Neos Carbine Kit - pics and review

[chicharrones]

*Disclaimer - I can think of no logical reason to get this Neos carbine kit* :P

*Warning - This is long winded*

After owning and operating my 4.5" barrel Beretta Neos for two years, I lost my mind and bought the Neos Carbine Kit that was finally released in the US by Beretta early in 2010. I found my copy at Buds Guns this month for $219 before shipping, so it wasn't as pricey as it could have been. Granted, all you get for that money is a barrel assembly, stock assembly, and a little 4-way tool. You could get a whole rifle or pistol for that much money, but it wouldn't be a convertible Neos.

Putting together the Neos Carbine kit is easy enough, with a single bolt holding on the stock and a nut holding on the barrel. Exactly like the Neos pistol. Fully assembled, the overall length is just over 31". Broken down, the longest part is the barrel assembly at a bit over 20".

The barrel is 16.25" long with 13.375" of it covered in some sort of polymer. Inside the plastic barrel covering, the steel barrel has an outside diameter of 0.45" with the plastic covering diameter being approximately 0.75" with a flare at the muzzle of 0.98". Anyone familiar with certain air rifles (Gamo) will have seen a barrel like this before.

The forend and stock are a super hard polymer that is very rigid. The barrel covering is slightly different as is the butt plate piece. The weakest spot is the barrel mount with the same little thumb nut that holds on a pistol barrel. The barrel is wedged into the pistol frame when tightened up, but you can flex it if you grab the muzzle and force it. However, the barrel is very light and I don't intend on mounting a bayonet on this Neos Carbine!

For those that like peep sights this Carbine kit comes with a cheap but effective rear aperture, and the front sight is a neat little fiber optic that is dovetail mounted on a grooved ramp. That rear aperture is fairly close to your eye so it seems like a cross between a hunting aperture and a ghost ring even though the aperture diameter isn't overly large. I do like peep sights, and I can use these sights as well as any.

The pistol type controls are a bit funky when using the Carbine. The slide release is not on the correct side for a right hander and the magazine release makes me think I'm pushing a typical cross bolt safety on a rifle. I dropped a mag on the floor thinking I was using a different gun with a cross bolt safety. Oh well, the mag still works fine. The safeties above the hand are a bit less intrusive than they are when using this as a pistol. The stock must reposition your hand just a bit, or I just don't notice the safeties as much.

Shooting the Neos Carbine is fun and you can hit what you aim for pretty easily. The stock comb is high to the bore, so you wedge your cheek to the bone to see through the standard Beretta sights. Cheek position would change with an optic mounted on the top rail.

I only fired about 1/3 brick of ammo through it at close range today. It functioned as well as any Neos, which is typically flawless depending on the ammo. I never fired enough ammo at one time to get the barrel hot, so I wonder how the polymer would hold up to a smoldering barrel torture test. I do need to get outside to try this carbine at 50 yards and more. At close range it appears like it can do whatever you need it to do, though.

One thing that you have to be wary of is not crawling the stock with your head. You could possibly end up with a bruised cheek (or eye) from the slide during recoil. Beretta mounts a removable sticker on top of the stock comb to warn you of this possibility. The user's manual also mentions this and includes multiple legal warnings of mounting the stock with a pistol barrel in place.

If one were wanting to convert their Neos into a "survival" carbine, this Neos carbine should compare well to the Henry US Survival carbine or the Marlin Papoose. You can even stuff some ammo in the removable butt plate, I was able to fit 17 rounds in it with no trouble. This little gun fits me much better than the Henry though and I'm sure the Neos would sink if dropped in water, but so would the Papoose if it were out of its bag.

So far, I like this carbine conversion and it appears to be a keeper.


Here are the Beretta Neos Cabine Kit specs from the manual:
- Overall Length 31.25"
- Barrel Length 16.25"
- Overall Width 1.7"
- Overall Height 6.9"
- Sight Radius 18.9"
- Stock Drop 1.5"
- Length of Pull 14.0"
- Unloaded Weight w/ Magazine 3.8 lbs.

