Beretta 1301

The Beretta 1301 is a gas-operated semi-automatic shotgun introduced in 2014 in two distinct lines: the 1301 Tactical, aimed at law enforcement and defensive use, and the 1301 Competition, built for practical shooting sports such as multigun and IPSC. It is derived from Beretta's A400 series and succeeds the earlier and commercially unsuccessful Tx4 Storm, which had suffered from a high price tag; the 1301 addressed this with cost savings such as polymer rather than machined rear sights and rail, at the same time as adding an enlarged polymer charging handle and an oversized bolt release lever.

The action uses Beretta's annular gas system, taken from the A400 Xtreme, in which the gas piston rides around the outside of the magazine tube rather than at its end. This allows a longer magazine tube to pass through the gas system and so a higher shell capacity than a conventional layout permits. All 1301 barrels are backbored to .732 inch to reduce muzzle rise and improve patterning, and most use Beretta's proprietary Optimachoke-HP constriction system; the LE model and the earliest Tactical guns instead have a fixed cylinder bore.

The Tactical line has been revised repeatedly. The Gen 2 of 2018 reprofiled the bolt release lever, whose rear portion doubles as a magazine ejection button and could cause double feeds if struck accidentally, and replaced the polymer top rail with aluminium for durability under heavier optics. The 1301 Tactical LE of 2021 combines a fixed cylinder or improved cylinder choke with a seven-round extended magazine tube secured by a barrel clamp carrying integrated QD sling mounts. The Gen 2 Enhanced adopted that seven-round tube as standard, and the Mod.2 of 2024 added an M-Lok forend, a semi-flat competition trigger and the Pro Elevator, which raises the shell lifter automatically once the bolt closes. Factory colours include black, flat dark earth, olive drab and grey, and any Tactical model can be ordered with a Mesa Tactical Urbino pistol-grip stock.

The Competition line is built on the A400 Xtreme receiver with longer loading and ejection ports to speed reloading, and uses 21 or 24 inch barrels with a bead sight. Its Gen 2 revision of 2018 moved the serial number to the rear of the loading port so that gunsmiths could enlarge the port without defacing the markings, and enlarged the port from the factory. The 1301 is widely regarded as the principal competitor to the Benelli M4 in the tactical semi-automatic shotgun market, while being priced closer to the cheaper Benelli M2.