Unless the 1301 has an extended non-forked loading gate, you are going to chew you fingers up. The VM is essentially a benelli m4. The patent expired and rem started producing the VM.
When I strip my VM and my SBE2, the benelli has a nicer chrome finish on everything, but the parts are very similar. I did notice that the SBE2 is lighter, especially the bolt. So if you're not shooting light loads, I'd recommend an M2.
The 1301 gets great reviews, but it's gas system looks similar to a Moss berg 930. Not that there's anything wrong with either, but I prefer the VM and M4 gas system.