Beretta AL391 Mobile vs. Optima chokes.

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jeff g

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I have decided to get a 391 Sporting. I was looking at a new Urika with
28" barrels and Optima chokes. There is a used 391 Sporting with 30"
barrels and Mobile chokes on the equipment exchange. I know that Optima
is thinner and longer, and Optima plus be thinner , longer , and extended
than Mobile chokes. A new gun is $400.00 to $600.00 more plus taxes than
a used one. Do the advantages of the newer chokes justify the extra cost?
I know the thinking these day says that longer, thinner chokes pattern
better, but I have an older 682E Gold Sporting with mobile chokes. It shoots
better then I can. I guess that in the last 4 years I have put about 50000
round through it with no problems.
Thanks in advance for any feed back. I don't want to wait too long in case
the used gun gets sold before I decide what to do.
 
jeff g said:
Do the advantages of the newer chokes justify the extra cost?
Click to expand...
No. I've owned both types and don't think the Optima Bore gives a significant advantage over the older system. Because you have a o/u with Mobile chokes there is a certain temptation to keep your choke selection consistent.

Besides for the price difference you could buy a Mobile choked gun AND an Optima barrel for about the price of a new gun. If the desire for extended chokes is overwhelming buy a set of Brileys or Trulocks and use them for both guns.

Here is a link to a review of the two systems by Bruce Buck.

http://www.shotgunreport.com/TechTech/TechnoidArchive/1-Sep-03.html
 
Sent you a PM.

I've owned both as well. Had a 391 Sporting with 30" barrel and Mobil chokes that I sold and bought a 391 Sporting with a 28 " barrel and extended Optima chokes. I noticed no difference on targets but never did compare the two on a patterning board.

I do like the balance of the 28" gun better as opposed to the 30" however.

Either Mobilchoke or Optima the 391 is still a great gun.

REM3200
 
Owned & patterned both in 391's and 682's, and Optima in a DT10.
The Optima bored/choked barrels are over-bored to +/- .733 and have longer forcing cones. They do pattern a little more consistantly, and seemingly, recoil is a little less. Significant difference... no, but noticeable, on paper, just the same. Doubtful you'd ever notice it in shooting, particularly at short to medium range. With premium shells at 40 yards plus, the Optimas show better patterns. Whether Mobil, Optima, or Optima Plus, flush fitting and extended chokes are available for each.

As a side bar, not every choke is "as marked". I have two "Cylinder" chokes, one IS in fact Cylinder at 0.733", the other is NOT, it mikes 0.722" - about Improved Cylinder. Also have an Improved Cylinder that IS, at 0.723" and another that is at 0.718", or about Light Mod. Yet another is marked I/M that mikes .0695 ... .038 nearly full. Bottom line, don't assume. Measure & pattern !
 
bb, were you comparing Optima and short Mobiles? When I tested the Optima and Briley Extended Mobile replacements I couldn't tell much difference. Depending on the shell I found the Optima a little more dense in the core although I wasn't counting pellets just examining the paper.

You are certainly right about the (ahem) variation in factory chokes. It's one of the reasons that I went with a set of replacement Teagues for my Optima bore 391.
 
Thanks for the input guys.
I waited a day too long and the 391 30" with mobile chokes was sold out
from under me.
REM.3200 PM me with a 28" with optima chokes. So in the end I did not have
to choose between mobile & optima at all.
All I have to do is shoot it once it arrives. I might even bring a few extra shells out to the club at let Claybuster try. (He did let me shoot his 28 gauge
Pereazzi):D That was a bad move on my part, now I have another gun to
save for.
Jeff
 
jeff g said:
Thanks for the input guys.
I waited a day too long and the 391 30" with mobile chokes was sold out
from under me.
REM.3200 PM me with a 28" with optima chokes. So in the end I did not have
to choose between mobile & optima at all.
All I have to do is shoot it once it arrives. I might even bring a few extra shells out to the club at let Claybuster try. (He did let me shoot his 28 gauge
Pereazzi):D That was a bad move on my part, now I have another gun to
save for.
Jeff
Click to expand...
Don't worry I always have extra shells in the car.;)

Congrats on the new gun. And it doesn't matter what guns you have you are pretty much always eyeing something else.:D
 
I'm presently shooting the best sporting clays I ever have with a 24" Benelli SBE that has the Mobilchoke. Shot a 83 in a 100 bird DU shoot last weekend and finished third overall.

I was going to post the Beretta Optima and saw Jeff was looking for one so it's off to a new home.

My Browning Sporting O/U is still my favorite clays gun but having an affair with that SBE.

Enjoy the Beretta Jeff. I still have a 391 Gold 20 Sporting with Mobil chokes that I'm rather fond of as well
 
Jeff G : Congratulations ... now go shoot ... lots !!!
And don't be afraid to use those shims to get a perfect fit !

Claybuster.... tried all Beretta OEM chokes, then Briley extendeds, both
ported & non-ported (sold all the Brileys seperately )

For the money, Nigel Teague's chokes are very good. So are Rhino's.
I'd prefer a set of Steve Milton's if I was going to spend that kind of
change though.
 
