Is anyone shooting a A400 Beretta 12ga Black edition sporting model? I'm looking for feedback Good, Bad, etc. What about the carbon rib?
Thanks

If you are going to spend that kind of $$ I would look at one of the Cole custom A400's. Most of the triggers on the A400's are pretty bad and need work anyway. You get a decent trigger on the Coles gun. A have a few A400's and 391's. The A400 has lots of plastic. I find the A400 action to be noisier than my 391. Coles has also just come out with custom wood with a redesigned butt stock and forend for the A400.

I’ve used on for about 8 months with about 6-7k rounds. No problem with the Carbon rib. I put a small pin drop of super glue on both sides of the roll pin. Rib looks cool and doesn’t show bluing wear or dents or dings like a steel rib will. No malfunctions. I bought the factory black because I didn’t want a ceracoated or dipped gun Which will show wear. The factory black only shows a tiny bit of wear around the ejection port. If you look at coles, find out If they are ceracoated blue guns or factory anodized black.

The 391 is a very different gun. Overall the action and feel is slimmer. Recoil may be a bit lighter on the 391. I like both.

Coles also puts a beveled edge on the loading port,much better bolt handle and action closer. They will allow you to build the gun as you wish. If you use steel head shells they will leave a mark on the port. Coles guns are Hydro Dipped. They can be painted over if you want to change colors. The big question is the A400 worth the investment over a 391? When you start going over 2k for a semi that's a question you might wish to consider. Beretta only gives you 3 chokes with the A400 gun.

When the carbon rib breaks, the whole barrel is junk. I do not see this gun making it 10-20-30 years without some type of structural issue regarding the rib. Pass. Hard.


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get an a400 xcel, and then get the receiver cerokoted black.........it's been well documented that the ribs have had problems. Some people have had problems, while others haven't.

I love my A400 xcel........great gun!

Do yourself a favor and order a blue A400 from Coles, and pay them to cerakote it any color that you want including black. If anything ever happens to that carbon fiber rib, you have a junk rib and barrel. I am the not so proud owner of 2 A391 barrels that have the removable ribs. They’re removable all right, they’re just not put-back-on-able to the point where they’ll stay on for more than a few shots. The little wings that hold the rib in place are shot, and no way to repair them. I realize it’s a different system than the A400 black edition, even still, Berettas track record with removable ribs isn’t the best and I don’t want to chance it. If you ever have an impact or tip-over type of accident that can damage a rib, a metal rib is almost always straighten-able, the carbon fiber will just shatter.

I can’t understand why Beretta would use carbon for a rib on a shotgun. It is a failure waiting to happen.

A friend owns one, and I have shot it some - nice gun.

Typical A400 trigger, i.e., it needs work to be usable. Cole's does a good job at a reasonable price.

In factory configuration the rib on my friend's gun "shot loose" about every 50 targets. He applied 58P's super glue fix, and that seemed to resolve the problem.

Carbon fiber does not like impact; otherwise, cannot comment on its durability, and I do not know if the rib is a replaceable part should it break.

Is the black edition worth the extra cost? That depends; like most things it's your money and your choice.

I don't own one but my friend does and I've shot with him many, many times. He has had no issues with his and the gun shoots virtually any load reliably (without any break in).

It's a very soft shooter, even with fairly hot ammo, great looking and doesn't cost a ton of money.

I do agree the A400's need trigger jobs but the factory trigger wasn't too bad.

Cole's version may indeed be worth a few more bucks. They polish the actions.

They do (did) sell replacement ribs for the Teknys, and there are a lot out there still in use. Haven’t heard of anyone breaking a carbon fiber rib. Benelli uses them on different models. Beretta is using them on the Black DT11, which is a $11k.

Brownells also advertises a replacement carbon fiber rib for the A400, out of stock.

most know here I'm one of the biggest Beretta fans out there, but even I question the carbon fiber rib..........poor design........and to the gentleman that said Brownells or Cole's or whatever shows them as "out of stock" what does that tell you..........people are needing them and buying them. Also as someone that owned a 391 Tenkys with a "removeable" rib, had it not been shot out.......and wouldn't stay tight anymore, I would have kept the gun.......my brother in law is a machinist and he tried to tighten the flaps, they broke, he then thought well hell I'll weld it.........that wouldn't even stay tight anymore.

Get an A400 xcel "blue magoo" get it cerokoted if you truly can't get over the blue.......which to me is one of the best blues and one of the best looking semi auto's out there. Then add on the bolt handle and the bolt release and then shoot the snot out of it.

To those recomending a new trigger for the a400 or a trigger job, I must be again one of the few that liked the stock trigger.

I bet if beretta just put a steel rib barrel on the black they would outsell the blue. Most dipped guns I have seen don’t hold up that great.

I thought the trigger on my new A400 was way to hard to pull.

I replaced it with a Cole trigger. So much better but it still isn't a Krieghoff trigger.

I handled a Cole A400 with the 'trigger job'.

I would not call it good but rather 'less bad'. And that's vs any o/u this side of Turk junk, not just vs a K80.

My Stock a400 has the exact same 4lb As my 391, but the 391 feels lighter.

The 391 and the A400 have different triggers. You can do more with the 391 trigger to smooth it out.