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Beretta A400
- moderate
- Shop tier 2
- high confidence
- Shotgun
- semi auto shotgun
- gas operated
- fast cycling
- hunting
- choke tubes
field strip ~4 min · reassembly ~6 min · detail strip ~25 min
Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Beretta
- Origin
- Italy
- Category
- Shotgun
- Action
- Gas, short-stroke piston
- Calibers
- 12 gauge, 20 gauge
- Capacity
- 3+1 or 4+1 depending on configuration
- Production
- 2010–present (in-production)
- Also known as
- A400 Xplor, A400 Xtreme Plus, A300 (related)
Model-specific safety
- The A400 uses Beretta’s Blink gas system with a self-cleaning rotating bolt. It cycles very fast and handles a wide load range, but the gas piston and cylinder still foul and need periodic cleaning.
- The gas piston and its seals are orientation-sensitive.
- Unloading a tube magazine takes several cycles. Verify the chamber and the tube.
- Models with the Kick-Off recoil reduction system have hydraulic dampers in the stock. Those are sealed units and are not owner-serviceable.
- NEVER strip the spring of the gas valve or the valve retaining nut. Beretta states the valve device is self-cleaning and requires no maintenance; if something is wrong with it, that is a gunsmith's job.
Under spring tension
- Recoil spring in the stock tube
- Magazine tube spring
- Hammer spring
Easily lost parts
Gas piston and seals · Bolt handle · Trigger group pin
Tools
No tools required for the field strip.
Shop difficulty
Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among shotguns, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Gas gun with the recoil spring on the magazine tube (no buttstock tube to fight), a trigger plate that drops out on one pin, and a do-not-touch gas valve. The traps are moderate: bolt, rods, spring and piston stop stacked on the tube together, a trigger plate that needs the hammer cocked and the release held, orientation of gas parts, and the cocking-handle groove. Low Tier 2.
No sourced part count yet.
Bench time: about 45 min to strip, 60 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of bolt (cocking handle, head, firing pin), operating rods and recoil spring on the magazine tube, piston and seal, trigger plate and stock bolt; gas valve left alone.
What comes off for coating
- Barrel / gas: magazine cap, fore-end, barrel, piston and elastic piston seal (direction noted), piston stop, recoil spring, operating rods with sleeve
- Receiver: trigger plate retaining pin and trigger plate, breech bolt assembly, bolt release / carrier latch
- Bolt: cocking handle, bolt head and cam pin, firing pin retaining pin, firing pin and spring, extractor
- Trigger plate: hammer, sear, trigger and springs (only if coating the plate)
- Stock: recoil pad, stock bolt, spacers and drop/cast shims (Kick-Off unit left sealed) — long stock-bolt socket
Special tools
- Long stock-bolt socket on extension — Stock bolt
- Punch set — Trigger plate and bolt pins
Known pain points
- The trigger plate goes back only with the hammer cocked and safety on, the release button held down while the plate is rotated in, and the retaining pin inserted only when the holes are centred. (reassembly)
Source: Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta dam.beretta.com [1] — “Hold the release button down firmly and turn the trigger plate until it is inserted into the receiver (fig. 41).” - Breech bolt, operating rods with sleeve, recoil spring and piston stop are stacked on the magazine tube and pushed in together, which takes some juggling on a flat surface. (reassembly)
Source: Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta dam.beretta.com [1] — “fit the breech bolt assembly, operating rods with sleeve, recoil spring and piston stop on the magazine tube (fig. 42).” - The self-cleaning gas valve assembly must not be stripped; Beretta sends it to a gunsmith. (disassembly)
Source: Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta dam.beretta.com [1] — “NEVER DISASSEMBLE the valve assembly (fig. 32). If necessary, contact a competent gunsmith.”
Fit or check on rebuild
- Gas valve not disturbed — Beretta forbids disassembling the self-cleaning valve; leave it assembled and mask it.
Source: Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta dam.beretta.com [1] — “NEVER DISASSEMBLE the valve assembly (fig. 32). If necessary, contact a competent gunsmith.” - Stock drop/cast spacers returned as fitted — The spacer set determines the customer's fit; mark and refit them as removed.
- Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.
This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.
Procedures
Clear and Make Safe
Clear & Make Safe- Point the muzzle in a safe direction and keep your finger off the trigger.
- Engage the crossbolt safety.
- Pull the bolt handle rearward to eject any chambered shell and lock the bolt open.Removed at this step:
Chambered shell, if present - Cycle the action repeatedly, catching each shell as it ejects, until no more shells feed from the magazine tube.
- With the action open, inspect the chamber and look up the magazine tube with a light.WarningThe chamber AND the tube.
- Physically confirm the chamber is empty and remove all live ammunition from the work area.
Field Strip
Field Strip- Complete the Clear and Make Safe procedure, inspecting through the ejection port, the loading gate and the chamber. Check that the hammer is decocked.TipWork over a table. Beretta advises it so components are caught if they drop.
- Check that the carrier stop pin is pressed all the way down. If it is not, push it down.TipThis comes first, before anything is unscrewed. It is the step the generic shotgun procedure leaves out.
- Pull the breech bolt all the way back so that it stays open.
