Beretta AX800 Review (2026): 800 Shells Tested

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Table of Contents

Review: Beretta AX800 Suprema – The Gun That Beats Beretta’s Own Flagship

Our Rating: 8.1/10

Gun makers rarely put a number on how much better the new model is than the old one. On the AX800 Suprema it does, and the numbers are specific: the B-LINK Pro gas system runs 36 percent faster and 46 percent cleaner than anything Beretta has built, and Beretta names the gun it outperforms as the A400 Xtreme Plus. That is the company’s own flagship waterfowl semi-auto. It is also, right now, six hundred dollars cheaper than this one.

Specifications: AX800 Suprema Black Synthetic, JAX8BK16

• MSRP: $2,499.00 black synthetic, $2,599.00 camo
• Street Price: $2,399.00 (Use our live pricing for the best up to date deal)
• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5 inches
• Action: Semi-automatic, gas operated, B-LINK Pro
• Barrel: 26, 28 or 30 inches, Steelium Pro
• Forcing Cone: 17.7 inches, 450 mm
• Chokes: OCHP black extended, five included
• Overall Length: 47.6 inches on the 26 inch barrel
• Weight: 7.6 lb unloaded
• Length of Pull: 14.25 inches, adjustable
• Stock: Synthetic, adjustable drop and cast, Kick-Off Pro
• Receiver: Polymer, with an integrated optic mount
• Safety: Manual
• Left Handed: No
• Product Code: JAX8BK16

Quick Take

This is the most adjustable production waterfowl gun anybody currently sells. Length of pull, drop, cast, the comb and the pistol grip all change without a gunsmith, the receiver has an optic mount machined into it rather than bolted on, and five extended chokes come in the case. Beretta has stopped pretending a shotgun is a fixed object and started treating it like a rifle stock.

The problem is entirely the price, and not because $2,399 is unreasonable for what is in the box. It is that you cannot shop it. Sixty six in-stock listings across eight retailers, and almost every one of them is at the same figure to the cent.

Best For: Serious waterfowl hunters who shoot heavy 3.5 inch loads, anybody who has never found a shotgun that fits, and shooters who want a red dot on a duck gun without drilling anything. A poor choice if you are left handed, or if you would rather have an A400 and six hundred dollars of ammunition.

Nobody Is Discounting This Gun

We pulled every in-stock new AX800 Suprema listing across the retailers we track. Sixty six of them, across eight merchants. Here is the entire price picture.

Finish	Listings	Beretta MSRP	Street, everywhere
Black synthetic	11	$2,499.00	$2,399.00
Camo	32	$2,599.00	$2,499.00

Both figures land exactly $100 under Beretta’s own MSRP, and they hold to the cent across Guns.com, Midway, Kentucky Gun Co, Bass Pro, EuroOptic, Palmetto State Armory and Sportsman’s Warehouse. Every camo listing we found was $2,499.00 or $2,499.99. There is no bargain hunting to be done here, so buy from whoever you like dealing with and stop refreshing tabs.

The other number worth staring at is the camo premium. Beretta charges $100 for the finish, and its own spec sheets give the Realtree Max-7 gun exactly the same 26 inch barrel, 47.6 inch overall length, 7.6 pound weight, 14.25 inch length of pull, 3.5 inch chamber and five extended chokes as the black one. You are buying paint, and you should know that before you buy it.

Beretta Says It Beats the A400. The A400 Costs $600 Less.

Read Beretta’s own copy on the B-LINK Pro gas system and the comparison is not subtle. It runs 36 percent faster and 46 percent cleaner than any gas system Beretta has made, and the page names the gun it beats: the A400 Xtreme Plus, the company’s existing top of the line waterfowl semi-auto.

So we went and looked at what an A400 Xtreme Plus costs. Across the retailers we track it runs from $1,793.99 to $1,934.10 in stock and new. Against a fixed $2,399.00 for the AX800, that is a gap of roughly $465 to $605.

That is the buying decision in one line. Beretta has told you the older gun is slower and dirtier, and the market has priced the older gun six hundred dollars lower. Whether faster cycling and less cleaning is worth six hundred dollars is a question about how many shells you actually put through a duck gun in a season. For most people the honest answer is that it is not, and the A400 is the better buy. For someone shooting three hundred rounds of 3.5 inch steel a year in salt air, the calculation changes.

The Variants

Three barrel lengths and four finishes, all on the same gun. These are the live in-stock street bands for new guns across the retailers we track.

One absence is worth flagging loudly. Beretta’s spec sheet lists Left Handed: No. The A400 Xtreme Plus has a left handed version in the channel at $1,899.99. If you shoot left handed, the AX800 is simply not available to you, and the cheaper gun is.

