Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Cabelas today

Popped in today.

They had several Beretta 686's on the shelf. Couple of 20ga, 28" barrels and a 12 ga 30" barrel.

I was always a Citori guy but danged if that 20 wasn't nice and lively in the mitts. The corresponding 12ga felt like a 4x4 fence post and heavy in comparison. Shocking actually.

I've never put a lot of rounds through their O/U but seemed to be a dandy choice for upland hunting. 2k+ on the price tag...

When you consider people are paying $1500 or more for autos, $2000 is probably fair. My Beretta OU is 50 years old and still shooting.

I think it is as well.

Beretta 686 20 ga with 28' barrels is a fine hunting gun. Mine +20 years old and an excellent shotgun. 2 barrel set, but was never impressed with the 26"barreled 28 ga. Shoot the longer 20 ga barrels a lot better. Used mine for quail, chukars, grouse, huns and pheasants.

Locally, I think it would be excellent on our grouse, woodcock and rabbits. Most pheasant are game farm or drive west to the Dakotas.

Was just really impressed with how it felt and how poorly the same one in 12ga felt back to back.

Teal, I agree on the 686 20 ga handling...I had a 686 12 ga aluminum action that was very light but a "pig" vs my 686 20 ga that was only slightly lighter. The 12 is long gone but the 20 is still around. It carries about as well as a shotgun can and I have a couple of nice 20 ga SxS sidelocks too. Good luck with yours if and when you buy it.

I really like the way Beretta 20' and 28's feel.
I shot a 687EELL 12 in competition for several years, but can't say it felt as good as the 20' and 28's do

I shoot my wife's 28 ga 682 with 28" barrels on occasion. It handles like a pig on a shovel for me but somehow targets break and birds drop when I pull the trigger. I shoot my Browning Cynergy just as well and it is more enjoyable to shoot. I can't say anything bad about the Beretta as I do shoot it well but it seems to take more effort. Go figure...

I have a 20 ga Cynergy and had a 28 ga Cynergy as well. It is most definitely all about gun fit for sure.
I do prefer 30 or 32 inch barrels over all others

I'm with you on barrel length. 32 for most of my life, if only because they didn't make a 34...

And while it was tempting to buy - I couldn't do so without picking up a 20ga Browning to compare how it feels. Just had too much fun/luck with those in the past to not give it a shot.

Compared to the Browning I just swung - the Browning fits me better, feels better and is quite a bit cheaper - not that I found the Beretta to be over priced.

Better wood on the Citori too.

My absolute favorite 28 ga was a Citori XS with 30" barrels. It was a ruffed grouse/woodcock killing machine and did very well on early season prairie grouse and ptarmigan. I used it in 20 ga sporting clays events as I shot it so well. I really hated turning that gun back in.

the 28 ga Cynergy is one that I wish I could get back. Should have never sold it

I erred when I bought my first "American pair" many years ago. I bought a 20 gauge and a 12 gauge Beretta BL-4, both with 3" chambers. The 12 gauge had 30" barrels and the 20 gauge had 26". Should have been the other way around. The 12 was muzzle heavy and the 20 was muzzle light.

We get so soon old and so late smart.

I live not too awful far from the national headquarters of Bass pro in Springfield Missouri. Years ago they were pretty competitive on prices of things I enjoyed. Probably still are on a fishing stuff. Nowadays most of the time guns are priced a little bit too high. And the last couple years reloading equipment and supplies have been priced outrageously high. I have another wholesaler way closer to me than Bass pro is that usually is significantly cheaper anyway and personal friends.. now that said just last week
I was in the fine gun room looking at a few things and they had just received a new shipment of a few shotguns over and under. I was checking a few of them out and talking to the guy working there that day and some of them were of the CZ line one in particular I was on was a CZ All American and he kept talking and these were bought by their gun buyer as blemishes. And I asked him how much this particular one would be he looked it up and told me why s*** it was exactly the same price as full retail. That kind of left me choking what the gun but I will buy one that is not a blemish for the same money for sure.

“Pig on a shovel?” I’ve handled a few of those but never put it quite that way. 😉

I’ve bought and sold a few Beretta O/U shotguns. Finally settled on a 12, 20, 28, and 410 SP1. I really like them, especially the small gauges on doves.

That 28 ga Beretta fights me every step of the way when I shoot it. I don't know why that is as I've shot a lot of Beretta shotguns and they have all been much better handling. My wife likes the gun and shoots it well so I guess that is their way to keep me from taking the gun back. I use her 391 as my slug gun so there may be some truth in that idea...

Fit is key.
I know back in the 80's-90's Beretta use to make (and they may still, I have not kept up) a #1,#2 and #3 stock set for their 682 series O/U's. I was heavy into my skeet shooting competition days back then and would pick on up and shoot it great. The next one I would try not as good and yet another one and it would feel like the "Pig on a Shovel".
I ask someone why that was as I was shooting a Browning at the time, but the 682's were very popular at the time. That is when I found out about the different stock. I wound up getting a Beretta 687EELL and shot it for several years before moving on to K80's.
Barrel length is also key, to me anything in an O/U feels odd with shorter than 30" barrels. I started shooting competition with 26" barrels and it did not take me long (about 3 or 4 months) to switch to 28 barrel. Then I went to 30" barrels and found the feel I was looking for. I now shoot 32" on most of my O/U's. Even for hunting, I prefer 30" barrels, but I am a big guy and it is what I am use to.