- Unscrew the front cap of the fore-end anticlockwise.Removed at this step:
Fore-end cap - Holding the shotgun by the barrel, pull the fore-end straight out toward the muzzle.Removed at this step:
Fore-end - Pull the barrel out of the stock and receiver assembly while holding the piston inside the gas cylinder.TipHold the piston as the barrel comes off, or it comes with it and lands on the floor.Removed at this step:
Barrel - Stop here for routine cleaning.WarningNEVER strip the spring of the gas valve or the valve retaining nut. Beretta states the valve device is self-cleaning and requires no maintenance; if something is wrong with it, that is a gunsmith's job.
Reassembly
Reassembly- Install the trigger group and its pin.
- Slide the bolt assembly into the receiver and install the bolt handle.
- Reinstall the gas piston and seals in their correct orientation.WarningReversed components will not seal.
- Seat the barrel fully and install the forend.
- Hand-tighten the magazine cap firmly.
- Cycle the action several times and perform the function check.
Breech bolt stripping
Detail StripBeretta's own procedure, needed only to clean the bolt's components.
- The breech bolt assembly only needs to come apart in order to clean its components. Beretta says so explicitly.
- Keeping the index or middle finger of your left hand on the cocking handle, press the release button and let the breech bolt move forward slowly until it stops.WarningControl it with a finger on the cocking handle. Letting it run forward is how parts get damaged.
- Press the head of the breech bolt until the groove on its neck lines up with the edge of the bolt body.TipThe cocking handle will not come out until that groove is aligned. If it feels immovable, the head is not pressed far enough.
- Keeping the head depressed in that position, pull the cocking handle out of the breech bolt — forcefully.Removed at this step:
Cocking handle - Working over a flat surface with the ejection port pointed upwards, pull forward on the breech bolt assembly, the operating rods with sleeve, the recoil spring and the spring holder together, to force the breech bolt out of the receiver.TipEjection port up, and all of it forward as one. This is not a rearward extraction.Removed at this step:
Breech bolt assemblyOperating rods with sleeveRecoil springSpring holder - If you also need the trigger plate out: engage the safety with the hammer cocked, press the carrier stop pin if it is not already pressed, drive out the trigger guard retaining pin with a pin punch or awl, and remove the trigger plate by pressing on the trigger guard toward the barrel first.TipBeretta notes the trigger plate only needs disassembly to clean the trigger mechanism.Removed at this step:
Trigger plate
Torque specifications
| Fastener | Torque | Sequence, notes and the source's words | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock retaining nut (13 mm) When changing stock drop and cast |
9–11 N·m 80–97 in-lb · 6.6–8.1 ft-lb |
Front and rear spacers must carry the same drop and cast values. Beretta gives this figure in the tools list for the drop-and-cast procedure, beside the 13 mm tube spanner that removes the stock retaining nut. “Torque wrench with a 13-mm pipe extension recommended. Tightness torque 9-11 N/m” |
Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta, p. 50 dam.beretta.com [1] |
Notes: From Beretta's semiautomatic shotgun user manual (A300, A350, A400, 1301), which prints the unit as "N/m"; in a torque specification that can only mean newton-metres.
Function check
- Verify the shotgun is unloaded — chamber and magazine tube — before each step.
- Cycle the action fully and confirm it locks closed.
- With the hammer cocked, engage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
- Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
- Load two dummy shells into the magazine and confirm they feed and eject one at a time.
- Confirm the magazine cap or takedown fastener is tight.
Maintenance
Lubrication points
- Bolt body and rotating bolt head lugs
- Magazine tube exterior
- Gas piston (light film)
- Hammer and sear pivots
Cleaning notes
Clean the gas ports, piston, and seals every few hundred rounds. Do not oil the gas area heavily. Clean choke tube threads whenever tubes come out and use choke grease — seized chokes are expensive.
Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 500 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.
Wear parts to inspect
Gas piston and seals · Recoil spring · Extractor · Choke tubes and threads
Common issues
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Short-stroking with light loads | Fouled gas system | Clean the gas ports, piston, and seals. |
| Choke tube seized | Threads left dirty and un-greased | Do not force it. A seized choke usually needs a gunsmith. see a gunsmith |
Also covers
The procedures above are reported to apply to: A400 Xplor, Xtreme, and Lite variants · Beretta A300 Outlander (related, simpler gas system). Verify against the manual for your specific model.
Similar manual of arms
Sourcing
- Confidence
- high — Cross-checked against a primary source such as the manufacturer's manual or an issuing military technical manual.
- Verification
- Checked against the manufacturer manual
- Last updated
- 2026-10-29
References
Every source this page draws on, with its web address so you can read it yourself. Numbers in brackets elsewhere on the page point here.
- [1] Beretta Semiautomatic Shotgun User Manual (A400, A350, 1301) — Beretta manufacturer manual primary source
https://dam.beretta.com/content/dam/beretta-usa/user-manuals/semiauto_Manual.pdf (checked 2026-09-15)
Notes: CORRECTED on 2026-09-15 against Beretta's semiautomatic shotgun manual, which covers the A400 directly. The entry was a generic gas-shotgun procedure and missed four things Beretta specifies: the carrier stop pin must be pressed all the way down before anything else, the breech bolt is pulled back and left open first, the fore-end pulls straight out toward the muzzle, and the piston must be held inside the gas cylinder as the barrel comes off. Bolt stripping is now Beretta's own sequence — the cocking handle only releases once the bolt head is pressed far enough for the groove on its neck to align with the edge of the bolt body. Added Beretta's instruction never to strip the gas valve spring or its retaining nut, which is self-cleaning and not user-serviceable. Rated medium pending confirmation of gas component arrangement against the factory manual for your model, which varies across the A400 family.