Looking to pick up my first sporting clays gun, new to the sport hoping to start as soon as the snow goes. I’ve been looking at a Beretta Silver Pigeon 1 Sporting in 12ga with 32” barrel. Any thoughts on this as a starter gun? Anything I should be really considering as a new shooter? Unfortunately I live in a small area without access to a shop I could go and try different fits.
Silver Pigeon 1 Sporting
- Thread starter Esvagt
- Start date
There is nothing wrong with a Silver Pigeon Sporter. It is way beyond a starter gun.
You should make an atempt to try before you buy though. Browning has options in the same price range. Stock design and dimensions vary between the manufacturers and depending on your height and build one may fit better than another. Get to your local gun club and look at what the others are shooting. Tell them you are looking at buying a Sporter and would like their thoughts on guns. Once they have understanding what you are up to,most shooters would let you try out their guns. I have never seen anyone turn someone down.
You should make an atempt to try before you buy though. Browning has options in the same price range. Stock design and dimensions vary between the manufacturers and depending on your height and build one may fit better than another. Get to your local gun club and look at what the others are shooting. Tell them you are looking at buying a Sporter and would like their thoughts on guns. Once they have understanding what you are up to,most shooters would let you try out their guns. I have never seen anyone turn someone down.
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Beretta or Browning good choices . Unless you are a big tall man with long arms the 32inch is a game changer. 28 or 30 inch fits most people better . You see lots of 32inch for sale .Try a 32 inch before you buy if you can handle it OK most cannot.
Some sporting models have an adjustable comb, some dont. If it doesnt, then its not much different than a standard field model. As above, 32 inch barrels arent for everybody, 28 and 30 may be better. Finally, check to ensure that the cast is proper for you, eg are you a left handed or right handed shooter.
- Location
- Next door to my neighbour
If you diving in at that level, I would most certainly get an adjustable comb. Worth the extra few hundred dollars and it can solve some issues. Its better to have and not need it vs. needing it and not having it, speaking form my own personal experience. Just because its better quality gun, doesn't mean its going to fit.
Son purchased one, he is 5’-10’ slime build, fifteen. Got the 32” barrel, nice gun fits good, 14 1/4”pull I believe. He still growing so the fit will get better. Adjustable stock is nice but costly from beretta and the wood won’t match the wood you have, unless you buy the stock and forearm and that is pricey. You can find gunsmith that can modify your stock but it’s a leap of faith. I got the gel cheek pad 6mm to help with raising his cheek and line of sight, works great there is also a 4mm pad as well order it from beretta. For a first time gun it’s jump into the mid depth of the pool. There are models that you can purchase that are cheaper price. I have seen high end blazer, Caesar, beretta, kriegeoffs to Remingtons, savages, Winchester to Canuck . People shoot what fits them and what feels right to them, that’s the key.
My SP sporter (686e) came from the factory with an adjustable comb as standard, and the incremental cost was not large. However, my gun is at least 8 years old, so perhaps things have changed. On the used market, it is relatively common to see used 686e guns with the factory adjustable comb, so they were popular at one time. Beretta is notorious for changing their offerings from year to year with respect to appointments.....
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The Silver Pidgeon 1 is a great 1st sporting gun and a used one shouldn't lose much value in a couple of years if you decide to change to something else.
The older SP1's had the Mobil Choke system and barrels while the newer ones have the Optima HP choke system with Optima Barrels. Both systems work well but I'd opt for the Optima system over the Mobil system with that barrel length just as a preference. The Optima barrels are a bit lighter than the Mobil barrels as a rule and will be better balanced in the 32 inch configuration. It's not that the Mobil barrels are excessively heavy so much as the gun itself is fairly light for a sporting gun, most are under 8 lbs so long barrels tend to be a bit muzzle heavy without more weight in the receiver and stock to balance the gun out. You'll find that this combo is great on long crossing targets but possibly a bit sluggish on close fast moving ones.
As others have pointed out, gun fit is important so it would be advisable to try a similar model before you make a purchase. After shooting a bunch of different guns and getting to know what to look for, you'll get a pretty good idea if you can shoot a particular gun as soon as you shoulder it.
The older SP1's had the Mobil Choke system and barrels while the newer ones have the Optima HP choke system with Optima Barrels. Both systems work well but I'd opt for the Optima system over the Mobil system with that barrel length just as a preference. The Optima barrels are a bit lighter than the Mobil barrels as a rule and will be better balanced in the 32 inch configuration. It's not that the Mobil barrels are excessively heavy so much as the gun itself is fairly light for a sporting gun, most are under 8 lbs so long barrels tend to be a bit muzzle heavy without more weight in the receiver and stock to balance the gun out. You'll find that this combo is great on long crossing targets but possibly a bit sluggish on close fast moving ones.
As others have pointed out, gun fit is important so it would be advisable to try a similar model before you make a purchase. After shooting a bunch of different guns and getting to know what to look for, you'll get a pretty good idea if you can shoot a particular gun as soon as you shoulder it.
If you don't have access to a shop do you have a clays range nearby? In a year what do you think you'll be shooting more of, clays or birds? That would definitely affect if I went for a 32" or 28". 28" will be much more versatile for pretty much anything other than clays.
32" will be harder to resell than the shorter barrels. Could be a big deal if you use the guns ability to hold value to justify the price point.
It'll also be awkwardly long to use upland hunting if you were considering that...but really that's a 20g or smaller gun there. Not ideal for waterfowl either. And to be fair an o/u is a shorter action than semi, so a 32" o/u might not be that much more awkward than a 28" semi (which is still a long gun for dragging through brush).
You don't say if you have other shotguns though. If no, I'd get a semiauto 12g first - sx3 or something. Perfectly able to shoot clays and everything else.
That said, if you do go for the 686: the new ones (2020?) include a choke case inside the gun case which is nice, but: the engraving is laser engraved now (I think) which to me felt cheaper, and they replaced the flower logo with a trident logo which I definitely don't like, but that's just personal style. And as for the gun itself....my silver pigeon is probably my favorite gun in the cabinet so you can't go wrong!
32" will be harder to resell than the shorter barrels. Could be a big deal if you use the guns ability to hold value to justify the price point.
It'll also be awkwardly long to use upland hunting if you were considering that...but really that's a 20g or smaller gun there. Not ideal for waterfowl either. And to be fair an o/u is a shorter action than semi, so a 32" o/u might not be that much more awkward than a 28" semi (which is still a long gun for dragging through brush).
You don't say if you have other shotguns though. If no, I'd get a semiauto 12g first - sx3 or something. Perfectly able to shoot clays and everything else.
That said, if you do go for the 686: the new ones (2020?) include a choke case inside the gun case which is nice, but: the engraving is laser engraved now (I think) which to me felt cheaper, and they replaced the flower logo with a trident logo which I definitely don't like, but that's just personal style. And as for the gun itself....my silver pigeon is probably my favorite gun in the cabinet so you can't go wrong!
for a field gun maybe 32 is little long. However for sporting , it works just fine for me. Of course a 32" o/u is much shorter than the same in a auto. I the people I shoot with mostly shoot 32" or 30" Try to shoot a few ,,that's the secret. I shoot sporting ,,trap and pheasants with a 32" o/u and it has always worked out fine.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A 32 inch gun is only hard to sell if it's on a hunting gun or skeet gun, sporting guns normally have 30 inch or longer barrels. In fact around here, even 30 inch sporting guns are not easy to sell as most people want the 32's even though 30 is a well balanced length in a 686.
