Picked up a Beretta S55 at the gunshow

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stnjohnson

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Came here for advice on guns a few weeks ago and after shooting some other guns and asking around I decided to look for a nice older 870 Wingmaster. So I went to the gun show this weekend thinking that wouldn't be a problem. I guess people like to hold onto their 870's though. There wasn't anything but a couple of beat up Express' so I wandered around and decided to be content with saving my dollars. Then I ran across this O/U in my price range. Thought it was too cheap to be good until I picked it up and saw it was a Beretta. Now I'm interested. Threw it up to my shoulder and I was in love. Maybe I'm just used to pumps but it just felt right and lined up perfect on my sightline. Light too.

kFs7Z.jpg

And here's (http://stnjohnson.imgur.com/beretta_s55#0Wv0b) the album.

It's a Beretta S.55 o/u 12 ga. made in 1971. Took it out shooting some clays today and man does it run right.

Looking over some of the marking on it though and I was wondering if you all could double check me and maybe help decipher some of the ones I'm missing. Here's a pic of the side of the barrel.

PqWKg.jpg

I think the CAM.70 is a 70 mm shell (2-3/4") and the Kg 1.340 is the proof weight of the barrel. What I'm not real sure of are the choke markings. The upper barrel says 18.3 and has 3 circles, so I guess it's a modified. The lower says 18.4 with 4 circles so that would be an improved cylinder. Right? Anyway, what do you all think? Can't wait to blast some more clays with this thing.
 
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Markings are for Imp Cyl/Mod, but you might find them a wee bit tight - these guns may not be marked for modern ammo with a full shot cup.

It's a great upland gun - light and points well. I am guessing 26.5" barrels, extractors and non-selective trigger. These guns were also called the Silver Snipe.

The sling swivels make me think this gun was originally for the European market - maybe a GI purchased it at the PX in Germany.

I'd call it a keeper.
 
When you write Imp Cyl/Mod are you saying the IC choke is on the top? I was thinking it was the other way around. I brought it with me to work today so I'll check the diameter of the bore and choke and see what my actual measurements are. The machinist here used to make chokes and said he'd be able to tell.

You're right on the bbl length and extractor, and except for a couple of aesthetic difference it does seem to be the same as a silver snipe. Those appear to fetch a little more money for some reason though. I did all my research on pump and semi guns before I went buying so I didn't and still don't know much about o/u's. Only enough to tell that this one hadn't been fired much. As a result I'm not real sure about the trigger. You say you think it's non-selective? That may be a term I'm unfamiliar with but on the safety there's a switch to choose my barrel. Burned a lot of clays and shells yesterday before I got used to that. Thanks for your help.

Edit: You're also very right about it being a keeper. I can't believe it's a field gun. It's the prettiest damn thing I own.
 
According to this:

http://www.hallowellco.com/choke_chart.htm

3 would be IC and 4 would be M - a nice upland combination

The 18.3 and 18.4 are the metric barrel dimensions. With a bore mic, you'll be able to get a better incremental number to determine potential choke. I say potential, because the real choke will be determined at the pattern board with the load you are planning on using
 
Well, our machinist left early so I had to make do with regular calipers but I think it told me what I need to know. The bore is the same at 0.81" on both barrels. The choke on the top barrel is 0.70" and the bottom choke is slightly wider at 0.71". That's at least as good as I can do with calipers. Probably not real accurate but I'll assume the bottom barrel is my close in barrel. (barely) I'll have to follow oneounce's suggestion and go out with a couple of different shells and see what she likes.
 
.81 - .70 = .11, Improved Cylinder. Unless someone opened one of them up, or your calipers weren't quite as accurate, they didn't leave the factory within .01 of each other with those choke designations stamped on the barrel

Determine what you are going to do with it, get those loads and see what they do at the distances you anticipate - there are various loads out there that can be used with fixed choke guns to help spread the pattern for close in shots or retain the pattern for ones a little longer than usual for these constrictions.

