Beretta 1201FP...After All These Years...?

[JNewell]

I just read almost every post here on the 1201FP. It's not a gun you hear much about any more...I know they were discontinued several years back. You also don't see them for sale much. Do they suffer by comparison with the Benellis today? (They didn't back when they were still in production.) If you shoot one, are you still happy with it?

Any chance of getting longer barrels with choke tubes these days?

Thanks!

 

[B.D. Turner]

I had a 1200 which is the exact same gun but with 2 3/4 chamber. The 1201 can shoot 3" shells. I bought mine at a bargan with hopes of finding a longer barrel. I never found a longer barrel after over two years of looking. They shoot great and kick a good bit but never a problem. If you want something to dress up go with something else.

 

[axeman_g]

I had a 1201FP and it is one of those, I regret selling guns. It was a good shooter and ate all ammo from OOO to light bird rs. It did seem to kick a bit, but after more exerience with 12g OOO I realized it was an accpetable level of felt recoil.

I used it to hunt grouse once, it did help me take one, but it gave me a fit or "sporting" or not. I used all three shells as quickly as possible to basically mow out a rhodedendron thicket as the bird flushed over my setter, in the process almost accidentally hitting the bird. After that I swore off firepower in bird hunting and go for shot placement.

But, that is off topic. The 1201fp is a very nice gun, there are no accessories to be found, although you might find a 1200 barrel for it someday. It is a great tactical shotgun, and is very reliable.

There are other choices that might work better for you if you like accesories and such. The saiga is a GREAT shottgun if you want firepower. The Mossberg 930s, Stoger M2000s, all the usual pumps etc etc.

 

[rallyhound]

cdnn will sell you a pistol grip stock for it for $29.00

 

[BigG]

I have one. They are excellent shotguns. The felt recoil with a light weight recoil operated shotgun is more than with a heavier gun or a gas operated shotgun. Perhaps that is why they are out of favor?

 

[rklessdriver]

I had one (bought it from HOPLITE I think for $533.00 NIB) and sold it a few years ago. Regreted the heck out of selling it, but I needed the money for another whim of mine and the 1201 was IMO cheap and would be easy to replace as they were everywhere in the Shotgun News for pennies (if I'd only known).

After a few years I decided I needed a new auto loading shotgun but couldn't find a 1201FP for sale anywhere. Looked at replacing it with a new Rem 1100 Practical/Tactical or maybe an FN SLP. Then I saw a LNIB 1201FP with rifle sights right down the street from me for sale on Gun Broker. I was down there faster than heck to look it over. Sure enough LNIB. $635.00 later I took it home. I will never sell this one.

It does kick a bit harder than the gas operated guns. But it's a bit lighter and for some reason it just points right for me. No adjusting when I pick it up, or when I aim in. I throw it up and the sights lay together perfectly on the target. Its a great Gun. Not perfect but still a great gun. Too bad they stopped importing them.
Will

 

[Husker1911]

Choate used to offer a full length pistol grip stock for the 1201. I had the fortune to order one, way back when. It makes an already excellent shotgun into a desirable platform. Oh, that's an oversized bolt handle that was offered by Brownell's at the same time period.

 

[berettashotgun]

They kick a little hard, have both & love them.
The Vittoria/Pintail/ES100 is a MUCH better HD platform IMHO it has much lower felt recoil, the pintail with slug barrel/receiver is the all time LOWEST felt recoil with slugs I have ever shot in any shotgun. But it is a lot heavier than the 1200/1 fp in all fairness.
All that said, a 1201fp is on one side of the bed and a 1200fp is on the other side. Both loaded with #4 hevishot (1.5oz 1250fps) and slugs.Good day...
I personally don't think the benelli hurt the 1200 series sales, recoil operated shotguns appear to belong under another Beretta company banner - Benelli; Beretta semi autos have been traditionally gas operated.
The Beretta Inc. decision makers have made a bad call on not pushing the pintail much harder, but it did directly compete with the Benelli's.

 

[Acera]

Ok, I really like my 1201 FP. It is the first gun available if needed in a emergency. These guns are not gas operated, so they rely on recoil and tend to kick a little harder than the gas guns I shoot. They seem to be a little finicky with cycling when you do not have a firm grip, and using light loads. One other problem I ran into was that the barrel is too thin to add a choke tube, hence why the door buster is not installed in the third picture (boy I really wanted that to work). One positive you don't find on many other shotguns is that aluminum tube between the forestock and the retaining nut, you can drill and tap a rail into it. I (my gunsmith) used a length of sight base, and tapped and epoxied in screws to hold the base, then I added a light. It works great, and was not that expensive. A whole lot cheaper than buying one of those stocks that have the lights already installed for 870's. No problems with muzzle blast affecting the light, but I usually take it off when at the range. Sorry for the dark pictures.....

 

[CWL]

I still have my 1201fp, use it for training & it is my main SD/HD shotgun.

It was discontinued the same time Benelli was awarded the Military M4 contract. If you hold the 2 together as I've had, you will notice that the receivers appear identical except for the rail on the M4. My personal belief is that Benelli is using the same tooling to make M4s nowadays.