These were an earlier take on the current AL391 shotguns as far as I know, marketed through the 90's until the early 00's, although possibly longer.

They are thought by many to be Beretta's most reliable self loading shotgun and I'm certainly amazed at how well they run. No amount of filth, water or cold has stopped it, and it appears to have had thousands of cartridges through it before I acquired it.

Anyway, the shotgun itself is a little different in appearance to the usual. It has a walnut, Monte Carlo style stock which can be adjusted for LOP, drop and cast. The action is somewhat reminiscent of the Auto-5s "hump" shape. The fore-end has almost full length chequering and is long enough to accommodate pretty much any point of hold. The barrel has a full length trap rib which is fitted with a simple white bead.

This particular one has a 30" inch, multi-choke barrel which were two particular features I felt were essential for it's intended purpose. They seemed to be aimed at fulfilling a variety of roles, and whilst it might ostensibly seem better equipped towards hunting, it seems excellent for many forms of clay shooting.

The chamber is 3" inch, although it seems to have no issues with smaller length cartridges or even lower weights, such as 24gm loads. I generally use a 2.3/4" inch, 28gm cartridge; Eley Olympics specifically.

Bolt-hold open can be manually engaged via a button on the loading gate. The safety is a standard cross-bolt which is mounted in front of the trigger. The bolt-release is a standard one mounted on the R/H side of the receiver, towards the front. It also has a magazine stop which is fitted to the L/H of the action.

Field stripping is quite simple and works in a similar way to most shotguns, albeit with a few additional parts. I only lubricate the bolt-carrier, the rest of the action doesn't really require any. It gets fairly dirty, but it will run very well in spite of this.

Build quality is quite high, although the receiver appears to be aluminium/alloy, but given they are quite heavy, a steel receiver would probably have been a bit much. This one is quite battered and worn, but they are a nice looking shotgun if well maintained.

The action reduces the recoil quite well and has the usual, thick rubber Beretta recoil-pad. Muzzle climb is very minimal and it swings beautifully. It has improved my shooting immensely due to it being a good fit. I take no more battering from recoil due to poor fit.

Personally I think it's a nicer product than the current Beretta autos.
There can't be much else available that can come close in reliability; it certainly leaves Fabarms and Remingtons in the dust.

Thanks for reading.