M4 vs 1301 for Bush bear defense?

Jdiep

Jdiep

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Both are on sale right now,

Looking for a just in case a bear came up to me while I wonder in the bush.

I was thinking to having a regular stock instead of pistol grip stock for either or since it's what I'm used too. Unless the pistol grip can offer something better like ergonomics.?

What yall think? I'll be running mostly slugs in it.
 
I’d pick the one that’s the cheapest sale price, they’re both great semi auto 12g’s. If I could physically handle them I’d pick the one that fit/shoulders or carry’s in the hand the best.

Ultimately I’d pick a quality pump action for an animal defense bush gun, they have less that can go wrong and cycle any load. Plus I’m more familiar with a pump if I have to deal with a malfunction etc etc.
 
how much are they on sale for and how does that compare to the new Mossberg 940 pro tac or turkey 18.5" models?, if you want to do a reflex sight look at the 940, they now run with the Italians on reliable(passed 500 round burn down), self cleaning gas systems (1500 round cleaning interval), fast cycling...Jerry Miculek competition fast, he runs these, and the reflex red dot site mounting is next level, the Italians will be copying that soon....it has my holosun eps at 1" over bore, that's 1" from center of sight to center of bore, no need to lift your head off stock or put something on stock to come up to the dot, it's right there

anyway, just don't want you to miss out on the new 940 pro now, it fits in the research cycle against the 2 top Italians and because of that red dot mounting and having every other feature hammered out from no pinch smooth loading, controls, tang safety etc. the 18.5" turkey pro 5-shot is about 7.0 lbs out of the box, I'd also rather neglect and rough treat a mossy than a 1301 lol...but the only second choice to me would be the 1301, I'm just a big reflex sight guy and mine is shooting 1.6"-2.1" ctc 3 shot groups with challenger slugs at 40 yards (I did 3 groups) easy with the 32 moa circle only reticle with Carlson IC extended choke
 
blakeyboy said:
how much are they on sale for and how does that compare to the new Mossberg 940 pro tac or turkey 18.5" models?, if you want to do a reflex sight look at the 940, they now run with the Italians on reliable(passed 500 round burn down), self cleaning gas systems (1500 round cleaning interval), fast cycling...Jerry Miculek competition fast, he runs these, and the reflex red dot site mounting is next level, the Italians will be copying that soon....it has my holosun eps at 1" over bore, that's 1" from center of sight to center of bore, no need to lift your head off stock or put something on stock to come up to the dot, it's right there

anyway, just don't want you to miss out on the new 940 pro now, it fits in the research cycle against the 2 top Italians and because of that red dot mounting and having every other feature hammered out from no pinch smooth loading, controls, tang safety etc. the 18.5" turkey pro 5-shot is about 7.0 lbs out of the box, I'd also rather neglect and rough treat a mossy than a 1301 lol...but the only second choice to me would be the 1301, I'm just a big reflex sight guy and mine is shooting 1.6"-2.1" ctc 3 shot groups with challenger slugs at 40 yards (I did 3 groups) easy with the 32 moa circle only reticle with Carlson IC extended choke
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Yoooo! What sight are you running? I'm looking for a circle reticle also, and did you zero it at 40 or 50 yards? Looking for slug ballistics data to find a good zero.
 
Beretta claims the 1301 will cycle 4 shots in under 1 second. If I were defending myself from a charging bear I think I'd go with whatever will cycle as many rounds as fast as possible. Beretta is conservative with their claim, when shooting our 1301s a couple of us have timed a best of 6 shots right at the 1 second mark

That being said, we weren't shooting slugs, so managing that type of shot string would take some getting used to.
 
I've found the M4 to be softer shooting, allowing better aimed followup shots. Having said that, both are excellent; if carrying any distance, then choosing the 1301 for weight savings makes sense.
 
Blakeyboy has some good points worth considering. I do have a 940 Pro Tactical with Holosun 507k circle dot. Lop is adjustable 12.5" to 14". Shoulders well and the optic cut out mount is great for a low riding red dot. Only about 325rds through it so far. Both regular Score slugs/buck and Challenger slugs/ buck no problems cycling. Score low recoil slugs and buck...about 1250fps....also cycle 100% no problem. Cycles FAST...shooter is weak link on what rate of of fire they can control ( just like on 1301 and A300 Ultimate).

I would still like to also get a 1301 just because, but the 940 has been no regrets and nice price point, and low optic mount feature.
 
Jdiep said:
Yoooo! What sight are you running? I'm looking for a circle reticle also, and did you zero it at 40 or 50 yards? Looking for slug ballistics data to find a good zero.
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eps green mrs reticle, it's actually the least astigmatism reticle I've yet looked through for aging eyes, green is less for me in general than red but I think maybe there's something to how close it mounts to face on the 940? it also gives you a huge fov that way and the full size eps meant for full size pistol frames...don't get the carry model for the compact pistols, you'll just end up with less fov and not as easy to find and hold reticle in window etc....it's got solar, all the modes, enclosed emitter...and it's got a lower deck height than the 407/507k holosuns which are also awesome but that means the dot is just a bit lower on the eps, the eps is the Cadillac option imo...

