Weird new shotgun from Beretta...

[PJR]

Beretta had one of these at the last Grand in Vandalia 3 years ago. During a quiet moment I played with it for as long as I could without the Beretta guys becoming unhappy.

It's definitely novel. It's heavy beast with a lot of weight forward and might have an application shooting trap. It wouldn't be gun I'd want for sporting or skeet. If someone wanted to take one to the dove fields in Argentina I'd strongly recommend pumping iron before the trip.

I told the Beretta guys that this gun would be a challenge in the rough conditions normally encountered in the Northern U.S and Canada. That open reciever and exposed shell in the magazine wouldn't work too well in snow and ice.

So far this gun hasn't made it to market and that suggests manufacturing or performance issues. For the price, I'd rather buy a 391 Sporting and have it tricked out by a custom smith.

 

[Dave McCracken]

I asked a manager at PGC about these. PGC is a Beretta dealer and less than an hour from Accokeek. Beretta employees shoot there often.

He said a couple have turned up and had "issues". He didn't elaborate.

 

[wakerider017]

Uh, when it's open, it IS safer. If you've never seen a loaded shotgun that was supposed to be unloaded, you haven't been around a range much.

Regardless, break-actions, kept open when not immediately in use, are required for some uses, and not only at target ranges. If you're shooting #8 100 yards away or more, I don't care what you do. But closer, I want to see that the gun's not loaded. I don't expect you to trust me, and I don't inherently trust others either.

Exactly.

Last week at the range some guy dropped an autoloader, as it was falling it pointed right in my direction.

I had no idea if it was loaded or not, so it freaked me out pretty bad.

 

[Bad Penny 03]

Why ? Just, Why ?

 

[cgv69]

Some of you guys are rough. Poo-poo'ing a gun you've never shot or even seen in person just because it doesn't "look" like what you are use to seeing?

That is a competition gun pure and simple. It reminds me of competition .22's out there that really look odd. It's an expensive race gun not intended for hunting.

Exactly, I think the adjustible comb and raised rib clearly demonstrates that this was designed to be a competition trap gun.

Is it a good gun? I have no idea never shot one. Coming from Beretta my guess is even if it wasn't right for me, it's still a very well made shotgun. I don't shoot trap (especially at a high competition level) but if I did, I would at least try to get my hands on one and shoot a round or 2 with it before damning it.

 

[PJR]

Some of you guys are rough. Poo-poo'ing a gun you've never shot or even seen in person just because it doesn't "look" like what you are use to seeing?

As I mentioned in my post I've seen one and handled it. Wasn't impressed on a number of fronts. So for $3,500 I can take a chance on a shotgun that Beretta has had in the works for years or spend that same amount of money on a customized, proven design that I know will work.

I'll let someone else do the beta testing on the new Beretta.

 

[ceetee]

If I were that into trap, I think I'd like a chance to handle one. I'd want to judge for myself whether it deserves a "yay" or a "nay". What I'd really like to see is how fast Tom Knapp could run one, and how many shells he could slap into that loading gate, before the last bird hit the ground...

 

[Marshall]

I like to see manufacturers making new fangled products, whether I personally think they're an answer to question that's never been asked or not, as so many like to say whenever they see something new and different. Seems like a standard reply anymore.

That said, I would like to see something new and different be designed more for the average shooter but new designs have to start somewhere. New designs breed other new designs and refinements of older designs. I hope we never see the industry of firearms become stagnant in regard to product.

Kinda cool in my opinion. I can see an Upland gun coming from it some day.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

Its cool and stuff but why solve a non problem?

 

[huckster]

Deer hunter...

it's pretty much designed with olympic trap in mind. The problem(s) it's solving are the gun clearing rules involved in bunker trap married to the recoil-reduction of an auto-loader.

I know a previous poster mentioned that two different chokes are what you want in olympic trap but in my experience that's not always the case. I don't know any of the top shooters, but full choke has been the norm (even on both barrels of O/Us) the few times I've been to a bunker trap line. The way it's been explained to me is that they need the full choke because the clays are little tougher than american trap clays and they fly further.