one open, and that's not a defect - it's a feature.

 

"Big bad rich ammo company can afford it and it makes good business sense." NOT!

It's stupid on two accounts.

A $40 box of ammo provides maybe $5 profit at the bottom line. These idiots have to sell 80 boxes/$3,200 worth of ammo to get their money BACK.

They make themselves look guilty of something.

It appears to me the coincidence of the choke-tube ending where the burst is isn't such a coincidence after all.

 

I have been banging away with Hevi-Shot since it was introduced and I fail to see how the shape of the pellets could have done that. That shot also destroyed all the turkey shooting competition. I vote for barrel defect and Hevi-Shot wanting to build a customer relationship.
And yes, Beretta and anyone else can build a barrel with a problem. The only perfect person died 2000 years ago, and look what they did to him.

 

Very well could have been, like you said it can happen to any manufacturer. It would be nice if Hevi-Shot came back with an explanation as to why they're paying for a new barrel, whether it's PR or not.

Maybe I misunderstood but my point was simply that I don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with 390 barrels but this comment made me think that's what you were possibly insinuating. It has been discussed to great extent (lol) that many believe the 391 was not necessarily an improvement of the 390 but more a marketing gimmick to sell more guns to the latest and "greatest" crowd.

If foundry slag is a feature you like, you can get that in a much cheaper package....crappy Winchester Expert.

 

It is not foundry slag. I have run a foundry. It is tungsten alloy. Do not bite down on it.

 

NOTICE: Beretta Mobilchoke® SP (Steel-Proof) screw-in chokes tubes have
been specially designed to take the punishment of non-toxic steel shot.
For best results with steel shot, Beretta recommends a modified choke. Full
choke constriction when using steel shot does not increase pattern density
and often distorts normal pattern density associated with lead.
Remember that standard old type Beretta Mobilchoke®
tubes were not de-
signed for steel shot. Before shooting steel shot cartridges check that the
Beretta Mobilchoke®
tubes are marked SP.

Very old thread.

 

Holy #%€£! That's scary! No matter the outcome, no one was hurt and that is what is important. Hope Beretta can be of help tho