Beretta 1201 FP

The Beretta 1201 FP is a semiautomatic shotgun developed by the Italian arms manufacturing company Pietro Beretta. There are two versions of the gun, which are the 1201F, designed for hunting and sporting, and the 1201FP, created for the law enforcement. This gun is said to be similar to the Benelli M1 Super 90 shotgun, with similar recoil-operated semiautomatic action. It has 12 gauge or 3inch 76mm chamber and it is: 520 mm long. Unloaded it weighed 2.85 kg

The action is operated using the gun recoil and inertia of the moving parts. It has huge bolt carrier or body, in which the bolt is set and fixed to it by the locking pin. This allows the bolt head to simultaneously move forward and back and rotate. The inertia spring is inserted between the bold body and head. The recoil spring is located in the buttstock, pressing the bolt body forward through the connection at the back.

The locking lugs of the bolt head are connected with the barrel when the bolt is in the battery to lock it. The head is held in forwards by the inertia spring which is pressing on the both bolt body and head.

As soon as the gun is fired, it recoils, on the shooters shoulder. However the inertia of the bolt body causes a resistance to the recoil movement. Now the bolt head that is locked firmly with the barrel and the rest of the gun moves back. The compressed inertia rotates to unlock, as the head locking pin is connected to the cam slot in the bolt body. Once enough rotation is achieved the bolt head is unlocked form the barrel and the remaining pressure of the barrel pushes the bolt head back. The bolt body is also pushed back against the recoil spring, prevailing over the bolt body inertia. The reload cycle starts of once again, after the elimination of the spent case the fresh round is chambered. Once again the bolt group returns into the battery, and the whole cycle begins again. This also means that the gun has much fewer moving parts, increasing its reliability. But the whole system is mechanically very simple and has few moving parts, resulting in high reliability and easy production and maintenance.

The 1201FP designed for the law enforcement was designed with long lasting polymer furniture and stock. It could have a ghost-ring or large aperture diopter. It could even have open rifle-type rear sights, and with the blade front sight.

The Beretta 1201 was basically an upgrade over the Beretta 1200.