Description
The Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus in 20 gauge with Gore Optifade Timber, part number J42XN28, is the light-bore duck gun in the pattern built from vision research rather than from photographs. It is aimed at the hunter who works treelines and flooded timber and has concluded that a 12 gauge is more gun than the shots require.
This is the 28 inch build with a 3 inch chamber and three plus one capacity, on a Steelium Plus barrel with a stepped rib, a steel mid-bead, and a fiber optic front sight.
A 20 gauge that is not a compromise
The old objection to a 20 gauge duck gun was payload. Steel shot is light, and a 20 gauge hull does not hold much of it, so effective range fell off quickly. Tungsten alloy loads changed that: dense shot in a smaller payload patterns and penetrates comparably to a heavier steel load out of a 12.
What the smaller bore buys you is weight and recoil. This gun is easier to carry across a marsh, faster to bring onto a bird dropping through the trees, and far less punishing over a morning of shooting. Three rounds in the magazine rather than two is a useful bonus.
Optifade, recoil control, and cold weather controls
Optifade Timber is designed around how waterfowl actually resolve shapes and contrast, with micro and macro elements that break up the outline of a gun and an arm against a wooded background. Whether it beats a good blind is debatable; that it takes an edge off the one gun-shaped object in the scene is not.
Recoil is handled by the Blink gas action, the Kick-Off Mega stock with hydraulic dampers, and a soft comb, which on a 20 gauge borders on overkill in the best way. Controls are the full cold-weather set: enlarged loading port, extended charging handle, oversized bolt release, rubberized fore-end grip, reversible safety, and an adjustable shim system for drop and cast.
Specifications
- Model: Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus, Gore Optifade Timber, part number J42XN28
- Gauge: 20
- Chamber: 3 inches
- Capacity: 3+1 rounds
- Barrel length: 28 inches, Steelium Plus
- Rib: stepped with a steel mid-bead
- Sights: fiber optic front
- Action: semi-automatic, Blink gas system
- Chokes: extended Optima HP Black tubes
- Stock: Kick-Off Mega with a soft comb and an adjustable shim system
- Fore-end: rubberized grip panel
- Controls: enlarged loading port, extended charging handle, oversized bolt release, reversible safety
- Finish: Gore Optifade Timber
Why it is worth considering
- Real duck-gun capability in a bore that is easy to carry and easy to shoot.
- A camouflage pattern developed from research on how game animals see.
- Three rounds in the tube, one more than the 12 gauge builds carry.
- The same oversized cold-weather controls as the larger bore guns.
- Recoil management that makes a long morning genuinely comfortable.
Who it suits
This is for the timber duck hunter who values a light gun: shots over decoys, birds dropping through holes in the canopy, and a long walk in and out. It suits smaller-framed and younger hunters particularly well, and it is a sensible choice for an experienced hunter whose shoulder has opinions. Paired with a quality tungsten alloy load it is entirely adequate on ducks. Hunters shooting geese at distance, or anyone who wants 3.5 inch capability, should be looking at the 12 gauge builds instead.
Shells, chokes, and transfer notes
Shotshell dimensions and pressures are standardized by SAAMI, and the 3 inch chamber accepts both 2 3/4 and 3 inch 20 gauge shells. Federal law requires non-toxic shot for waterfowl, and this is where a 20 gauge asks you to spend: a quality tungsten alloy load does the work that a 12 gauge steel load does, and a budget 20 gauge steel load does not. Steel is safe through improved cylinder and modified extended tubes, never a tighter one not rated for it. For practice, 7/8 ounce lead target loads cycle fine and cost very little.
Hunters who prefer the old-growth bark pattern should compare the 20 gauge Mossy Oak Bottomland build, and anyone who needs 3.5 inch capability or more reach on geese should look at the 12 gauge Optifade version. Every long gun we sell ships to a licensed FFL for transfer and background check, and Pennsylvania buyers should plan on the state point of contact check at pickup.
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