I figured I post a quick review on my new shotgun since I haven't seen much on the site about this particular model. I've only run about 200 rounds through it so far but I'm very impressed. All rounds fired were winchester AA #8 1 1/8 ounce loads. I wont get much more in until spring since winter decided to arrive in St. John's today and the range will be impossible to get too.
Functioning has been nearly flawless. One round failed to chamber when my father who shot a round with it did not push the shell all the way into the mag tube (operator error and from what I've read you need to ensure this particularly with the ber. 391 action) and one round failed to eject completely. Right now the action seems a little tight and should smooth out over time, i dont see it being a problem after a 1000 rounds or so.
What you get for $2400. (I got a great deal though and paid much less!)
fitted hard case
two socks. one for the barrel and one for the receiver
5 choke tubes in clear plastic cases
rubber handle choke tube wrench
2 tritium sight inserts, green/red
excellent instruction manual
2 recoil pads, traditional soft rubber and a geltec pad
2 mag plugs
pin punch
small bottle of beretta gun oil
spacers for drop and cast
3 year warranty
so here are the positives:
+ great wood. The finish on the wood is excellent as well as the grain. It is not the XTra wood veiner you get real wood with the any gold model.
+ Wood to metal fit is also excellent, basically seamless.
+ Metal finish and engraving is excellent ( the two tone aluminum is hard to see in bright light though) and the blue inserts look great
+ Basically absolutely no complaints in the looks department
+ virtually no recoil, especially compared to my win 1300
+ no rubber O-ring!!
+ shell cut off
+ This is a big shotgun with a 30 inch barrel and weighs in at around 8 pounds or just over. It isn't a problem for me and I like it but could be bad for those of smaller stature.
+ fit for me is great and easily adjustable
+ after 200 rounds it is much cleaner than my fathers 11-87
+ seems to shoot great!!! At least I hit most of what I shot at!
There are a few very minor points I should bring up cause it isn't perfect.
- My biggest complaint is the geltec recoil pad (very easy to remove and install) has a 2-3mm gap from the wood on the top 1/4 of the pad. This really irks me since the rest of the shotguns fit is so good. Being the only thing wrong it only took me a couple of seconds to see it, so it stands out.
- My second biggest complaint is PLASTIC. The extended bolt release, a 30 dollar american option which comes standard on this model, is actually plastic. The trigger guard is also plastic. The manual calls it a technoploymer i believe. I call it plastic and both items appear out of place on this shotgun
- Loading shells while wearing cotton gloves is nearly impossible because of the pointy edges on the shell elevator.
- Take down is more complicated than for an 11-87. Not for a few hundred rounds, but the manual breaks down cleaning into 300-500, 1000-1500, and 3000 round intervals. Once you get to 3000 you need a tool for complete take down while for an 100 or 11-87 you don't. Also (i don't know the exact name for it) but the recoil guide ( on an 11-87 looks kind like a wish bone and doesn't normally get removed, it compresses the recoil spring in the stock) stays attached to the bolt. When assembling you need to hold the shotgun vertically and dangle this back into the tube with the spring. It took me about 5 min to figure this out on the first try but gets much easier. This was not clearly explained in the instructions.
- Ahh yes the manual, overall excellent for instructions and pictures, although the pics could be bigger. However of the 30 english pages about 12 could be removed by taking the warning out. Before each section in orange boxes there are warnings which are constantly repeated. How many times can you read unsure the gun is unloaded, oh about as many times as there are sections. I'm all for safety but there is a separate book completely dedicated to safe gun handling, they could have put it in there.
Overall I'm very happy and wouldn't think of buying something different. If your in the market for a high end auto, that isn't inertia driven, this should be it.
osborne
If someone could link me to a thread on how to post pics I could get some up.
Functioning has been nearly flawless. One round failed to chamber when my father who shot a round with it did not push the shell all the way into the mag tube (operator error and from what I've read you need to ensure this particularly with the ber. 391 action) and one round failed to eject completely. Right now the action seems a little tight and should smooth out over time, i dont see it being a problem after a 1000 rounds or so.
What you get for $2400. (I got a great deal though and paid much less!)
fitted hard case
two socks. one for the barrel and one for the receiver
5 choke tubes in clear plastic cases
rubber handle choke tube wrench
2 tritium sight inserts, green/red
excellent instruction manual
2 recoil pads, traditional soft rubber and a geltec pad
2 mag plugs
pin punch
small bottle of beretta gun oil
spacers for drop and cast
3 year warranty
so here are the positives:
+ great wood. The finish on the wood is excellent as well as the grain. It is not the XTra wood veiner you get real wood with the any gold model.
+ Wood to metal fit is also excellent, basically seamless.
+ Metal finish and engraving is excellent ( the two tone aluminum is hard to see in bright light though) and the blue inserts look great
+ Basically absolutely no complaints in the looks department
+ virtually no recoil, especially compared to my win 1300
+ no rubber O-ring!!
+ shell cut off
+ This is a big shotgun with a 30 inch barrel and weighs in at around 8 pounds or just over. It isn't a problem for me and I like it but could be bad for those of smaller stature.
+ fit for me is great and easily adjustable
+ after 200 rounds it is much cleaner than my fathers 11-87
+ seems to shoot great!!! At least I hit most of what I shot at!
There are a few very minor points I should bring up cause it isn't perfect.
- My biggest complaint is the geltec recoil pad (very easy to remove and install) has a 2-3mm gap from the wood on the top 1/4 of the pad. This really irks me since the rest of the shotguns fit is so good. Being the only thing wrong it only took me a couple of seconds to see it, so it stands out.
- My second biggest complaint is PLASTIC. The extended bolt release, a 30 dollar american option which comes standard on this model, is actually plastic. The trigger guard is also plastic. The manual calls it a technoploymer i believe. I call it plastic and both items appear out of place on this shotgun
- Loading shells while wearing cotton gloves is nearly impossible because of the pointy edges on the shell elevator.
- Take down is more complicated than for an 11-87. Not for a few hundred rounds, but the manual breaks down cleaning into 300-500, 1000-1500, and 3000 round intervals. Once you get to 3000 you need a tool for complete take down while for an 100 or 11-87 you don't. Also (i don't know the exact name for it) but the recoil guide ( on an 11-87 looks kind like a wish bone and doesn't normally get removed, it compresses the recoil spring in the stock) stays attached to the bolt. When assembling you need to hold the shotgun vertically and dangle this back into the tube with the spring. It took me about 5 min to figure this out on the first try but gets much easier. This was not clearly explained in the instructions.
- Ahh yes the manual, overall excellent for instructions and pictures, although the pics could be bigger. However of the 30 english pages about 12 could be removed by taking the warning out. Before each section in orange boxes there are warnings which are constantly repeated. How many times can you read unsure the gun is unloaded, oh about as many times as there are sections. I'm all for safety but there is a separate book completely dedicated to safe gun handling, they could have put it in there.
Overall I'm very happy and wouldn't think of buying something different. If your in the market for a high end auto, that isn't inertia driven, this should be it.
osborne
If someone could link me to a thread on how to post pics I could get some up.
