That gun is a perfect example of real innovation, that could have resulted in one of the best shotguns in the market. Unfortunately it was "killed" by over-engineering, and by engineers not listening to the right expert/shooters. I think Beretta should bring the 2.0 version.
The problem was already solves, about 150 years ago. Its called a over under double barrel. I'm guessing they wanted to save money by having the same but with a single barrel. Just get a pump.
Never heard of it, never seen one, none of my friends know of one. I love it! I really like the look of this enigmatic shooter. Looks like on overengineered concept but it looks great. Would not mind a few shots on it. Well done TGS team very informative and entertaining...
Kid I shot trap with back in highschool had one. Absolute unicorn gun, was extremely cool to see. Apparently was extremely common for his to be in the shop due to mechanical issues though so I doubt that the price tag is worth the cool factor vs the upkeep
Reminds me of the Ljutic space gun or the Browning Recoilless Or even the Browning Double auto. Gun before it's time or a gun made for societies with strict gun laws that limit the capacity of shotguns. I've never seen one in the US but I do enjoy different, some would say strange guns
Since it came up, there is a rule in American trap to prevent semiautos from throwing empties in a “distracting” manner. There’s also an American gun builder, Butler, that currently makes a two-shot, bottom-ejecting, “unsingle” semiauto that would be a fun review. Love the channel!
Looks worthy of consideration to me. I wonder if they considered making the opening lever swappable L/R. Side ejection and walking about with an unbroken gun are pet peeves of some shooters. They generally won't voice it to you publicly, but they will semi-anonymously in a forum. Although it lacks the break-open feature, the Butler is another autoloader with the barrel on the bottom.
My absolute favorite semi automatic. I can shoot it in any discipline, even Olympic Trap, and I love that it is a break open, which to me means it's much safer than the usual semi auto especially if you have a new shooter. As I am not a fan of recoil I can also shoot heavier loads than with any other gun.
@@Albrtd3 maybe safer in sense of easy visual confirmation that it is in an unshootable safe condition, so you know the other guy's gun is safe, similar to a break action.
Like it - I’ve never seen a break-open semi before, but can see it would stop the suspicious glances people using a “normal” semi-auto seem to get a clay grounds! Looks great as well.
@@mr.randomperson9900 Aversion to innovation is a reflex you'll find in literally every niche sport that's been around for long enough to develop its own "traditions".
this gun is VERY innovative, honestly love the idea and makes me think of how to make it more innovative, the system to insert the next shell makes me wonder if one could custom install something like Alof's Reloading system to the side to give it a larger "magazine" either way, think it's dope!
Just hold on a moment. I have one of these, the trap version, and totally love it. It is funky and odd I'll grant you but it is always a talking point and people who fire it say what I expect, that it is fun and easy to point and shoot. Oh and by the way they are very rare and prices are rising. The 'why' is a good question but I am glad they did. I bought mine for a very reasonable 1800 euros here in France nearly four years ago. It was and is like new and I have been asked to sell it many times over. The original price for my model back in 2008 was I think 7000 euros which was the main reason it died at the box office. I would hold you up on the claim that they are unreliable and some don't work. Mine is a 2009 model and I regularly put 24g and 28g shells through it. I have never, not once, never had a shell jam or the gun not cycle. Some people don't understand that the second shell on the outside must be pushed right forward into the cradle.
@@tgsoutdoors Yes wow. The kit it comes with and the box too are things of beauty and the materials of the gun are very high quality. When I shoot ball trap comps here I always get a crowd watching because the cycling of the second shell, as you know, is mega quick. My French shooting mate Daniel who is a left hander likes to borrow my UGB and nearly always shoots better with it than his 692. The bottom line is it is a Marmite gun but secretly I think a lot of people, when they see one, would love it in their collection. I do use mine sparingly and normally shoot a Browning Ultra XTR.
Yes that was the original retail price, that killed the gun more than anything else. That was just arrogance on Beretta’s part. They should have lowered the price, looked after the disgruntled customers and perfected the product and continued selling the gun. It would still be selling today.
the UGB was named after Ugo Gusali Beretta, which is why it had to work as they couldn't release a gun named after a member of the family and it not work, as soon as it did work then they stopped making it.
I almost bought one of these at auction a few months ago but got outbid. I still want one, just because I like odd and rare things and it's a cool piece of engineering.
Armalite had a 2 shot semi-auto shotgun in the mid-60s called the AR-17. The spokesman for it was Robert Stack because the AR-17 was marketed to skeet shooters.
I had the opportunity to shoot a friends UGB and it was a lovely gun to shoot. soft shooting and well balanced. Its as if someone at beretta had decided to make an auto that has none of the autos drawbacks---with the break barrel its easy to see its safe and the way it gently "poops" out the empties in front of you so no fear of pelting the next guy in the squad with your empties. Sadly his gun broke and there is pretty much no support for spares on these so instantly became a wall hanger.
