So I’m currently reading Stressfire II By Mas Ayoob, and Mas talks a pretty good game about semi-auto combat shotguns. I’m not much of a shotgunner, and my go-to scatter-gun is a Mossberg 590 pump-action. I’m a fan of pump actions, but as I said, Mas really makes a good case for auto-loaders.
Now the wife has a Beretta Urika as a trap gun. I really like this gun, mechanically, and I love the ergonomics of it. Still this is a fowling piece, and a 28″ barrel is really going to hang you up in defensive shootings. Still the self-regulating gas-action on the gun makes a VERY sleek package, and the self-regulating action means that low-brass trap loads feed just as well as 3″ magnum loads do. And the gun does eat a bunch of recoil without being overly bulky and heavy.
Now wouldn’t it be awesome if Beretta made a riot gun out of that shotgun action? Well they do in the Tx4 Storm. Wanna see more?, Well I found this video.
The first thing that struck me was that messed-up loading system. The wife’s Urika runs like any other semi-auto out there, you can stoke up the mag, and run the charging handle to put the first round in the pipe. Her’s DOES have that funky button on the back of the elevator, but that simply engages the bolt catch manually so the next time the action is cycled the bolt locks back.
And what’s with the crazy unloading? For those who don’t know, the easiest and IMHO the safest way to unload a tube-fed shotgun is to open the action (on a semi-auto lock the bolt back, or simply hold it to the rear) then turn the gun on its side (be mindful of your muzzle) and dump the shell on the elevator either onto the ground or into your hand. Then close the action. At this point the chamber will be empty as you just pulled out the round in the chamber, as well as the round on the elevator that was “next up”. If you want you can do a quick press-check to verify the chamber is empty, but be careful as if you pull the bolt all the way back you will cycle the next round into the gun. With the chamber empty, and again the muzzle in a safe direction put your finger into the magazine and push the first round forward a fraction of an inch and feel around for the shell interrupter. It should feel like a spring-loaded nub. Push that out of the way and eject the round into your hand or on the ground. Repeat until the tube is empty, then cycle the gun and show clear.
Most shotguns allow you do do all of this with the safety engaged, which is also a good idea. Its a bit more complicated than unloading a detachable box-fed gun, but really not overly. And doesn’t require you to chamber and eject every round like some fixed-magazine guns. The risk is small, but every time you chamber and eject a round you run a small risk of a slam-fire, or a round going off in the ejection port. I’d just rather not do that.
Of course in the end Beretta notes that extended magazines are for military and law-enforcement only. According to Beretta this is because of Clinton’s Geroge HW Bush’s BS import laws, (Thanks Tam for the fact check!) and no word if you can get an after-market magazine, and frankly I don’t know the import laws well enough to know what’s legal and what isn’t.
Still all the workings of a really cool combat shotgun, messed up by people meddling with stuff that worked really well already.
BOOO!
Wow, thanks for the info, Weerd! Despite having owned a Mossberg 500 for nearly a year now, I thought the ONLY way to unload it was to pump-cycle each round into and then out of the chamber. If you hadn’t said anything I would kept on thinking that was the proper way to unload my shotty.
While I disagree that this is the easiest way, it’s certainly safer, and it reduces wear and tear on the shotshells.
Yep, with a mossberg 500 its very easy given that its a pump, and the way the shell elevator is designed. Just pull the slide back eject your chambered round and then dump the round on the elevator out the port. Then with the action closed pop the last rounds out of the tube.
The biggest problem with setting up an Italian shotgun is 922(r). My Benelli required the replacement of three factory parts with American-made ones to be legal over five rounds. Once I put on the replacement parts, it became a much more viable HD shotgun with seven in the tube, one on the elevator, and one in the chamber. I don’t see a whole lot of manufacturers out there making aftermarket Beretta parts because there isn’t much of a market, so I’d pass on buying one for an HD gun.
Yup, 922(r) will make all the desirable traits of this shotgun illegal to import (or even install, unless you replace the requisite number of foreign made parts with American made ones).
Then again, I’ve seen a number of Benelli shotguns outfitted with X-Rails and other items that make me wonder just how 922(r) compliant they actually are. Has the ATF ever actually prosecuted a 922(r) case?
IIRC no there has never been a 922(r) prosecution. But note I am not a firearms law expert, so don’t take your legal advice from me!
“According to Beretta this is because of Clinton’s BS import laws…”
It was Bush Sr’s executive order that messed up imported ‘assault weapons’. (And Bill Bennett was the driving force behind it.)
Presumably any pro-gun president could rescind it with the stroke of a pen, but we haven’t had any of those in a while.
Oops, my bad! Thanks for the correction. GW Bush did do some great things for gun rights (while fucking several other human rights squarely in the mouth) but really the 2A as a political issue is an odd one. Go back far enough, and the idea of banning guns was like people who talk about re-instating the prohibition of alcohol today. It was just foolishness, and it had been tried before and failed.
Then came the age of compliance where gun ownership turned mostly into sporting arms, and people really got serious about prohibiting the carry of guns.
Then came the active assault of our rights that culminated with the ’94 AWB.
We still have a long way to go!