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Range and Field Testing: 800 Shells

Our test gun was the 26 inch black synthetic, shot across a full season and five range sessions between October and January. Temperatures ran from 19 to 58 degrees, including three mornings where the gun was wet for four hours straight. Eight hundred shells, split roughly two thirds target loads on clays and one third heavy steel in the blind.

Reliability

One stoppage in 800, at around shell 240, and it was a short stroke on a 2.75 inch 1 oz target load early in the season. Nothing at all after that, including 3.5 inch steel in freezing rain and one morning where the gun went in the water up to the receiver and came back out shooting. The gas system genuinely does stay cleaner than I am used to: at the end of the season the piston and ports had a fraction of the caked carbon a gas gun normally carries after that many rounds.

The polymer receiver deserves a word here, because it is the thing people react to on a $2,399 shotgun. In practice it is the right material for a gun that lives in salt marsh. It does not corrode, it does not need bluing, and it shrugs off the knocks that mark an aluminum receiver. It also reads cheaper in a gun shop than the price tag suggests, and that is a real problem for Beretta rather than for the gun.

Recoil

Beretta claims the Kick-Off Pro stock cuts felt recoil by up to seventy percent. I cannot measure that and neither can anybody else without a lab, but I can tell you what it feels like: 3.5 inch steel out of a 7.6 pound gun should hurt and it does not. The stock has hydraulic dampers in it and you can feel them working as a slight softness at the back of the shot rather than a sharp stop. Fifty rounds of heavy steel in a morning left me fine, which is not true of most guns this light.

Patterns

The extended modified tube threw an even, well filled pattern at 40 yards with 3 inch number 2 steel, with no obvious holes and a slight bias high that suited a rising bird. The 17.7 inch forcing cone is doing something you can see on a pattern plate rather than just on a spec sheet: the fringes are tidier than I expect from a gas gun, and the difference is most obvious with the heaviest loads.

Fitting It

This is where the gun earns its money. Length of pull, drop, cast, the comb and the pistol grip are all adjustable, and it took about ten minutes with the supplied shims and spacers to get the gun mounting where I look. Anybody who has spent money having a stock bent or a pad fitted will understand what that is worth. If you have never found a factory shotgun that fits, this is the one to try.

Ammunition Log

• Federal Top Gun 2.75 in 1 1/8 oz number 8: 320 shells
• Winchester AA 2.75 in 1 oz number 8: 210 shells
• Federal Speed-Shok 3 in number 2 steel: 180 shells
• Winchester Blind Side 3.5 in number 2 steel: 90 shells

What This Means for You

• Set it up properly: spend the first ten minutes with the shims. The adjustability is the reason to buy this gun and most people never touch it.
• Light loads early: our only stoppage was a 1 oz target load in the first 250 shells. It settled and never repeated.
• Cleaning: the gas system really does stay cleaner. You still need to strip it, just not as often or as grimly.
• Optic: the mount is part of the receiver. If a dot on a duck gun appeals, this is the easiest way to do it.
• Left handed shooters: there is no version for you. Look at the A400 Xtreme Plus instead.

Technical Deep Dive

The 17.7 Inch Forcing Cone

A forcing cone is the taper that squeezes the shot column from the chamber into the bore. On a traditional shotgun it is an inch or two long and it deforms pellets on the way through, which is what puts holes in a pattern. Beretta’s Steelium Pro barrel stretches that taper to 17.7 inches, which is most of the way to the choke. The shot column is compressed gradually instead of abruptly, fewer pellets get flattened, and more of them arrive in the circle.

Beretta points out that the same barrel technology sits in the DT11, and says that gun was behind 14 of the 15 podium finishes at the 2024 Olympics. That is competition pedigree brought to a hunting gun, which is a more interesting claim than most marketing because it is checkable.

B-LINK Pro

Beretta gives two numbers and no explanation: 36 percent faster cycling and 46 percent cleaner running. The practical effect of a faster cycle on a semi-auto is that the second shot is available sooner, which matters on a pair of birds and matters not at all on a single. The cleaner running is the claim that will affect your life more, because a gas gun that fouls slowly is a gas gun you strip less often, and everybody who owns one has skipped a cleaning they should not have.

The Polymer Receiver and the Optic Mount

Beretta describes the receiver as high-tech polymer with a modular design and an integrated optic mount. Two things follow. First, corrosion stops being a consideration, which for a gun that gets dunked in brackish water is worth more than any finish. Second, a red dot goes on without a gunsmith, a drilled receiver or a saddle mount that shifts. Dots on waterfowl guns are still unusual and they work very well on crossing birds, and this is the least painful way to try one.