mrs is the 3 reticle choices, 2 moa dot, 32 moa circle or both together
 
Steiner said:
Blakeyboy has some good points worth considering. I do have a 940 Pro Tactical with Holosun 507k circle dot. Lop is adjustable 12.5" to 14". Shoulders well and the optic cut out mount is great for a low riding red dot. Only about 325rds through it so far. Both regular Score slugs/buck and Challenger slugs/ buck no problems cycling. Score low recoil slugs and buck...about 1250fps....also cycle 100% no problem. Cycles FAST...shooter is weak link on what rate of of fire they can control ( just like on 1301 and A300 Ultimate).
I would still like to also get a 1301 just because, but the 940 has been no regrets and nice price point, and low optic mount feature.
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and yeah, most guys can't utilize the speed of the 1301, so they'd never know it if was faster than the 940....

another poster posted good point about more weight in the m4 as keeping recoil less and follow ups faster, true, take your pick, carry the weight all the time, or deal with a bit more recoil and muzzle rise on the follow ups maybe slowing you down...I still think you'll be at least twice as fast with a light semi than any pump where you get no softening in the recoil pulse that you do from the gas guns

and when you run the max point blank calculators with a dot that's only 1" off center of bore...the trajectory is stupid flat, if the 18.5" is 1500 fps with those challenger slugs and actually with the Carlson extended IC choke it's now a 19.5" barrel....then 10 yard zero puts you about 2" high at 40 and far zero is 90 and your peak height through 50-60 is about 2.5"....then I think you're about 2.5" low at 110 yards....that's pretty rad imo, and there's a possibility I'm 25-35 fps slow on my guess for the velocity but I didn't have my chrony to be for sure....I don't need to, I know it will be anywhere from 7 to 10.5 fps per inch slower than the 1610 fps (30" standard) rating on the box and one guy here confirmed he got 1450 from I think it was a 14.5" barrel? which was about 10.6 fps per inch...but half the barrel length so I don't think it's a linear thing...I suspect on 19.5" it might be more like 8-9 fps per inch loss? it doesn't matter as I ran the max point blank with 1500-1535 fps and you won't notice a difference with same 10 yard zero, you maybe peak 2.3-2.4" through the high spot and far zero between 90-100 and 1.9" high at 40....same same for what we'd be shooting these slugs at

point is, that low of a mount for the low red dot is slicker than whale sh1t on an iceberg, deadly accurate, great cheek alignment without needing to add to the stock or lift head, I also like that you can use the 32 moa circle as a rangefinder quick, if its nothing but fur in the circle you're good to go, if you were trying to shoot a deer and only half of it was in the circle you'd know it was at 100 yards, at 25 yards it's an 8" circle, at 50 it's a 16" circle, at 75 it's a 24" circle and then 100 is 32"....I even mathed for a fun shot at a target or a coyote or beaver the bottom of the circle should be bang on for a 205 yard lob lol
 
Be sure to practice and become competent with the ammo you plan to use. Muscle memory is no joke.
 
I have never owned a 1301 but heard many great things, I love my M4 and have never had an issue with it. Both are great shotguns, I am not sure how many the 1301 can hold but with the Benelli M4 you can fit 8 total, 1 in the chamber, 1 ghost loaded, and 6 2 3/4 shells in the tube.
 
JasonGTA said:
I have never owned a 1301 but heard many great things, I love my M4 and have never had an issue with it. Both are great shotguns, I am not sure how many the 1301 can hold but with the Benelli M4 you can fit 8 total, 1 in the chamber, 1 ghost loaded, and 6 2 3/4 shells in the tube.
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8 for the Beretta in the same arrangement.
 
are we allowed 8 in a semi-auto?, I had in mind 5+1 is max, which may be possible if can ghost load the 5-shot 940's? 5 is enough though, that would be all you could hope to get off on a charging bear from 40 anyway. nice with the 940 I can fill big game tags, drop the plug pencil in for birds, drop it out for predator and big game hunting or defence work around camp, the 940 5-shot makes it all possible easily
 
blakeyboy said:
are we allowed 8 in a semi-auto?, I had in mind 5+1 is max, which may be possible if can ghost load the 5-shot 940's? 5 is enough though, that would be all you could hope to get off on a charging bear from 40 anyway. nice with the 940 I can fill big game tags, drop the plug pencil in for birds, drop it out for predator and big game hunting or defence work around camp, the 940 5-shot makes it all possible easily
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That's legal. Your allowed 5.9x 3" in the magazine tube which means 6x 2&3/4", plus one in the chamber, plus the ghost load.
 
I mean, given that the likelihood of you having to actually shoot a bear is essentially zero, I'd rather carry the lighter of the 2 guns. That and the pistol grip on the M4 is likely to just get in the way, the 1301s are a bit more streamlined for slinging/whatever.

blakeyboy said:
are we allowed 8 in a semi-auto?, I had in mind 5+1 is max, which may be possible if can ghost load the 5-shot 940's? 5 is enough though, that would be all you could hope to get off on a charging bear from 40 anyway. nice with the 940 I can fill big game tags, drop the plug pencil in for birds, drop it out for predator and big game hunting or defence work around camp, the 940 5-shot makes it all possible easily
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Max capacity for tube fed semi-auto shotguns is determined by the longest shell the gun is designed to fire. 5x 3" shells is 6x 2.75s, 5x 3.5" shells is 7x 2.75s. In a 3" gun, you can load 6x 2.75" shells in the tube, one in the chamber, and one ghost loaded for a total of 8. Same deal with a 3.5" gun gives you 9x 2.75" shells.
 
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