LeadPumper
Member
Beretta 1201 FP
Sharing another one of my more recent purchases with The High Road, here are my experiences with my NIB purchased Beretta 1201FP.
Bought at a show for $499.00, this shotgun was hundreds less than I’d seen it in any local store. I was eager to see the results of the Beretta / Benelli collaboration, so I hurried home from the show with only a few boxes of shells in my shopping bag.
This 1201 FP is the black synthetic, 12 ga, recoil operated semi automatic, 6 + 1 capacity ghost ring sighted police version of the Beretta 1201 F hunting shotgun.
It came it a blue cardboard box with the barrel detached and full instructions. Pulling the shotty out of the wrapper, I was most pleased with the quality of workmanship put into such a ‘working’ gun. All the fittings were clean and neat, with no visible tooling marks or mars. The quality of material used seemed quite high when compared to some other manufacturers cheap synthetic plastic. The Beretta felt like a better grade of gun.
Ignoring the instructions, I attempted to install the barrel to get a feel for my newest 12 gauge. At first I tried to simply drop the barrel into the chamber but the chamber end of the forearm was too small to allow a smooth fit. Had I bothered to read the instructions, I would have learned that to install the barrel, the forearm has to come out first. So after a few minutes of head scratching, I unscrewed the end cap of the magazine tube and pulled the magazine spacer and forearm off. Then the barrel fit nicely into the waiting chamber, and the whole thing went back together easily.
Shouldering the shotgun, I quickly felt it was maybe an inch too long of a pull for me. The longer stock forced my hands further away from my body than I was accustomed too on my pump guns. It was distracting at first, but I adjusted rapidly once I actually shot it.
Takedown for cleaning was super simple: unscrew magazine end cap, remove magazine cap, spacer, forearm and barrel, slide the bolt forward in the chamber, remove bolt cocking knob, slide bolt out of chamber, drift out pin holding fire control group, rock FCG out of the frame. Done. The whole thing breaks down into less than 10 easy to clean parts.
The bolt itself is a marvel of engineering. Lifted right out of the Benelli M1, the one piece bolt has a rotating head that ‘unlocks’ when recoil hits it, allowing the bolt to travel rearward, extracting the spent hull. The rear of the bolt has a ‘rat tail’ similar to an FAL, where the rat tail extends into a spring loaded tube in the buttstock to soak up recoil. This setup is supposed to allow firing of hotter ammo with less felt recoil than a pump, but more felt recoil than a gas operated gun (at less cost). All that sounded very cool, but as I discovered later, it does come at a price.
The fire control group was another wonderfully designed piece of engineering that was easy to get in and out, as well as clean. All the surfaces that needed cleaning and lubrication were upfront and accessible. No further disassembly was required or recommended. I love guns that come apart into a few, large, easy to clean pieces!
Cleaned up and ready to go to the range, I realized I had only Federal Tactical 00 buck loads left on the shelf. Oh well, at least I could shoot something!
At my local indoor range I set the FBI ‘Q’ target at 50 feet and proceeded to load up. The 1201 FP loads in an unusual way; the first round is dropped directly into the chamber, and a large silver button is pressed on the right side of the frame to release the bolt. This gets the gun into action quickly while letting you load more shells as needed. The loading gate stays in the ‘down’ position, so to top off during a string, you have to push the gate up to insert more shells. A little odd doing it by feel alone, but far from impossible.
Sighting out to 50’, I noticed the ghost rings sights really were much smaller than I had at first thought. Much smaller than I’ve seen on other shotguns, these sights were adjustable for both windage and elevation (by screw) at the rear sight. The small sights aligned well, but I could most definitely see myself replacing the front dot with a larger ‘night sight’ dot.
Snicking off the large head cross-bolt safety (behind the trigger), I pulled the trigger. As far as shotguns go, the trigger on this Beretta is pretty nice. A little take-up, stacking with some creep, let-off at about 7-8 lbs, no over travel, (according to my finger). My first shots hit center of target and patterned well, with even distribution of shot all around. The light loads however, didn’t fully operate the recoil system of the shotgun. Here’s where the fun started. Shoot, cock, shoot, cock… it was basically a single shot with me having to operate the bolt after each shot. After ten rounds (hoping it would break in soon, knowing it wouldn’t), I headed out front (to the store part of the range) and picked up a box of Remington 00 buck heavy shots.
These kicked quite a bit more, lots more muzzle jump. I think I scared the kids in the next lane sharing a nine. But…they worked great. The recoil system started chugging like a champ and didn’t miss a beat. Ok, I thought… it just needs to be broken in.
Fast forward two weeks to The High Road visit to Hap Bakers Firearms range in Westminster, and I got to break to shotgun in better. I had picked up five boxes of rifled slugs at the next show and put them all downrange at Hap’s. 25 yard targets, all shots from standing unsupported position, all rounds landed high and left, but grouped well. The shotgun never faltered once. (though I think I'll add a sling)
My next trip to the indoor range and trying Tactical loads met with much better success, as the shotgun had been broken in a little. It accurately shot every ammo type I brought, including the Federal stuff it choked on before.
Overall, I liked my newest scattergun, despite its quirks. And I fully realize it isn’t for everyone. A pump offers a cheaper, less ammo finicky platform, while a gas gun has less recoil but can become fouled with use. This Beretta seems to fall dead in the middle, both in price and performance. The middle doesn’t seem like a bad place at all to be.