You should find an old Browning Double Auto and test - it was not a break action gun, but the short inertia action and the second cartridge sitting on the side of the action is pretty similar. It was a much earlier gun off course
I worker for the New Zealand Beretta Agents when this gun first came out in prototype form . I enjoyed shooting DTL with it as I could stand with the shells in it and just close it like a under/over , not having to wait until it was my turn to shoot to put the shells in and not having to unload the unfired shell kept the rhythm of the squad moving nicely along . The problem was I only have 2 hands and taking the gun apart was just a confusion , then again it was a prototype .
Sorry for not commenting on this topic! I discovered your channel just a few weeks ago. I’m really into it. Being myself a forester in Germany you opened a door to a rather different culture of hunting and my boys and I really love the music you choose for your videos. Just one small note: I’d love to see more of the dog’s retrieving work. Owning terriers myself I’m considering getting a retriever myself since I seriously started hunting geese in my new additional hunting area. My shotgun came back to work at last.
I work at a trap/skeet range and one of our fairly regulars brings this with him and he was kind enough to let me shoot it. Ever since then I’ve been completely enamored with it
Interesting video I had a Browning Recoilless Trap Gun That was also a strange trap gun It tried to get rid of the recoil But mine had problems , so I sold it and went back to shooting my 686
I remember when these first came out and were in the Beretta booth at the larger shoots. Honestly, thought they were weird as hell. Never messed with them at the time. Having shot one of these and messed with it a bit since though, they are certainly both neat, and do shoot quite well. Sort of shockingly well actually. I don't think we got it to run 1 ounce light loads well unless it was really pulled in tight and lubed up. My 1 1/8 ounce light reloads seems to run fine. Factor 3 dram 1 1/8th ounce loads ran without an issue. Kinda sad they didn't make them for long, they are interesting and there part of me that likes having a weird gun at the range. Lord knows it sometimes gets boring seeing a rack of nothing but krieghoffs where I am at.
LOL I Just pictured the looks of disdain from Krieghoff and Perazzi shooters. I used to love putting my 11-87 Trap or Beretta 390 super trap next to 10-20,000 Dollar trap guns and watching their owners cringe.
@@richardsveum8452 Coming from someone who owned a Krieghoff, naw, the 390 and 391s were always pretty well regarded. I still look around hoping to stumble on a good deal on one for.... well reasons. Now, them goofy perazzi shooters, they might take offense at another pizza blaster being on the rack with their guns. lol.
I love the way it looks. A break-open semi-auto shotgun with a capacity of 1+1. It's mechanically interesting. The "magazine" is on the outside and you get to watch the shell move. Does it offer any sort of advantage over your conventional double-barrel? Not really. Pure novelty. Really cool. Feels video-gamey.
This has the same "what are they gonna do, call the cops?" energy of the Zip-22's very cool and not illegal underslung rail. Like this really feels like it was supposed to get a "aftermarket" drum mag.
I'm not a "gun guy." I have a few. 1911 .45 acp 12 gauge and a 9mm.. Basics. I've never felt the need to spend over 500 dollars for any firearm, as they are just tools. This is ART.
So glad you've reviewed this gun. Have wanted one ever since I see one at beretta world this year. Cool looking gun but was put off after seeing some bad reviews. Like all my gun purchases After seeing it in your hands and your honest reviews think I might actually pull the trigger on buying one when the right one comes along. Tyvm tgs. Keep em coming.
The trap version is far better being adjustable in every way also I was told it was renamed ultimate gun beretta after the 1st batch which I also owned failed 😀 now had 3 2 where absolutely fine still own 1
I think the point of that second round shelf-thing is that you load 2, fire one, reload the shelf, fire one, reload the shelf, and so on. Of course, when you're shooting clays, that feature is useless.
that is such a cool shotgun, it like when you buy a watch and chose one where you can see the cogs and spring on the back through the glass. i think this will be my first gun when the time comes, it so fascinating piece of engineering and that is part of the magic with guns
It's like Beretta wanted to make a more complex and fragile take on the Armalite AR-17, which also had extremely limited market appeal. Hell, and that wasn't even a break action.
So, it has a 1 round magazine on the side instead of the bottom in order to specifically regulate recoil and bottom eject. Just make the gas system variable or add different springs that can be dropped in. Use any ammo you want.
Definitely mechanically interesting. Also I don't see what you mean by military look. the m500 and M4 shotguns we had don't have barrels like that they are more simplistic and lightweight.
I like the concept, Ive never been any good at over unders because I just have so much trouble making that on the fly elevation adjustment. So this would be super nice
My 2009 model is still working well but requires extra attention around cleaning and light gun grease. I have never owned another gun that smashes clays like it, thats its best feature. Its worse feature is annoyingly small screws on the forend that keep working free, but it remains a keeper for sure.
Perfect gun for Countries that want to severely limit mag size for scary semi autos... Yes looking at you Mr Trudeau grrrr. This would skirt that nicely and no need for a mag plug when hunting. If the side load mag could've been extended for an extra shell then even better. I think it's kinda cool.
