Target Sports

SHOTGUN REVIEW: CLASSIC FINISH?

Created on 27th May 2009

RICHARD ATKINS reckons that Beretta's new Silver Pigeon V adds a touch of colour to the 687 range

BERETTA SHOTGUNS are known worldwide, being one of the biggest names that vie for top slot in shooters' affections. They have an enviable record of international competition success in Trap, Skeet and Sporting competitions, including many Olympic medals. You cannot argue with such achievement and indeed, Beretta holds an Ace that no one can ever match: it is not just a gunmaking legend, it truly is a dynasty. Beretta is, as the superb book The World of Beretta by R L Wilson states, "The oldest industrial firm AND the oldest gunmaker in the world", the company rapidly approaching its 500th year in existence under the same family's stewardship!

Beretta manufactures all types of arms, including rifles, pistols and military weapons beside shotguns. Its 92F 9mm semi-automatic pistol is the sidearm that finally replaced the venerable Colt 45 ACP, once the sidearm of choice of the American Army for over half a century, and exemplifies the company's ability to excel in different spheres. Its shotgun line today encompasses side-by-sides for game shooting, with both sidelock (SO series) and boxlock over/under versions in all configurations, including specials such as a ‘single barrel' model for American Trap shooters.

It's the over/under models that UK shooters will know best, and being in the highly competitive price bracket, predominantly the boxlock models. The present range of guns is based on the 680 series actions introduced in 1980. Beretta is now into its 682 and 687 versions, the model we review here being in the Silver Pigeon range based on the 687.

Format

The Silver Pigeon lines basically offer the same mechanical features as the 682 line but with various embellishments, be it engraving, wood or other finish that differentiates them from the more plainly finished 682 models.

It's fair to say that Beretta's 680 series actions set the standard for other makers, particularly Italian ones from the same gunmaking heartland in Gardone, to be judged against. The receiver is of low profile, a trend much copied since and any maker who gets close to the shallow height from action top to floor makes much of it! This hallmark of Beretta guns is achieved by a supremely simple but very effective method of locking the barrels to the action. Instead of relying on lugs protruding from the bottom of the breech block engaging with slots in the action floor, Beretta moved them half way up the breech block of the monobloc constructed barrels (now a virtually universal method of barrel manufacture) so that two angular wedges (trapezoidal to be precise) machined into the breech block engage with matching female slots machined into the top edge of each of the receiver's side walls. This means the bottom barrel's lower profile can remain rounded, dropping neatly into a matching recess in the receiver floor so that overall height is just 60mm.

The locking bolts again are novel; it's a system initially developed, and used almost exclusively by, Beretta. This comprises twin, round pins with tapered forward portions that are spring-loaded and operated by a conventional top lever. These pins, which are self-compensating for wear, engage in mating tapered holes machined into the end face of the same trapezoidal locking wedges of the barrel's breechblock: how elegant an engineering solution can be when function and form converge in a simple, very effective format!

The barrels hinge on the familiar stub pins or trunnions set into the receiver sidewalls that are another Beretta hallmark but one much more widely copied than its locking system. These trunnions mate in recesses machined into the forward edge of the breechblock and Beretta's design achieves a very slim result too, the receiver body being just 39mm wide. This compact design gives Beretta freedom to choose where to increase metal thickness or weight distribution, to achieve the feel and handling characteristics to suit a given style of gun, so that a game version might have faster handling than a Trap, for instance.

Beretta barrels

Beretta barrels are noted for their consistency of wall thickness and strength. They are manufactured from high-grade steel by a rotary forging process and are well polished before blacking to achieve a deep, hard-wearing lustre. The barrels of this Silver Pigeon feature solid side ribs that run just over half the barrel length, ending just inside the forend so the barrel section beneath the forend to the monobloc has no side ribs, also keeping weight down. Although the tubes are ‘flared' by almost two millimetres toward the muzzle to accommodate the long, internal Optima interchangeable choke tubes, the resulting barrel set is commendably light and still carries Italian CIP ‘Superior Proof' at 1,350kg for its 3" (76mm) long chambers. Barrel bore size is marked at 18.6mm, just a few thousandths of an inch over standard UK 12g .729" and not what we would term ‘back-bored' or ‘over-bored', which I think is a good point, especially with such long chambers. The chamber length may anticipate a need for steel shot cartridges where longer cases may be more usual in the future, but are not strictly necessary in a clay-shooting gun today. The top rib is 10mm wide at the breech end and tapers to 8mm at the muzzle for proper perspective and slight weight saving and is very neatly cross hatched on its top surface for a glare-free sighting plane. Neat and effective spring-loaded ejectors are set into the monobloc sidewalls and tripped by cams in the forend iron.

The bottom edge of the lower barrel is slightly radiused, a result of the compact action and hinge pin position; Beretta ensured that a failing with some O/U designs, where gape can be low making loading the bottom barrel difficult, was avoided. The geometry brings the bottom barrel up high for easy access but that brings the lower barrel close to the standing breech; this radius avoids contact here.

