Description
The Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus in 12 gauge, part number J42XM16, is the 26 inch build finished in Gore Optifade Marsh with a Kick-Off stock. The chamber is 3.5 inches, so the gun handles everything from light target loads to the heaviest waterfowl shells without adjustment. Optifade Marsh is a designed pattern rather than a photographic one. It works on how a bird’s eye processes contrast at distance rather than on looking like a specific stand of grass, which is why it reads as pale tan and brown vertical strokes rather than as leaves.
The Xtreme Plus is Beretta’s dedicated waterfowl gun. Everything on it, from the coating to the oversized controls, exists because someone was standing in cold water with wet gloves on.
What the 3.5 inch chamber and the gas system do together
A 3.5 inch chamber is only useful if the action can cycle everything from a 2 3/4 inch target load to a 3.5 inch magnum without being adjusted. The Xtreme Plus gas system self regulates across that whole range.
That matters more than the maximum shell length. It means you can practise on cheap loads all summer and hunt on magnums in November with the same gun and no parts changes.
Beretta rates the action as the fastest cycling autoloader they build, and the practical version of that claim is a second shot that arrives while the bird is still in the same piece of sky.
A cross tube gas piston and a self cleaning design mean the gun tolerates being fired wet, muddy and unattended for a season, which is what waterfowl guns actually endure.
Kick-Off, and the cold weather details
Kick-Off is a pair of hydraulic dampers in the stock rather than a thicker recoil pad. Against 3.5 inch loads that is the difference between shooting a full box and stopping after twenty.
The controls are oversized throughout: bolt handle, bolt release and a reversible safety. All of them are usable in gloves, which is the whole point.
The fore-end has a rubberised grip panel, so the support hand holds on when the gun is wet.
The stock comes with an adjustable shim system, so drop and cast can be set to the shooter rather than lived with.
Specifications
- Model: Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus, part number J42XM16
- Gauge: 12
- Chamber: 3.5 inches
- Capacity: 2+1 rounds
- Barrel length: 26 inches
- Finish: Gore Optifade Marsh
- Stock: Kick-Off synthetic with adjustable shim system
- Rib: stepped, with steel mid bead
- Chokes: extended Optima-Choke HP Black
- Safety: oversized and reversible
- Action: semi-automatic, gas operated
Shotshell dimensions and pressures are standardized by SAAMI, and the 3.5 inch chamber accepts 2 3/4, 3 and 3.5 inch shells. Most hunters find 3 inch loads do everything they need and punish them less; the 3.5 inch capability is there for the days it is not enough. Rinse the gun with fresh water after a day in salt marsh whatever the coating says. For practice 2 3/4 inch target loads cycle reliably and cost a fraction of hunting shells.
The other Optifade build is the 26 inch Optifade Timber, the Max-7 guns are the 26 inch and 28 inch builds, and the plain synthetic version is the 26 inch black. Every long gun we sell ships to a licensed FFL for transfer.
Why it is worth considering
- A gas system that cycles 2 3/4 inch target loads and 3.5 inch magnums without adjustment.
- Kick-Off hydraulic dampers, which is what makes a box of 3.5 inch shells survivable.
- Oversized, reversible controls that work in gloves.
- A rubberised fore-end grip, for when the gun is wet.
- An adjustable shim system, so the stock is set to you rather than tolerated.
Who it suits
This suits a waterfowl hunter who shoots heavy loads in bad weather and wants a gun built for it rather than adapted to it. A clays shooter or an upland hunter is paying for durability and recoil reduction they will never call on, and should look at the A300 or the A400 Upland. Every long gun we sell ships to a licensed FFL for transfer.
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