Good luck, and BTW, I forgot to say how nice that gun appears to be!
 
Congrats on a nice shotgun purchase. The gun looks barely used or at least well taken care of in its lifetime. That's one of those guns you keep for life and pass down to your heirs without breaking the bank in the beginning. Like you, I would have bought it!

Is it automatic safety? meaning do you have to turn off the safety each time after you reload? If so, then you can disable it for use as a trap gun.

I would also be interested to know if it has an inertia trigger setup. I have seen other S55 models, but they had double triggers IIRC.

I looked at your picture album...Darn nice gun, and I am envious. :)
 
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I'd say it's an inaccuracy on my part oneounce. I'm going to grab the correct tool and check it tomorrow if I have time but you're right, it's academic. I need to get out and shoot it again. I'm going to go through the shop and see if I can find enough pieces to put together a patterning board.

No automatic safety and I'm not sure about the inertia trigger. I'll find out if it's ok to dry fire it. I know it's fine on my new pump gun but I don't know about this older o/u business.

Thanks for the kind words on it, I'm officially completely hooked on shotguns after this purchase. I'm now browsing pawnshops on my breaks looking for a good name brand gun that's been beat up a little too much. I'd love to have an older project. My wife is going to hate us all.

Edit: By the way, anyone know what the receiver is made out of? It has a small mark on one side where I think someone tried to buff out a scratch and got scared and gave up. Of course no one notices it but me so it's not that big of a deal, but if I can polish it at all I would like to.
 
I bought a berreta double 12 guage +20 years ago..... action is still tight as the day I bought it...

...great find!
 
Beretta O/U's action are some form of steel, most likely of the chrome-moly variety. You might try asking them..............or better yet asking their fans on www.shotgunworld.com - scroll all the way down to the "I love my XXX" section and find Beretta

One of these days, I';m gonna walk into the pawn shop and find a sleeper........maybe......perchance.......hopefully......please?????.... :D
 
Oh geez. It took me all day to realize how the trigger on it works. Sooo... I don't have to manually select the second barrel from the selector on the safety. Gawd I feel a little stupid now. That should make my second shot a whole lot easier than I'd thought it would be.
 
I had a Beretta Golden Snipe in 20 gauge, same gun with ejectors, with two sets of barrels bought back in the 60s. Made I believe by Galef in Italy, imported by Beretta, or maybe the other way around. Beautiful little gun, but I couldn't hit a barn standing inside it with it. My buddy could, and he bought it for what I paid for it. That was my last O/U.
 
Oh geez. It took me all day to realize how the trigger on it works. Sooo... I don't have to manually select the second barrel from the selector on the safety. Gawd I feel a little stupid now. That should make my second shot a whole lot easier than I'd thought it would be.
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad - had a friend who had bought a Ruger O/U years ago and thought he had to move the selector between each shots........if you aren't familiar with these guns, it is a common OOPS, but one that makes you go "PHEW" once you figure it out
 
Bottom barrel is Imp Cyl (4 stars), and top barrel is Mod (3 stars). Bottom barrel will always shoot first on your gun.
 
That O/U's nice. If it were mine though I'd take it to a gunsmith and have the barrel tapped for screw in choke tubes. In the configuration it's in right now it would probably make a nice sporting clays gun.
 
Thanks for confirming the chokes clang. I was looking at a chart someone had earlier posted and I started to get a little confused about it. I would assume most situations would have me firing the bottom barrel first but it does have the switch to choose which barrel I use.

Capstick, I have entertained the idea but right now I feel like I'd be damaging something old and pretty. Don't know if I'll become more or less sentimental about it over time. Probably depends on how I shoot with this gun and whether I can afford a more modern gun with screw in chokes in the future. I did buy it with intentions of being able to pass it down to a son (or daughter, please god let my daughters want things like this :D) one day.
 
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