Beretta A400 Solo

The A400 Solo slots into the Beretta lineup between the A300 Ultima and the A400 Xtreme Plus, and it is built to be the one gun that can handle a little bit of everything. Clays on Saturday, roosters in October, or morning in the duck blind when the season opens.

The obvious question is how it stacks up against the A400 Xtreme Plus, and the short version is that the Xtreme Plus was built as a waterfowl gun first. The Solo was built to cover more ground for several hundred dollars less.

Here is what the Solo actually gets you, and where Beretta trimmed to hit the price.

• MSRP: $1,549 (black synthetic), $1,649 (camo finishes)
• Operation: Gas-operated, B-Link Pro system
• Available Gauges: 12 gauge only
• Barrel Length Options: 26, 28, and 30 inch
• Chamber Size: 3 inch
• Weight: 7.5 lbs per Beretta. Our 28-inch test gun weighed 7 lbs 11 oz
• Length of Pull: 14 3/8 inch, adjustable with spacers (included)
• Stock: Shim-adjustable drop (55/60 or 50/65)
• Trigger: Redesigned trigger group and housing. We measured a 3 lbs 9.8 oz trigger pull on the scale
• Chokes: Three OptimaChoke HP Extended black tubes (Full, Modified, Improved Cylinder)
• Extras: Aerospace-grade aluminum receiver, optic-ready and drilled and tapped, B-Lok magazine cap, Kick-Off Plus recoil reduction, B-Uffer recoil pad, 7x7mm medium stepped rib with brass mid bead and fiber optic front, reversible enhanced safety, shim kit, gun oil, and choke wrench in the box. Available in black synthetic and seven camo patterns

Ergonomics

Start at the back. The B-Uffer recoil pad is cut away up top so it shoulders quick and does not snag on a jacket, which matters more than people think when a rooster comes up sideways. It is a little harder than some of Beretta's other pads, and we would guess that is on purpose for a crossover gun.

Move forward and you hit the Kick-Off Plus system in the stock. Beretta's Kick-Off naming can get confusing, so here is the simple version. The standard Kick-Off has two recoil dampeners, the Plus adds the soft comb, and the Mega system on the Xtreme Plus and AX800 stack up to 70 percent reduction. The Solo's Kick-Off Plus is rated at up to 40 percent.

The grip is where this gun looks nothing like the rest of the A400 family. The texturing is aggressive and the cuts are modern, almost tactical. It feels great in the hands, though we will say if your hands slide at all you had better have some callouses on them.

The trigger group has been redesigned and it is very close to what Beretta put on the AX800. Big crossbolt safety on the front of the trigger guard, and it is reversible for lefties. Some crossbolt safeties are a fight to find. This one is easy to press and easy to locate without looking.

There is a large bolt release, nice cutouts around the loading port, and a slightly oversized charging handle. Wear whatever gloves you want, you will still get in there. The top of the receiver is cut, drilled, and tapped, so it is optic ready right out of the box.

The forend carries the same aggressive texturing and it narrows as it moves up top. It is not as chunky in the hands as the Xtreme Plus, and we liked the ergonomics here better. What you do not get is the rubber overmolding that we love on the Xtreme Plus. That is one of the places the price came out.

Up top is a 7x7mm medium stepped rib with a brass mid bead and a fiber optic front. The Steelium barrel runs a unique 80mm double forcing cone, which Beretta says smooths out shot transition for more consistent patterns. Balance sits nicely between the hands.

Recoil and Reliability

This is where a crossover gun either earns the name or does not. Beretta says the B-Link Pro gas system runs 36 percent faster and 46 percent cleaner than what came before it, and that it will cycle everything from light target loads to heavy magnums. Worth noting, the Solo shares B-Link Pro with the flagship AX800, while the pricier Xtreme Plus runs B-Link Plus.

We started light. Federal Top Gun, 1 ounce at 1,250 feet per second, three dram equivalent. Ran three straight through it with no hesitation and it felt good doing it.

Then we dropped down further to Federal Top Gun 1 1/8 ounce at 1,145 feet per second, a 2 3/4 dram equivalent. That is about as light as it gets and the Solo cycled it without a hiccup.

Then we did what we always do and shot it upside down over our head. It sounds ridiculous, and it kind of is, but the point is real. If your gun is dirty or the conditions are ugly, will it still cycle? This one did.

Recoil with the light stuff is excellent. Not quite as soft as the Xtreme Plus, which makes sense given the Kick-Off Mega system in that gun, but you can feel the Kick-Off Plus compress and do its job. Very little muzzle jump.

Then we went heavy. Federal Prairie Storm, 1 1/4 ounce at 1,330 feet per second. We have shot a lot of Prairie Storm and out of certain guns it will beat you up. This one handled it noticeably better than we expected.

Last up, waterfowl loads at 1 1/4 ounce and 1,450 feet per second. We were shocked at how well the Solo handled these heavier loads. Here is the part that impressed us most: this gun feels consistently good across the entire range. Plenty of shotguns feel great with target loads and then turn mean the second you load pheasant or duck loads. This one does not.

Want even less recoil? We love the FalconStrike recoil reduction systems.

Breakdown / Quality of Build

This is one of our favorite things about the whole A400 platform. The B-Lok magazine cap comes off with a 60-degree rotation, and that is it. If every shotgun on the market had this cap, we would get hours of our life back.

Barrel and forend come off, and then the bolt is connected to the recoil spring up front. To get the charging handle out, you depress the rotating bolt head, feel it click, and pull. It takes one time to learn and then it is second nature.

The trigger group is a one-pin design. Punch the pin, the group drops out, and cleaning is simple. Everything we could see looked clean and the tolerances feel tight.

We will be straight with you: we do not have a high round count through this gun yet, so we cannot speak to long-term durability. What we can say is that it comes apart easily, goes back together easily, and everything feels solid.

One honest gripe. Adjusting the drop with the shims is a project. You pull the recoil pad, remove a plastic insert held in by about five screws, slide the whole Kick-Off system out to reach a metal plate, swap the plate and the shim, then put it all back together. It goes back together beautifully, but it's not as easy as most.

Shooting Experience

We had the gun set up to fit us, with the length extended and the drop reduced, and it pointed exactly where we wanted it to.

To see how fast it really is, we threw true pairs and shot them as quickly as we could. It is a fast gun. And a big part of what makes it fast is the combo between the fast gas system and the low recoil from the Kick-Off Plus. Muzzle jump is minimal, the gun settles quickly, and getting to the second bird is easy.

We liked how it moved, we liked how it handled recoil, and we liked how it came back to us after every shot.

Final Thoughts

Beretta set out to build a gun that does a little bit of everything, and we think they pulled it off. The Solo cycles light target loads, eats heavy waterfowl loads, and feels good doing both.

The compromises are real but reasonable. You give up the rubber overmolding, the Kick-Off system is not their most advanced, and you are limited to a 3-inch chamber. What you get in return is the same B-Link Pro gas system found in Beretta's flagship, a sub-4-pound trigger, and a gun that shoots well across the board for several hundred dollars less than the Xtreme Plus.

This one has a real shot at making our best of list this fall. Well done, Beretta.

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