-LeadPumper
Sharing another one of my more recent purchases with The High Road, here are my experiences with my NIB purchased Beretta 1201FP.
Bought at a show for $499.00, this shotgun was hundreds less than I’d seen it in any local store. I was eager to see the results of the Beretta / Benelli collaboration, so I hurried home from the show with only a few boxes of shells in my shopping bag.
This 1201 FP is the black synthetic, 12 ga, recoil operated semi automatic, 6 + 1 capacity ghost ring sighted police version of the Beretta 1201 F hunting shotgun.
It came it a blue cardboard box with the barrel detached and full instructions. Pulling the shotty out of the wrapper, I was most pleased with the quality of workmanship put into such a ‘working’ gun. All the fittings were clean and neat, with no visible tooling marks or mars. The quality of material used seemed quite high when compared to some other manufacturers cheap synthetic plastic. The Beretta felt like a better grade of gun.
Ignoring the instructions, I attempted to install the barrel to get a feel for my newest 12 gauge. At first I tried to simply drop the barrel into the chamber but the chamber end of the forearm was too small to allow a smooth fit. Had I bothered to read the instructions, I would have learned that to install the barrel, the forearm has to come out first. So after a few minutes of head scratching, I unscrewed the end cap of the magazine tube and pulled the magazine spacer and forearm off. Then the barrel fit nicely into the waiting chamber, and the whole thing went back together easily.
Shouldering the shotgun, I quickly felt it was maybe an inch too long of a pull for me. The longer stock forced my hands further away from my body than I was accustomed too on my pump guns. It was distracting at first, but I adjusted rapidly once I actually shot it.
Takedown for cleaning was super simple: unscrew magazine end cap, remove magazine cap, spacer, forearm and barrel, slide the bolt forward in the chamber, remove bolt cocking knob, slide bolt out of chamber, drift out pin holding fire control group, rock FCG out of the frame. Done. The whole thing breaks down into less than 10 easy to clean parts.
The bolt itself is a marvel of engineering. Lifted right out of the Benelli M1, the one piece bolt has a rotating head that ‘unlocks’ when recoil hits it, allowing the bolt to travel rearward, extracting the spent hull. The rear of the bolt has a ‘rat tail’ similar to an FAL, where the rat tail extends into a spring loaded tube in the buttstock to soak up recoil. This setup is supposed to allow firing of hotter ammo with less felt recoil than a pump, but more felt recoil than a gas operated gun (at less cost). All that sounded very cool, but as I discovered later, it does come at a price.
The fire control group was another wonderfully designed piece of engineering that was easy to get in and out, as well as clean. All the surfaces that needed cleaning and lubrication were upfront and accessible. No further disassembly was required or recommended. I love guns that come apart into a few, large, easy to clean pieces!
Cleaned up and ready to go to the range, I realized I had only Federal Tactical 00 buck loads left on the shelf. Oh well, at least I could shoot something!
At my local indoor range I set the FBI ‘Q’ target at 50 feet and proceeded to load up. The 1201 FP loads in an unusual way; the first round is dropped directly into the chamber, and a large silver button is pressed on the right side of the frame to release the bolt. This gets the gun into action quickly while letting you load more shells as needed. The loading gate stays in the ‘down’ position, so to top off during a string, you have to push the gate up to insert more shells. A little odd doing it by feel alone, but far from impossible.
Sighting out to 50’, I noticed the ghost rings sights really were much smaller than I had at first thought. Much smaller than I’ve seen on other shotguns, these sights were adjustable for both windage and elevation (by screw) at the rear sight. The small sights aligned well, but I could most definitely see myself replacing the front dot with a larger ‘night sight’ dot.
Snicking off the large head cross-bolt safety (behind the trigger), I pulled the trigger. As far as shotguns go, the trigger on this Beretta is pretty nice. A little take-up, stacking with some creep, let-off at about 7-8 lbs, no over travel, (according to my finger). My first shots hit center of target and patterned well, with even distribution of shot all around. The light loads however, didn’t fully operate the recoil system of the shotgun. Here’s where the fun started. Shoot, cock, shoot, cock… it was basically a single shot with me having to operate the bolt after each shot. After ten rounds (hoping it would break in soon, knowing it wouldn’t), I headed out front (to the store part of the range) and picked up a box of Remington 00 buck heavy shots.
These kicked quite a bit more, lots more muzzle jump. I think I scared the kids in the next lane sharing a nine. But…they worked great. The recoil system started chugging like a champ and didn’t miss a beat. Ok, I thought… it just needs to be broken in.
Fast forward two weeks to The High Road visit to Hap Bakers Firearms range in Westminster, and I got to break to shotgun in better. I had picked up five boxes of rifled slugs at the next show and put them all downrange at Hap’s. 25 yard targets, all shots from standing unsupported position, all rounds landed high and left, but grouped well. The shotgun never faltered once. (though I think I'll add a sling)
My next trip to the indoor range and trying Tactical loads met with much better success, as the shotgun had been broken in a little. It accurately shot every ammo type I brought, including the Federal stuff it choked on before.
Overall, I liked my newest scattergun, despite its quirks. And I fully realize it isn’t for everyone. A pump offers a cheaper, less ammo finicky platform, while a gas gun has less recoil but can become fouled with use. This Beretta seems to fall dead in the middle, both in price and performance. The middle doesn’t seem like a bad place at all to be.
-LeadPumper