I handled one in about 2010, really liked the feel, i like interesting equipment , it's different, it works if used correctly apparently. Id have one as a second gun to shoot when I fancy a change for the day.
That’s one gun i’ve always wanted to try it would be great if Benelli or beretta could come up with a gun like this again with a conventional loading port in a 3 shot or more !
This gun was expressely made for clay shot, so it intentionally only had only two rounds, to have the masses very centred (no second barrel, no tubular magazine).
As someone who as only ever heard about guns I think for it's purpose it seems there is little need to use anything but the two barrel setup. mean if the shells stay in the gun until you pull them out you don't have to worry about them beeing ejected while shooting. Also the gun having a breach and a sideloading function adds too many moving parts.
@@tgsoutdoors The difficult constrution of the gun made the cleaning quite tricky. When you were shooting like 400 shots in a day, you really needed to clean your gun every day. I bought the gun just because I was mostly interested in the mecahnics, and I got it just for 600€. I didnt have the actual need for sporting shotgun, but for that price its (just a bit) better than Baikal IJ-18. The clay shooting was fun, but with Saga 24g trap shots it wasnt working as it should. It was fine gun with fine wood stocks and everything, but it wasnt a gun made for everyone.
I sold guns for a living for 15 years. This is the only gun I ever had to look at the manual to assemble out of the box. I honestly didn't have any idea what I was looking at. It is just that different.
As a guy who understands things like a low bore centerline, recoil impulse and paranoia at a shooting range, that could well have been a winner with a little more of an elegant exterior and some refinement. But it wasn’t going to impress anyone other than a top level competition shooter so it needed to be a top level design that was highly customizable for the end user and 100% reliable. The average recreational shooter isn’t likely to appreciate its potential benefits. Back before market share and profitability became everything, I think the right company could have made it a winner fifty years ago. Today it either needs to be elegant for the discriminating sportsman or tacticool and being a double shooter only, no chance the tacticool crowd is going to be interested
UGB actually stands for ugly gun Berretta. That being said I love mine. Great semi for left handed shooters. You soon get used to the release lever with either hand. Bought mine in 2013 and never had a problem with it. I shoot 10 sets of trap twice a week.
I mean, a tube mag does the same thing for cheaper. This looks cool though which is probably the selling point. I'd imagine this gun is also annoying to use during a trap league since you can't catch your shells and need to pick them up. A semi auto shell catcher for a normal gun is $10 but probably doesn't work on this thing.
thats true but for a left handed shooter a shell catcher is really a pain. even so, just getting a left handed gun would be more economical than this but I really like Ambi stuff
I wonder how much would it take to engineer and attach a contraption to the side that would feed new shells to that holder like a WW2 anti-aircraft gun.
Honestly seems like something you’d see in some near-future sci fi series. High-quality break-barrel sporting shotgun but instead of just being a double barrel its a semi-auto, purely for the sake of “because we can”
its basically a browning double auto with extra steps. I think the two design features that I like thee most are the bottom eject and the low bore axis. there arent any bottom eject auto loaders in common use today. I think Berretta fell into the trap trap a lot of designers fall into when trying to come up with a revelatory product, they went a few steps too far, and ended up with a very technically impressive failure. Its kinda sad it got the axe because I see a lot of potential.
Jonny thanks for the review. Having never seen much less shot one, I can only a comment based on you review. It looks like a Frankingun with a good disposition. Or a prototype that escaped the R&D department. I wonder how much of a pain it is to clean.
It's cool, but it seems like a solution looking for a problem. I'm sure there are other ways of implementing downward ejection. There are pumps that eject downwards.
Before everything,this gun is soooo unique,and it's sexy,inspite the fact that is heavy,and the unusual feeling,it's in the same category of feeling like the Chiappa Rhino revolver,wich is also an unique gun,the UGO needs to be fine tune into a race gun type of functionality,the greatest thing i can see is that you can load externally after each shot without breaking open until the night fall and beyond and still keep shooting that marvel until you run out of clays or shells,the weight and that coustomisable but pad looks sooo friendly to my flimsy shoulder,and i can belive i can also fast reload one shell on the side at every shot quite with ease,in the POV of a non experienced shotgun user,the system itself is indeed overengeneered but the low recoil and fast follow up shot possibility is just superb for a gun that peoples just don't understand,lucky those who got it and enjoy it ! Best wishes from Romania 😀
well it's only and sole purpose is clay shooting, and at that i think it's pretty darn great. low recoil, low weight from having a single barrel, ... pretty neat at what it's made for imho.
I searched this gun mid video hoping it would be cheap as an unpopular, discontinued gun but I was rudely surprised by a $4,000 price tag I can understand completely people being unhappy paying so much money for a gun to not work perfectly. If a $500 shotgun can run any shells you can find, one that costs thousands plural should definitely have a high degree of reliability.
I think the big issue with this gun is its more of a luxury at a resort type of gun, while simultaneously trying to market itself as an every weekend hunting type of gun