What do you guys know about a Beretta Pintail shotgun.  I have an opportunity to get one NIB for the same price as a base model 11-87.  It sounds too good to pass up, but I wonder if there is anything about the model I should know first.

They use the same bolt as the Benelli SBE, and they are excellent shotguns. Similar to the SBE, except they are 3 inch only and the Beretta has a funky magazine disconnect, compared to the SBE. I have been hunting hard with a Pintail for 7 years or more and it has been an excellent gun. I bougt it instead of a SBE because I didn't need a 3.5 inch auto loader and the Pintail had better balance/feel than any other automatic I have ever looked at. I can remember one year, opening weekend for Pheasants was extremely dry and hot. All kinds of dirt/debris was blowing around and jamming up everyones guns. The only guns that didn't jam up and need to be cleaned were my Pintail and a friends SBE. I didn't clean my gun that weekend, as I never do....when I got home there was a pile of seeds/debris in the receiver which was all gummed up with oil. It was a great

opener and I fired around 75 shots without a hiccup. Everyone one of my friends who have seen my gun perform or hunted with it, have bought one. My best friend hunted with mine after I got "hurt" and promptly bought one of his own, as did my father. As a hunting shotgun, its light years a head of an 1187. After I got "hurt" I went two years without cleaning it and it still worked perfectly. My Pintail has NEVER failed me, even under the harshest of conditions. I was hunting in a blizzard when they had canceled work and closed the city, wind chill was around 80 below and visability was zero. Perfect day for a goose hunt.....anyhow, my 3.5 inch Mossberg froze up because of the blowing snow and wouldn't cycle properly. I broke out the Pintail and the Fioochi 3 inch T shot and limited out without incident. Considering how reliable my Mossberg had been, I thought I was in for it when it went down and wouldn't work.....My Beretta has never let me down and probably never will. If you have a chance to buy one, do it...you will not regret it. Unless you get the 24 inch barrel as its a little too short for pass shooting geese as my friend has found out.

ETA-The 390 is gas operated and is a completely different weapon than both the Pintail and Vitoria*old school Pintail*. The Beretta Pintail uses Benelli's recoil operated bolt. The operating system is nearly identical to that of the Benelli SBE, except for the magazine disconnect, which some people hate about this gun. If you were to manipulate the bolt with a shell in the chamber and 4 more in the magazine, the chambered shell would be ejected but another shell would not be ejected from the magazine upon the bolts return to battery. The Benelli has a provison for this, the Pintail does not. To empty the magazine on the Pintail, you must manipulate a button at the base of the magazine and manually eject the shells...which really isn't much of a burden, just takes some getting used too. I actually like it as I can remove the chambered shell and render me weapon "safe" which is great when you are getting in/out of trucks. This is the only "complaint" I have ever heard about the Pintail, that and its only 3 inch, not 3.5. This is really a small issue which I don't even notice and its certainly not a good reason to not purchase a Pintail.

Not to be smug, but money really isn't an option for me when it comes to my guns. I have owned a Gold Eagle and SBEII, Browning Gold 3.5 and a Franchi*which I still have and love* and I have always gone back to my Pintail. None of these other guns has been able to match the balance/feel of my beloved Beretta. Reliability/durability is second to none....these are great guns and I highly reccomend you buy this one, if the price is right.....

As above it is the Baretta equivalent of a Benelli M1 Super 90.  I know people who have them I've never heard any one say anything bad about a Pin Tail.  I would definitely buy that over an 11-87.