I picked one of these up recently, intending to use it as a defensive/combat competition gun. However, it won't operate with 2 3/4" shells! The bolt doesn't even begin to cycle with these. Works fine with high-brass 3" shells, but I'd sure prefer lighter loads for my purposes.

The Beretta website has a 2-page sheet on the 1201, that's clearly a defective .pdf file (it's 500 MBytes, but only two pages???). So they're no help.

Anyone know whether this is normal behavior for these guns? They were sold to police departments for years, and I can't imagine anyone choosing a defensive shotgun that won't operate with "normal" loads. So I'm assuming this is abnormal behavior. I haven't disassembled it; perhaps it's just dirty.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Pertinax

I owned a 1201 FB years ago and sold it because it would not cycle reloads very well but mine seem to shoot 2 3/4 new shells OK. Maybe try the Beretta website and see what they have to say. JB

The 1201 is actually a benelli. The benellis often do not function with light loads. My benelli functions with 3", 2 3/4" field and heavy target but not 2 3/4" light target. The gun is easy to take apart. A dirty gun is often the cause of an auto not working.