(temporarily added some pictures back in)

[45 Forever]

I like it better then the Neos alone. Kind of neat looking congrats.

[xstuntman]

Wow, thats pretty cool looking.

I wonder if they'll release it as a stand alone rifle?
I'd buy one to go with my Neos.

[Laker]

It is pretty cool. Reminds me of the Buckmark carbine. For the money, there are better deals on .22 rifles, which is the way I'd have gone.

[olfarhors]

He-he-he, just about the time i was thinking that no way could they make a weapon uglier than the Beretta neos they finally come out with the carbine!-LOL
thats an accurate lil bugger though!
as mentioned if you were going camping this thing going along would be a good ticket.
the regular neos in a holster for day carry, and if you wanted to hunt a few rabbitts or squirrels in the afternoon, presto chango and you got a rifle.
I see from the pictures my idea of putting that friont sight on one of my regular neos isn't going to work!
Let us know how it does after few outings and at a more range setting and targets.
One thing for sure now you got a pistol and a rifle thats about as easy to clean and strip down as anything out there.

[chicharrones]

Let us know how it does after few outings and at a more range setting and targets.

Will do.

I went to an outdoor range this afternoon and fired the Neos at 50 yards and 100 yards. I went with my usual co-worker shootin' buddy and he brought his favorite .22 rifle which happens to be a plain Ruger 10/22 carbine with a scope mounted on top. We both took turns with each others guns, which is what it is all about when shootin' with friends.

Today, I put Winchester Power Point 40 grain and Remington Golden Bullet 36 grain through the bore. The Remington was flawless in function but a tad less accurate than the Winchester. The Winchester had four feed jams out of 100, which was due to the more triangular and wider nose than the Remington. Both were hollow point loads.

I did find a glitch with the Neos Carbine kit, which was with the rear sight. I could adjust elevation, but the windage screw is stuck so hard I bent the Beretta 4-way tool, and I broke the tip off a small screwdriver trying to adjust it. Amazingly, the windage sight screw remains undamaged, just stuck. I didn't think about it until tonight, but I could have drifted the front sight to make the windage adjustment.

As set from the factory, the windage is off about 1-1/2" to the right at 50 yards. I got by today by holding some Kentucky windage to make up for it. Shooting was fun though, especially since my targets lost their grip with the upper left clothes pins. The breeze would blow over the top of the target, then the wind would subside allowing the stiffness of the target paper to bring the target back into view. Pausing to wait for the target to cooperate made the afternoon more interesting.

Shooting at 100 yards was doable but the groups stank. The front fiber optic sight covers the 6" green circle at that distance. The Neos Carbine will need optics to be a 100 yard gun. As it stands with the aperture sight, it is a great 50 yard gun. I do have a red dot I will move over to the Neos Carbine for the next outing.

50 yard target with 10 rounds of the Remington and 10 rounds of the Winchester.

(temporarily added some pictures back in)

[chicharrones]

For the money, there are better deals on .22 rifles, which is the way I'd have gone.

No doubt, that is the wise way to go. Like the $110.00 brand new Remington Model 5 I bought my daughter last summer.

[Iashoot]

See you have it laid out with a tape measure , looks to be a 16' barrel with out the stock ?

[MilProGuy]

That's one snazzy-lookin' rig!

Congratulations, and thanks for the report and pics.

[olfarhors]

Chich, Don't know if you read the range report about he Blue Neos that i picked up and the rear sight?
I was shooting off bench and bags to set the sights the first time, so I shot a 5 shot group, moved the sight, well anyway i did this about 5-6 times and the groups stayed in the same hole.
so Finally I said this ain't working, took the rear sight blade completely out and found a big old burr inside the tube where the rear sight slides.
I was moving the alignment screw but the blade wasn't moving.
took a small screwdriver and poped the burr out.
It then adjusted just fine.
Not sure how the rear sight setup is on the carbine but thought i would mention this.
Thats actually a pretty good group with a new gun and open sights at 50 yards.
you need a pretty fine fron sight when you start getting out that distance or you cover up the target.