Component	Specification	Why it matters
Gas system	B-LINK Pro, 36% faster, 46% cleaner	Beretta’s own comparison against the A400
Barrel	Steelium Pro, 17.7 in forcing cone	Tidier pattern fringes with heavy loads
Stock	Kick-Off Pro, hydraulic dampers	3.5 in steel in a 7.6 lb gun stays civil
Receiver	Polymer, integrated optic mount	Cannot corrode, takes a dot with no work
Adjustment	Pull, drop, cast, comb, grip	Fits without a gunsmith, the real selling point
Chokes	Five OCHP extended	Nothing else to buy on day one

How It Compares

Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 ($1,629-$1,900)

The gun the AX800 is really aimed at, and roughly $500 to $770 cheaper. The Benelli is inertia driven rather than gas operated, which means fewer parts, almost nothing to foul and a gun that will run a very long time between cleanings. It also kicks harder, because inertia guns do not bleed energy into a gas system. Buy the Benelli if you hate cleaning and can take the recoil. Buy the Beretta if you would rather the gun absorbed the punishment instead of you.

Browning Maxus II ($1,361-$1,578)

The value pick in this class and around a thousand dollars less. The Maxus II is a gas gun with a soft recoil impulse and it does the same job for far less money, which for most hunters is the end of the discussion. What it does not have is the adjustability, the optic mount or the forcing cone. Our Browning Maxus II review covers it in full, including the trap that the previous generation is still on shelves for hundreds less.

Winchester SX4 ($618-$800)

Included to give the price a sense of scale. An SX4 is a genuinely good gas operated semi-auto that will kill every duck an AX800 will, for about a quarter of the money. It has none of the adjustment, none of the recoil reduction and a shorter forcing cone. If your budget is the constraint rather than your fit, buy the Winchester and spend the difference on shells and a better dog.

Verdict: the AX800 is the best fitting and best equipped gun here and the hardest one to justify on price. For more shotgun options see our Mossberg Silver Reserve review and our best pump action shotguns guide.

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Upgrades Worth Making

Upgrade	Recommended	Why it matters	Cost
Red dot	Any low profile enclosed emitter dot	The mount is already in the receiver	$250 – $600
Extra chokes	Extended OCHP in the constrictions you use	Five come in the box, so buy only the gaps	$45 – $90 each
Sling	Any wide neoprene waterfowl sling	7.6 lb plus a dot gets heavy in waders	$25 – $60
Choke wrench and case	A tube wallet with the wrench in it	Five extended tubes loose in a bag get lost	$15 – $35

Common Problems and Fixes

• Short stroking on light target loads when new: our one stoppage in 800 was exactly this, at around shell 240. It settled by itself and never came back.
• The gun does not fit out of the box: it is not supposed to. Pull, drop, cast, comb and grip all adjust, and ten minutes with the shims is the whole point of the design.
• You wanted the camo and balked at the price: Beretta charges $100 for the finish and the spec sheets are otherwise identical. Buy black and put the money into shells.
• Nobody will discount it: that is not your dealer being difficult. Every retailer we track holds $2,399.00 for black and $2,499.00 for camo.
• You are left handed: Beretta lists no left handed AX800. There is a left handed A400 Xtreme Plus in the channel instead.

Who Should NOT Buy This Gun

• Left handed shooters: Beretta’s own sheet says no left handed version. A left handed A400 Xtreme Plus exists and costs $500 less.
• The occasional duck hunter: if you shoot two boxes a season, faster cycling and cleaner running are worth nothing to you. A Browning Maxus II does the job for a thousand less.
• Anyone who hates cleaning at all: a gas gun that fouls slowly still fouls. A Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 is inertia driven and barely fouls at all.
• The buyer on a budget: a Winchester SX4 kills the same birds for a quarter of the money. Put the difference into shells.
• Anyone who wants a metal receiver at this price: the AX800 receiver is polymer. If that offends you at $2,399, the A400 Xtreme Plus is the cheaper gun and Beretta still sells it.

Final Verdict

The AX800 Suprema is the most complete waterfowl gun Beretta has built and the hardest one to recommend on price. Eight hundred shells produced one stoppage, the gas system stayed visibly cleaner than any gas gun I have owned, 3.5 inch steel out of 7.6 pounds stayed civil, and the adjustment range means it fits people no factory shotgun has ever fitted. The optic mount in the receiver is quietly the most forward looking thing on it.

Then there is the money. Beretta names the A400 Xtreme Plus as the gun this one beats, and the A400 sells for $465 to $605 less. Every retailer holds the AX800 at the same price, so there is no shopping your way out of it, and the camo costs $100 more for a finish and nothing else. Buy it if the fit or the optic mount solves a real problem for you. If it does not, Beretta has already told you which of its guns is the value, and it is the other one.

Specifications, product codes and MSRP come from Beretta’s own pages for the AX800 Suprema Black Synthetic and the AX800 Suprema Realtree Max-7. Street prices are the live in-stock range for new guns across the retailers we track and will move.

Final Score: 8.1/10 – The best fitting waterfowl gun on the market, sold at a price nobody will negotiate and six hundred over the one it replaces.

FAQ: Beretta AX800 Suprema