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The Beretta Gods smiled upon us! Some 1201 goodness inside... Login/Join 
Now Serving 7.62
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Received mine today, thanks Austin!
 
Posts: 5999 | Location: TN | Registered: February 12, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Got mine today too. Just got finished installing the Mesa Urbino stock, Nordic charging handle, and Taran safety.



I had planned to put a BFG VCAS sling on it, like I have on my other long guns, but I tried it and it doesn't really work well having the front sling attachment all the way out at the end of the magazine tube. I'm going to play around with it some more, to see if I can find a configuration that works. But for the time being, it'll be slingless.

I'm also going to ponder how best to attach a light. I'm thinking I might be able to attach a small rail section to the polymer handguard.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Hmm...

These were supposed to have 6 round tubes.

I've also read where the Beretta 1201FP can be "ghost loaded" (with a shell floating on the lifter) for 6+1+1. I was looking forward to 8 rounds total.

Unfortunately, it appears that partway through production, Beretta switched to crimped 5 round tubes. My 1201FP is one of the later ones with a 5 round tube. The 6th shell only goes in about halfway.

In addition, partway through production Beretta/Benelli modified their bolt carriers to prevent ghost loading.

So my 1201FP is strictly 5+1 only.

Has anyone gotten one with the older 6 round tube and/or the ability to ghost load?
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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I've ordered a replacement bolt carrier from a parts seller, which is supposed to be the old style without the modification to prevent ghost loading.

That'll get me to 5+1+1.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Now Serving 7.62
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Nice Rogue. I wasn’t aware of the Taran safety. I like it. Have a Dave’s Metal Works CH on the way. I may try one of the Taran CH as well. Is the Urbino shorter than a standard Benelli stock? Those are just too long for me. I’ll check the magazine capacity and ghost loading ability tomorrow and get back. Taking it to the range and try to run Remington low recoil 00 buck and slugs at the range.
 
Posts: 5999 | Location: TN | Registered: February 12, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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quote:
Originally posted by 10X-Shooter:
I wasn’t aware of the Taran safety. I like it.


It's great, in several ways.

It's much quicker and easier to disengage than stock. It provides immediate tactile feedback that the safety is on when you reach for the trigger, and can be easily snapped off with the second knuckle of the trigger finger.

The triangular shape perfectly fits the Benelli/Beretta trigger guard, and looks better than the rounded ones.

And while most only come in black, this one also comes in gray/silver. I got the silver to match the other controls on the 1201FP (and all the scuffs on the aluminum Big Grin).

Removal of the stock safety is simple, though a bit fiddly. It only takes a few minutes, but requires two punches and two to three hands. If you can assemble an AR lower, you can swap the safety.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
For real?
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Looks great!
Mine is at my FFL. Waiting for my never to ship Brownells P365 preorder to ship to him so I only have to make one trip.



Not minority enough!
 
Posts: 7990 | Location: Cleveland, OH | Registered: August 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
You're going to feel
a little pressure...
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Mine is at the FFL, too.

Does anyone have a good source for maintenance parts, for these? Springs, extractors, firing pins and the like? I'd also like more information about the differences in the bolts re: ghost loading.

Thanks!

Bruce






"The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams

“It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free."
-Niccolo Machiavelli

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken
 
Posts: 4245 | Location: AK-49 | Registered: October 06, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Midwest Gun Parts has some 1201 parts, but they're pricey. Some Benelli M1 parts will work, but I don't know what all is totally interchangeable.

When my spare bolt carrier gets in, I'll post some comparison shots and provide some more details on the ghost loading issue. Basically, the newer bolt carriers have an extra notch on the underside that interacts with a lever on the trigger pack/lifter and causes the bolt to fail to go fully forward if you try to ghost load a shell. Many of the Benelli M-series bolts are the same way, so there's info out there on the web, but most is in regards to the Benelli models.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Now Serving 7.62
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Took mine to the range and it was flawless, even with 2 3/4” light load bird shot, low recoil 00 buck and low recoil slugs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 10X-Shooter,
 
Posts: 5999 | Location: TN | Registered: February 12, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Here's my quick-and-dirty look at the Beretta 1201's bolt carrier and the issue with "ghost loading".

As mentioned earlier, partway through production Beretta modified their magazine tubes and bolt carriers to make the 1201 strictly 5+1.

Earlier 1201s has 6 round tubes, and could have an extra shell "ghost loaded", where it rode on the lifter outside the magazine tube, under the bolt carrier.

The method of doing so was to pull the bolt about 2/3rds of the way back, press a shell down into the lifter, then drop another shell in the chamber and allow the bolt to close on the chambered shell, riding over the shell on the lifter. That allowed early 1201s to hold 6+1+1, for a total capacity of 8.

The early bolt I ordered arrived today. Below is a comparison shot, with the older bolt on the left and newer bolt on the right. The important difference is the extra half-cylindrical cutout in the lower right of the newer bolt.



That cutout interacts with the black "finger" on the side of the shell lifter on the trigger group:




If a shell is "ghost loaded" on the lifter, the lifter doesn't have any extra room to travel as the bolt goes forward. As a result, the bolt carrier is held back by the finger wedged in this notch, and cannot go all the way forward to chamber the shell that's been dropped in the chamber.

However, with my 1201FP and the older bolt carrier, the bolt can close as normal when I ghost load an extra shell on the lifter, since there's no additional notch to catch. My magazine tube is still limited to 5, but I can at least now get 5+1+1.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Now Serving 7.62
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Do you know if the mag tube is pressed in or screwed in?
 
Posts: 5999 | Location: TN | Registered: February 12, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Screwed in.

(Likely accompanied by copious amounts of high-strength threadlocker, like the Benellis.)

 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Now Serving 7.62
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Thanks. Copious is troubling. I think I might give it some minor effort just shy of Fugging it up and see if I can’t get it off for a different mag tube. If not, no biggie.
 
Posts: 5999 | Location: TN | Registered: February 12, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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There's no real info online specific to 1201s, but I'd recommend reading up on methods to remove a Benelli magazine tube.

It usually involves a heat gun (basically a very high-powered hair dryer) applied for ~10 minutes to the base of the magazine tube, to help release the heavy duty threadlocker.

What are you planning to replace it with? Do you have a line on a different 1201 magazine tube?

Reportedly, you can use Benelli M1 or M2 magazine tubes, but you need a corresponding M1 or M2 barrel and foreend. And consider you're looking at ~$500+ for a barrel (when you can find one), $100+ for a factory tube (plus the additional cost of an extension), and $100+ for a foreend, it's not really worth the cost to go that route.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I finally found the time to pick up the shotguns I ordered. I was wondering if anyone plans to do any refinishing on them...mainly the receivers. Anyone ever use alumi hyde from Brownells and have any pics? Seems like a good budget option. I'm open to other ideas as well. Thanks
 
Posts: 791 | Location: PA | Registered: June 15, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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I'm digging the weathered look. Especially since the worn areas are silver, so it kinda matches the overall "black with silver accents" theme.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
For real?
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Anyone know if a Benelli bolt will fit?

Whenever I pick up the Beretta, I'll take it to work and see if I can swap in a bolt from one of our M1 Super 90s.



Not minority enough!
 
Posts: 7990 | Location: Cleveland, OH | Registered: August 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Online anecdotes state that they should work.

And just eyeballing photos online, they look pretty much identical.

But I don't have one handy to try out.
 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
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Meant to post these the other day. Here are some helpful disassembly photos I found online.






 
Posts: 32411 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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