Beretta Silver Pigeon I Sporting Over/Under Shotgun – 12 Gauge

Description
DESCRIPTION: Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting
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The Beretta® Silver Pigeon™ I Sporting offers all the functional features of Beretta’s premium over-and-under competition shotguns at a particularly attractive price. It is built around the best-in-class 686 action, which is a compact and low-profile design that is extremely strong. The vented mid-rib Optima-Bore®/Optima HP-Choke® barrels with mid-bead are lightweight and place the shotgun’s point of balance right at the hinge-pin, providing a lively feel in the hands and natural pointability. The Silver Pigeon I includes 2 conical lugs mid-action for improved strength and maneuverability for optimal competition performance and longevity. With its select walnut stock and new scroll engraving, the Silver Pigeon I Sporting won’t fail to turn heads at the range thanks to its unmistakable Beretta looks.

Enhanced scroll engraving
Select-walnut stock
Improved strength and maneuverability
Legendary 686 action
Optima-Bore/Optima-Choke Barrels with mid-beadThe Beretta Silver Pigeon 1 over-and-under shotgun is a perfect blend of beauty and performance, the meticulous detail of it’s appearance is mirrored by their flawless performance in the field. When you take a Beretta Silver Pigeon into the field you equip yourself with the first name in consistent over-and-under performance the preferred hunting companion of millions. Rich scrollwork on the receiver, the catching Beretta logo and an elegant nickel finish set the 686 Silver Pigeon S apart, as do its superior performance. The slimmed stock with accentuated comb and Schnabel fore-end are both finely checkered complementing the 686 Silver Pigeon S’ stylish appearance.At the core of the 686 Silver Pigeon I is our legendary 680-series receiver. This low profile, positive-locking, low-maintenance action ensures that your off-hand stays as close as possible to the bore-axis; in this manner, wherever you point is exactly where the shot goes. The receiver is embellished with a scroll-work pattern by our most experienced Master Engravers in Gardone, Italy.Sporting vs Field GunsThese sporting shotguns do not have automatic safeties, when the barrels are opened and loaded the safety will not automatically engage as a field gun would, allowing for uninterrupted high volume sport shooting. The barrels are typically longer (30″ to 32″) and the material between the barrels is ported between to permit for a faster swing on the range.
Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting 28 gauge and .410 gauge over and under shotgun
Small calibers, big demand…
Originally initiated a few years ago by some small gun-making companies in a bid to find new market niches, the “fashion” for small-caliber, functional shotguns conceived for hunting and sports shooting alike quickly turned into a frenzy.

Not just a passing fad: that’s a true passion we have here, with more and more hunters adopting it as a real “philosophy of life” based on concepts such as the “sports” as a challenge against themselves and their preys alike (either animals or targets), and the ethics thereof, including self-imposed limits in the scoring or killing possibilities as well as to the quantity of lead and other materials left around after the trip to the range or at the field.

More of the factors that made the supposedly “passing fad” of small-caliber shotguns become a mainstay of gunmaking, hunting and sports shooting around the world include modern manufacturing technologies and materials in the ammunition industry − making small-caliber shotshells such as 28 gauge and .410 gauge way more efficient than they could ever dream to be only a few years ago − and the evolution of the shotguns themselves, in both manufacturing and performance: from dedicated breechblocks to optimized triggers, small-caliber shotguns are now mostly extremely well-built machines, if not outright jewels.

Of course, they require some additional shooting skills from the shooter, but that’s what they’re all about: the true essence of sports an an exquisite human challenge concept.

Small caliber over-and-under, by Beretta
Introducing the Beretta’s 686 Silver Pigeon I over-and-under shotgun here would be presumptuous and pleonastic: that’s a milestone of high-quality over-and-under shotguns we have here! Is there really somebody that doesn’t know it yet?

More appropriately, we would rather hereby introduce two peculiar small-caliber versions of this true masterpiece of the Italian gunmaking tradition, chambered for two extremely popular small-caliber shotshells such as 28 gauge and .410 gauge, also known as “36 gauge” in Europe.

Two distinct features meet the beholder’s eye immediately: the buttstock, coming with an adjustable cheek riser and available in custom lenghts, just like most top level sporting shotguns; and the barrels, whose lenghts (along with the ventilated barrel ribs) match the quintessential specifics of sporting and compak sporting clay pidgeon shooting specialties − basically a skeet shooting specialty that attempt to emulate a typical hunting situation, albeit with enhanced difficulty.

Who are they for?
It’s easy to find at least three different categories of hunters and sports shooters who may be interested to acquire a Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting shotgun:

Veteran hunters looking for new emotions and experiences.
Younger shooters looking for a funny and yet effective training tool to improve their shooting skills.
Wise and intelligent women, devoted to hunting, who may find the mild recoil of the 28 gauge and .410 gauge ammunition convenient.
Review: Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting
Built on the company’s popular 686 action, the Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I has become one of the best-selling over-under shotguns in the nation. Its pair of mid-action, conical locking lugs provide it the kind of lockup strength the company is known for, as well as maintaining a low profile to place a shooter’s eye closer to the support hand plane—geometry designed to improve eye-hand coordination.

The timeless looks match that long-lasting performance, a combination we’ve come to expect from Beretta. The receiver has artfully done scroll engraving and the walnut stock and Schnabel fore-end are finely checkered. Add the furniture’s oil finish with the other flourishes it is the kind of shotgun destined to become a family heirloom.

Models are available in 12, 20 and 28 gauge, as well as .410 bore. The latter chamberings have their receivers scaled down proportionately, shaving weight and providing a commensurate improvement in ability to swing on target.

Regardless of the version selected, MSRP for any brand-new Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I is $2,350. Each chamber up to 3″ shotshells, with the exception of the 28 gauge, which can digest 2 3/4″ shells.

They come with a choice of 26″, 28″ and 30″ cold-hammer-forged barrels for the 12-, 20- and 28-gauge models. In the .410 bore you can choose a length of either 26″ or 28″. The shotguns employ the Beretta Mobilchoke System. The safety is located on the tang as well as the barrel selector.