:p BB and I have had a lot of correspondance and face to face about the entire 300 series of Beretta gas guns. I sold my 303 Sporting with XXK of rounds last fall to a hunter in the gulf of St. lawrence. I have patterned my old 390 SUpr Sporting with the Mobile Chaokes, Briley extended chokes and the Mobile Extended chokes. There were virtualy no differences in percentages between them. The extended chokes were easier to use. I have now kept th extended chokes to use in my Nova pump. Since acquiring a 391 Optima and a DT 10L, both pattern very densely. The 391 Optima does not pattern as dense as the DT10L. But both pattern very tighly in all chokes! If any premium ammo is used (such as 2 3/4 dr Federal Gold Medal or AA) they will provide Mod patterns using IC chokes. To get any spread on close sporting targets, I use el-cheapo Wally-Mart 3 dram stuff and Special Skeet(negative choke) to get 5 thou patterns that I got from the 390 or 682.

FYI, Beretta uses a computerised and laser system to check chokes. They shoot a test shot through a target gun(sporting, skeet or trap) choke. the computer verifies that the shot pattern is within 5% of th choke pattern to be acceptd. A failure would throw the choke into the garbage bin. Two failures, and they look into the a forcing cone problem! This is only done with the target guns that are produced adjacent to the premium guns. It would seem that the chokes are subcontracted out:confused: as they would not provide any additional information to me about this during my visit of the plant.

I can assure the Beretta target gun shooter, that no other manufacturer spends so much effort to get a target gun to perform!:) Unfortunatly due to the lack of volume in Canada, we do not get the same factory support as they do in Europe.

Best rgards,
Henry:)
 
Henry:

I would suspect the Optima Chokes may come from a Contractor as well (Mechanica del Sarca ?) ... only reported what I found. My DT10 has a very long, polished forcing cone .. one of the reasons I suspect it patterns so well. Of all the testing I did, I could only say the DT10 patterned more evenly than did the older 391 and 682 with Mobil & Brileys.

Of the 14 OEM Optima extended chokes I have, only 9 are
what they are supposed to be ... 5 are tighter than "advertised" ( Baker internal bore mic. ) No matter to me, they still work fine !

The extra attention to competition gun barrels is also perhaps why the later ASE90's with Mobil choke tubes patterned so well.
 
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:p I agree! The DT 10L is made on the premium gun line with the same attention as the SOs! My DT10L patterns tighter than my 391 Optima. I checked the chokes for the DT10L and IC is 9thou, Mod 19, the same as the ones from the 391. The special Skeet on both were +4 thou. This is standard for Beretta. The better patterns must be due to a better interior barrel finish and the lovely polished forcing cones. The DT10's have a little quirk in the triggers. The top barrel is factory set 1/2 Lb heavier than the bottom. A couple of the shooters had Paulo (Beretta gunsmith) reset both triggers to 3 Lbs. He also reset the timeing on the lower barrel while checking the gun.
The skeet,trap and sporting guns are assembled in the same building and some 20 feet away from the premium guns. There are some fit and fitting performed on all of them from 391 to DT10.

I think that I posted some pictures here, somewhere, of the production lines.

Best regards,
Henry;)
 
Henry:

My DT10 was a very early one, imported from Europe (none available
here or at Beretta USA at the time.)

It's a 32" Sporter, with no centre bead The "original" 5 Choke set was:
Blue - Cyl - .010", Red - Skeet -.003", Yellow - I/Cyl. - .017",
Green - Mod. - .029" & Black - I/Mod. - .038" .
The second "factory" set I acquired is:
Blue - Cyl. .000", Red - Skeet .003", Yellow - I/Cyl. - .010",
Green - Mod. - .019" & Black - I/Mod. - .027".
A usable set of 10, however, I suspect some kind of a mix-up with the first set - that perhaps the "wrong colour" bands AND markings were put on four of these chokes.

I subsequently purchased a few others, and used a mic. to verify what
they actually were BEFORE I bought them !
Purple - US Skeet - .007", Brown ( perhaps "Orange") - Lt/Mod. - .015"
& White - Full - .040".

The "Optima" bores both mic. .733" , About .009" larger than my old
(pre-Mobil Choke) Beretta SxS.

Haven't checked the trigger pulls, but will. So far haven't noticed a marked difference between the first & second pull.
 
:p The DT10L and 391 Optima both measure 733. I must of been lucky with the later production run chokes as, they did have mislabeling early on. At the Euro in Italy, over half the Italians were shooting DT10s!:) I spoke to a few shooters, they all had the stocks fitted to them before getting the guns! In most of Europe, the gunshops have a gunsmith/stockmaker in the shop. As well, Beretta will custom stock every competition and Premium gun ordered in Italy! DT10L when ordered in the summer or fall will be released within 3 months. Orders during the winter or early spring, will take 6 months to a year.

Best regards,
Henry;)
 
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