Bought a beretta a400 xplor in 20 gauge with kick off. For some reason the gun jams when my wife shoots it but not when i shoot. Any ideas? Also, the ejection port doesnt lock back when i shoot all the shells in the gun. I have to manually pull the breech back to reload a shell in the chamber. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Your wifes' shoulder is not offering enough resistance for the shotgun to cycle, in my opinion.

Thats what i was thinking. What should i do just tell her to hold it tighter? Inbought it for her so it sucks if she cant shoot it. Any ideas on why the brrech isnt staying open after i empty the gun? I am shooting target loads instead of breaking it in so i wonder if that could be the problem.

Sell it to me....got $299 in my pocket!

I'm not familiar with the Beretta system. I mainly collect and hunt with older side by sides and stackbarrels. It sounds like the Beretta is a blowback system as opposed to gas system. The only blowback shotgun I can recall having, a Franchi, did the same thing you are describing. On THAT gun, if you were shooting low brass shells, there was a squeeze ring on the magazine tube that you could reverse to reduce the rearward force needed to cycle. Someone with Beretta experience needs to advise you.

Def need to get your wife to hold it tighter. Also may have something to do with the light loads + not holding it tight enough. Maybe not. With the new technology in shotguns allowing recoil to be half of what it used to be on older guns, it could be a breakin or lubtication issue. I have not held an xplorer but if its like my 390, it has a small button right in front of the trigger guard that you push when you load it. You should be able to push that button in and pull the breach back and it should lock in to place. If you push that button and it will not lock in to place, you could have a mechanical problem. It may not be designed that way. It could be something as simple as the parts(rings) in the for arm not put on the right way. I disassembled mine once to clean it. I thought I put it back together correctly until I went to shoot in tournament and found that it wouldn't eject not lock into place. Me and everyone I knew looked at it but I still ended up taking it to a gunsmith. If the gun was purchased new, before I carried it to someone I would at least call beretta and ask them about it. Good luck.

thanks. Before i first shot it this past weekend, i took the gun apart to clean it. I am wondering if when I did that I didn't do something correctly so that is why the breech won't lock into the open position once i shoot out all the shells.

thanks

When the magazine is empty, and you pull the bolt handle to the rear, does it stay locked open?

If so, put one high brass shell in the shotgun and shoot it. See if the bolt stays locked open. The crappy shells may not be pushing the bolt back quite far enough to make it lock open.

I have the same gun and havent had any issues so far. When you load the shells are you making sure they "click" into place? because I have noticed the Beretta being a little stiffer and if they arent set into place the first round will fire but it causes they upcooing round to jam in the chamber.

I am going to buy some high brass shells today and shoot it again this weekend. Yeah, I made sure she pushed the shells all the way in the magazine until it clicked. When I unloaded the gun by shooting it, sometimes the breech would lock back and sometimes it wouldnt so i am hoping some more powerful shells will get it to start doing that. The gun is great to shoot though if i can just get all this worked out. I would think her shooting a little more powerful shells will keep it from jamming as well.

If I'm not mistaken the beretta is a gas operating gun and not inertia driven,I've got a Franchi 912 variomax with the piston you described and it's also gas operated,my advice would be send it back to beretta and let them fix it or replace it,if I spend that kind of money on a gun I would be in contact with them trying to get the problem fixed.

Also I believe the Beretta has a break in of however many shots at a minimum load before it reccomends shooting lighter loads. I may be wrong.

Hey, Gobblebox. When I owned that Franchi, it was probably 1978 or 1979 and bought new then. It had a 32 inch barrel (yep,32) and fixed full choke. I remember the entire barrel racked to the rear when you fired it, if that is any indication of the action. You could actually unload it by manually racking the barrel back. Not saying it was safe to do so. Thanks for your reply on the Berettas. I really don't have a clue about that system.-Woody

give us an update on the gun... how do you like it? I am interested in one but would like some feedback

This is BS that it's happening period with this gun. It's the reason you pay more than a grand.