Hi all, few weeks back my FID finally came in and I've been given a probably 30 year old Beretta A301 12 gauge, 30 inch barrel. It had a little surface rust (i mean little) on the barrel which mostly came out with 0000 steel wool. On the actual tip, there was some black (more carbon) buildup that mostly came off. Inside barrel looks clean with 0 rust (it was in a case for all these years).

My question is, I want to start trap shooting, and this would make sense to use. Any suggestions before I go ahead and clean it (specific things to look for) or better to just take it to a gunsmith and have it looked over? It was put away "cleaned" but not a great cleaning job. 

Can't hurt to have a second set of eyes take a look at it. Best of luck with it. 

Beretta A301 is a solid gun. The bore on that barrel should be chrome-lined as well. 

 

Look at this schematic and make sure the forend and all the parts for the gas system are there and are installed correctly. (This will ensure it cycles properly when you shoot it.) These are soft shooters, and make great target guns. 

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufacturer/beretta/shotguns-beretta/a300

 

 

It's a pretty simple design. I would do a detailed strip/clean/assess and oil paying special attention to the gas ports and gas system. I would also replace the recoil spring since you probably don't know how many rounds the gun has seen with that spring.

After that, shoot it. See how it cycles, ejects, loads, fires etc. and replace parts as needed.

The only other thing is look at adding a limb-saver, the stock pads are not great, especially when they get that old.

14 minutes ago, Greg said:

It's a pretty simple design. I would do a detailed strip/clean/assess and oil paying special attention to the gas ports and gas system. I would also replace the recoil spring since you probably don't know how many rounds the gun has seen with that spring.

After that, shoot it. See how it cycles, ejects, loads, fires etc. and replace parts as needed.

The only other thing is look at adding a limb-saver, the stock pads are not great, especially when they get that old.

Thanks to all. So Tuesday night I took about an hour and tore down the easy parts (barrel, gas port and tubes, bolt and carrier, etc) As simple as a design it is, it was my first time so it took some learning and cursing to get the bolt slide out (trigger had been pulled so it was not coming out) and to sit back in properly - even the manual says it's got to be held a specific way. I know it's had less than 100 shots thru it.

I assembled and cleaned it, and it wasn't dirty at all. I'm going to go this weekend and run some shots thru it. 

http://www.berettaweb.com/Munuals/Beretta_mod_A301.pdf