Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon 12 Gauge 30 Barrel Reviews
Its basic design has been effectually since the 1950s but the Silverish Pigeon is still the redundancy of pick for many. When Michael Yardley got the hazard to try one recently, he refused to give it back
Testing the Beretta Silver Pigeon 30in 12-diameter came about every bit a happy accident for Michael Yardley, and ended in a purchase.
For more on Beretta, read Michael Yardley'south review of the Beretta 486 Parallelo EL.
BERETTA SILVER Dove 30IN 12-BORE
This month's gun examination came nigh past happy accident. I was in friend Neville Chapman's gun shop when a pair of nearly new Beretta Silver Pigeon 30in 12-bore guns arrived. Many experienced shots brought up with best English language guns at present keep a pair – or single base-form Beretta or Browning/Miroku – as support (as some likewise go for Spanish workhorses). I know of many cases, moreover, where people ended upward favouring the less expensive imports over the heirlooms and shoot with them all the fourth dimension. This is nothing to worry about. In normal use, they're almost indestructible; there are fewer concerns well-nigh what cartridges may be put through them or if they will break even when "hammered" with heavy loads. They can be useful for summertime clays, as well, and work well in hide or on marsh.
Returning to our test, when I picked upward one of these base of operations-grade Berettas, it genuinely impressed. It was a bit front end heavy and quite low in the comb (Beretta needs to alter its standard driblet measurements for field guns) but form and end were first-class and the view downward the ventilated 6mm rib suited, too. The simply significant negative was that the slimmish grip lacked depth forward (and thus did not ballast the rear paw quite as efficiently every bit it might). All the same, weighing in at 7½lb with a indicate of rest near one inch or so forward of the swivel-pins, the gun felt both pointable and steady. It inspired confidence and I asked if I might borrow it.
Handling a lot of guns, you acquire to pick upward subtle variations and while they are peradventure less obvious in the products of Beretta than others, they do be, particularly with regard to woodwork. This gun felt specially expert, all the more so in do-anything 30in, 6mm rib guise (one of the biggest sellers). You see so many Berettas at shooting schools and elsewhere for a reason. They usually shoot well and are boringly reliable; they are made from excellent materials, even in the base grades. They continue to work fifty-fifty when severely driveling. If they break – which is rare – or if they wear, they are easy to fix (and backed up past an excellent guarantee and a superb Britain-based workshop). Most of the bearing surfaces are replaceable. Silver Dove hinge-pins, for example, have three over-sizes available and the conical locking bolts that emerge from the action confront, 2.
The barrels are monobloc, 3in-chambered and made from chrome moly steel.
The blueprint is excellent in all departments. The low-profile activity is smart with bang-up curlicue engraving (recently updated) and a matt nickel finish. The mechanics have been refined over the past threescore years since the original model 55 – the forerunner to the 600 series – was first introduced after the 2d Globe War. Not much has changed as the gun evolved, save that coil springs now power the hammer and gas vents have disappeared from the action confront (the latest, and slightly more expensive, 690s take more significant modifications, including dissimilar barrel shoulders and ejectors and an alloy fore-end iron).
The barrels on the test gun are monobloc and made from chrome moly steel. They are as tough as whatsoever yet produced with 3in (76mm) chambers that will happily manage shorter 2½in (65mm) and ii¾in (70mm) loads as well. They bear Italian proof marks (Beretta has a co-operative of the Italian Proof House in its Gardonne factory). The affluent-plumbing equipment interchangeable chokes are of the older, shorter, "Mobil" pattern but entirely satisfactory. Like most multi-chokes there can exist some gas leak between the choke and the barrel wall if y'all don't keep them tight (this should exist checked regularly in whatever interchangeable choked gun). The bores are quite tight at xviii.4mm though well suited at this diameter for fibre-wadded cartridges. The narrow ventilated rib is well suited to the gun although a solid pattern would work well, also, provided no weight was added.
TECHNICAL
The Silver Pigeon is a trigger-plate design, every bit are all Beretta 600 serial guns (they are not properly termed a boxlock as the works are not within the box of the action). The low profile is made possible by trunnion hinging and bifurcated barrel lumps. The guns are a development of the mechanically and aesthetically similar 50 serial guns, which start appeared in the 1950s.
In the Beretta museum in Brescia, one can see that the business firm made a precise copy of a 12-bore Boss in 1933 and offered its own Boss-inspired sidelock "SO" in 1934. The non-sidelock ASE, visually an Then with the locks cut off, came earlier the 2nd World State of war (and evolved into the modern DT10s and 11s). At that place is as well an experimental, rather spartan, sidelock 20-diameter in the Beretta museum made during the war with an "ERGAL" (aluminium alloy) activity. Probably a evolution of the Then/ASE projection, it besides looks much like the 500 and 600 series guns but with sidelocks. This is the missing link.
SHOOTING IMPRESSIONS
Beretta Silver Pigeons commonly shoot well and this one was no exception. Handling might have been improved by an ounce of lead in the stock but the Silver Pigeon however performed above its pay grade. I struggled to miss anything. A single rise bird escaped, which might be explained past the excessive driblet at heel (2½in on the test gun; 2⅛in would be a ameliorate shelf measurement). Apart from the shallow depth grip, you would struggle to fault this gun. Overall weight was about correct for a machine-made over-and-under. Trigger pulls were better than expected; recoil with the usual Lyalvale Express 24g and 28g HV was not unpleasant. Lesser line? I bought the gun. I volition raise and weight the stock and manipulate with the schnabel beak to the fore-end. Shooters tin can only exist delighted that Silver Pigeons remain in product. The gun sets a standard and offers functioning and remarkable value.
Beretta Argent Pigeon 30in 12-bore
♦ Price: £1,725 (new)
♦ GMK Ltd, Bear House, Concorde Fashion, Fareham, Hampshire PO15 5RL
♦ 01489 579999
♦ www.gmk.co.uk
Source: https://www.thefield.co.uk/reviews/gun-reviews/beretta-silver-pigeon-30in-12-bore
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