The action

The 687's action is a model of compact yet sturdy, efficient design. It's also good in other ways. There are a number of features that set shotguns apart; the competent but rather ordinary from the more accomplished, the latter able to enhance the performance of those who have learned enough to appreciate the difference. The differences are sometimes small in themselves but add up to a more satisfying shooting experience, and Beretta's haul of Olympic medals tells us that Beretta knows the difference and ensures it provides it. One such feature is trigger pulls, which can make or break a gun's reputation. Pulls must be fairly light, short, crisp, consistent and above all safe and reliable. This combination requires a degree of sophistication, and the 680 actions embody this. The hammers are conventionally coil spring powered, but they are smaller and set further forward in the action than some, which positions the sears and bents at the base of the action, being both smaller and closer to their pivot point than some other types. Being compact minimises movement required to release the sear from the bent in the hammer, so trigger pulls can be made quite light and crisp: combined with shorter travel and lighter hammers, the result is good trigger pulls with a fast lock time; double bonus! Doing it this way is harder: being smaller, as are engagement faces, parts manufacture must be even more precise; materials too must be their absolute best to retain maximum performance over an extended time frame. Assembly is also made more complex due to smaller parts that are less accessible; but the results can be worth the effort; Beretta's competition success shows that.

The action is otherwise a conventional boxlock which is cocked via rods set into the sides of the receiver base, compressing the tumbler springs via cams in the forend as the barrels are lowered. The top strap mounted, manually operated safety catch incorporates a neat barrel selector button that shows one or two dots to denote which barrel has been selected to fire first. The action is reset for the second barrel by an inertia block that is thrown back under recoil to engage the second barrel as a spring returns it forward again, thereby overcoming the shooter's natural ‘involuntary pull' that would otherwise cause the second to be fired prematurely.

Overall

We have used many Berettas over the years. There's no doubting their responsive, well-balanced handling has made them easy choices for very many shooters. They have proved very reliable and hold their value, all-important factors in choice of a shotgun. This is the Sporter model, the barrel being so engraved, although not featuring adjustment for either trigger position or stock dimensions (apart from a thicker butt pad option).

It does have the longer (70mm) Beretta Optima interchangeable chokes and these, despite the long chambers, produced good clay munching patterns even with fibre wad cartridges. We took a moment to settle, dropping four targets on the first stand of crossing pairs on a windswept rainy day, but finished up losing just four more of the next 40 targets to still scrape home in pole position, ably assisted by the smooth shooting Hull Pro Fibre cartridges, so I cannot fault the gun's handling.

But this gun's designation is about something else: the Silver Pigeon grades having different styles and grades of finish. The Silver Pigeon V has what is described as ‘classic colour case hardening' finish and gold inlaid engraving. I have to be honest and admit that it's not a combination that appeals to my particular taste for a competition gun; but then, the Silver Pigeon range is all about offering buyers a choice. I do quite like traditional colour case hardening, which has an appeal of its own, but I'm less sold on gold inlaid birds on clay guns (better on game models I think). Traditional colour hardening was the result of the receiver (or action body) having soaked for hours in a furnace to impart an increased level of carbon in the steel's surface than originally present in the steels then used. When quenched it produces a hard-wearing surface but retains the malleable properties beneath: it also produces a random mix of blues, straw and browns and subtle hues between, sometimes enhanced by careful application of localised heat as from an acetylene torch, that many find appealing, me included. The high strength modern alloy steels used today usually contain alloying agents like molybdenum, chromium and nickel. They do not need carbon enrichment and would probably not improve from the traditional case hardening process, so I must assume that a modern process along similar lines has been formulated, more for its aesthetics than mechanical necessity. To my eye the result, although colourful and glossier than traditional case colours, is not quite the same. But that's just my opinion and potential buyers must judge for themselves.

Aesthetics apart, the gun is in all mechanical aspects excellent. It opened smoothly from the start, pointed well and the handling helped me settle down to shoot well in the conditions. I like the look and feel of the new laser cut chequering patterns and the slightly higher-shooting Sporting set up of the stock but would personally put adjustment features before finish. However, if you like the look of the new Silver Pigeon V and it fits off the shelf, then Beretta has achieved its aim in providing another option in its wide choice of competition guns.

Technical Specification

Make: Beretta
Model: Silver Pigeon V
Type: Over/Under
Gauge: 12g x 3" (76mm) chambers
Chokes: Beretta Optima internal choke tubes (five supplied, three in plastic tubes)
Overall length: 45½"
Barrel length: 28"
Weight: 7lb 11oz
Trigger: Single selective (inertia)
Trigger pulls: 4lb 4oz
Safety: Manual
Top rib: 10mm wide RVR (tapers to 8mm)
Pull length 145/8" (+ ¼" with thicker butt pad)
Cast: Slight R H cast
Drop at comb: 13/8" (34mm)
Drop at heel: 2" (50mm)
SRP: £2,010 (includes hard
carry case)