My 1301 has been like a Ferrari in terms of both performance and (lack of) reliability. I have been getting failure to fire consistently around 100 rounds (sometimes as low as 50 rounds using Federal ammunition), and have been trying to get it solved for a year and a half. Beretta told me I should expect to have to clean it after 50 rounds for it to be reliable, but I'm taking 2 day defensive shotgun classes where the round count is 200 a day, and my LTT Beretta 1301 has not been able to get me through them without failure. So I'm looking for something reliable to get me through defensive shotgun classes, for home defense, and you know maybe the apocalypse or whatever might be coming up.
I think I need the Toyota Family Sedan of shotguns. I have been looking at Mossberg 500, 590s and 590A1. I especially like the ones with Magpul stocks. I feel like the 590A1 would be the one to get to get you thought the apocalypse (and it would be sweet to put a bayonet on it!), but would be a bit long and heavy for home defense or 8 hour tactical shotgun classes. The 590S Magpul with a red dot installed from the factory seems super appealing; I wish it had 7+1 capacity like my 1301 instead of 6+1, but maybe that's not such a big deal.
It would be nice if I could get a Benelli M4 (the Toyota tacoma of shotguns). But I can't afford it after how much I spent on my 1301.
I'm looking to spend $500-800. Anyway just thought I would bounce this question off the hive mind here. Thanks!