A friend of mine just bought one of these. It's his first shotgun,(took him skeet shooting for the first time in September, now he's got the bug) and I really like it. I may need another shotgun....

Seems like a lot of the comments got off topic...

I will say, I read this review a few weeks ago and decided to head out and buy the A300 on Presidents Day. I was so pumped for my first gun purchase and the relief that I can finally give my dad back his old pump action shotgun.

The day I bought it, I took it home read the owners manual cover to cover, put the gun together CORRECTLY and went out to the range. Right from the start to the 150th shell I shot, the gun would not eject the shells. I tried 5 different types of ammo and the range owner even came over to help me out. WE were both in disbelief at this gun not ejecting shells...

Anyhow, as much as I loved reading this review, my experience has been terrible. Beretta has since had me ship back the gun for free, but its been more than 2 weeks and the status still says waiting for inspection. Sorry to share the bad news, but so far, I am so disappointed with this gun. I sure hope they can get it fixed and firing correctly.

I don't even know why this happened. I love american made, but is the quality standards lower? Is this gun too new and needs more testing?? There must be a reason for this situation...

Thanks for reviewing a gun made in USA!

Yes, it's too bad someone can't develop a true tang safety for a working man's tubular magazine bird hunting gun. And I'm not talking about a safety on top of the receiver either. Those are no quicker to use than safety at the back of the trigger guard and they are probably somewhat more dangerous being exposed too easily to contact with brush, fences, jumping dogs, etc.

A safety at the front of the trigger guard is easier to disengage with the forefinger than one at the back because the finger is extended and flat as opposed to cocked. The power to apply pressure with the finger flexed at a right angle is generated in the finger and at the knuckle. When hands are cold it gets very difficult to produce any strength primarily from finger joints and secondarily at the knuckle. We all have experienced this. Just getting the keys into the door lock can be a challenge! And then there's negotiating the handle on fly zipper. Fortunately this usually (but not always!) doesn't have to be handled as expeditiously as getting off a shot at a fleeing bird.

A safety at the front of the trigger guard is disengaged by a finger that is extended and LOCKED nearly in the straight position. The power to disengage the safety is generated primarily at the knuckle and the wrist. These are larger less exposed joints that retain more heat and have more muscle mass than slender finger joints. Therefore, they retain more power reserves.

So, why is the safety of most modern pump/auto shotguns located at the rear of the trigger guard if it is about the least effective place to put it? The Winchester Model 12 was the premier working man's shotgun for fifty-one years until it was discontinued in 1963. This marvelously designed gun had the safety placed ahead of the trigger guard. In fact, this gun represented the pinnacle of shotgun design pretty much up until it was discontinued. When the Model 12 died so did the forward placement of the safety. The Remington 870 introduced in 1949 slowly supplanted the Model 12, more or less because it was a much cheaper (in every sense) gun. The 870 had a rear placed safety. To understand why it did requires an investigation into the history shotgun development in the 20th century. The 870 was an offshoot of the already introduced 11-48 auto which was an offshoot of the Remington Model 11 which was essentially John Browning's A-5. Each model utilized a rear-placed safety design. Browning's first attempt at a pump shotgun was the Winchester Model 97. It was a fairly reliable workhorse but was also an open hammer design, not the best for foul weather bird hunting! Browning’s second attempt, his first hammerless pump shotgun, was the Stevens Model 520 introduced in 1903 (also manf'd by Marlin, JC Higgins). It turned out to be perhaps his worst designed weapon. It was overly heavy and the action was anything but smooth. A real clunker. The safety was placed inside the trigger guard on the bottom of the receiver. It required pulling or pushing the safety lever forward or backwards. Pulling on a safety switch in the same direction and in the same vicinity as the trigger was obviously not a good plan! The Stevens 520 was a real dud from the time it was introduced. Browning was, however, already basking in the success of the Auto-5 introduced in 1900. As the first successfully produced automatic shotgun the A-5 could hardly have failed. It happened to utilize a rear trigger guard safety. Why? It is important to remember that this was Browning’s FIRST attempt at designing a shotgun safety that was not incorporated in an exposed hammer. Was it the best place to put it? Probably not, which is evidenced by Browning’s successive attempts to locate the safety somewhere else, i.e. first with the Stevens 520 (bad choice there!) and finally forward in the trigger guard of his finessed Winchester Model 12. The safety on the Browning A-5 was not redesigned even though he probably accepted that putting it at the back of the trigger guard was not the best location for it. The A-5 was, however, immensely successful for many other reasons. No point in messing with a good thing. In 1905 Remington picked up the A-5 patent for production in America as the Model 11, eventually discontinuing it in 1948 for the 11-48 auto which came out the following year. The 11-48 was another recoil operated automatic meant to mimic the A-5 but be much more cheaply produced. It is not surprising that the safety location was not changed. Wouldn’t have been much of a mimic of the Model 11 if they had relocated it. The 870 also introduced the same year was a pump that mimicked the 11-48 auto (mimicry of the auto and pump action models no doubt economized production of many parts that were similar, including the trigger guard and its safety). As mentioned earlier, the 870 eventually supplanted the Winchester Model 12 essentially because it was cheaper to produce. Winchester’s big mistake was not abandoning the Model 12 earlier for the el-cheapo Model 1200. By the time they did it was too late. Nothing could catch up to the “popularity” of the 870 … and its familiar rear-situated safety design. So, the present “favorable” location of shotgun safeties at the rear of the trigger guard is not one of sensible design but rather of inherited fortuitous circumstances dating to the very dawn of repeating shotgun development. It was force of habit that prevailed, not good design.

I was also incorrect in assuming that Browning designed the Model 12. It was designed by a Winchester engineer based in large part on Browning's hammered Model 1897 design. I'm really striking out today!

OH, did you mention that the older (much) Remington model 11's had a inside trigger guard safety? One almost never sees them anymore. Of the 3 model 11's in our family, one ( the 12 gauge) has the inside trigger guard safety. I (being a southpaw) used that gun for deer hunting as a teen for a while when my hated mossberg was stolen. My father was very strict about me keeping my finger outside the guard while hunting, and I never broke that rule.As a lefty shooting right-handed safeties all my life, I can say that the rear trigger set up is easier if you have big hands (I do), and the forward safe is the toughest, in that case I would switch it over to left-handed safe. The Marlin pump had the forward safety, kind of a imitation Winchester.

A300? I thought for a second it was an Airbus.

Owned a Beretta with front trigger guard safety, got used to it ok. However, the early, post WW II Browning A-5 front trigger guard is a real pain. I inherited my grandfather's 16 ga., and that safety is very difficult to move. You must push it forward for fire and back for safe, through the front of the trigger guard. If you insert your finger in the trigger guard and press forward, you must use your forearm strength to disengage it. Using your thumb is also awkward, but that works best. Either way you are in "intimately associated" with the trigger as you press the safety, certainly a safety factor.

The 870 has the action release at the front of the trigger guard, so an additional cross bolt safety wouldn't work there. Instead of a mod up front, they put a safety at the rear. Eh?