beretta smooth bore

[sdloader]

Experts,
I'm hope somebody can help me on this one. I just received a Berreta Tricentennial model 1100 O/U 12 ga. It was make in 1980 to celebrate 300 years of Beretta arms. It is complete in the box with complete kit (cleaning, powder horn, shot bag, etc.) Does anyone have any info, How many were made, value, etc? It is a very unique gun and am just starting my search for info so I cam straight to the experts. Thanks for any help.

 

[Harddog]

Apparently they made a ton of them. They originally sold in the $350-$450 range and they didn't sell very well becasue it didn't take long before they were being sold for as little as $100-$150. I suspect there are still a bunch of them in somebody's backstock because they didn't really sell very well for the deep discount price either.

Randy Hedden

 

[AJFedak]

Actually you will find that if it is in good shape with all the accessories the price can reach up to $1200-$1500 dollars. Track of the Wolf has them once in awhile. I bought one unfired and it was $750.00. Currently I own 3 of them.I use them for skeet, sporting clays, waterfowl and upland game hunting.

Every now and then you can find a nice one in the $400-$500 range.

The biggest problem is keeping the flash channel to the bottom barrel clean. Do your maintenence and it should be a good shooter.

Be careful of the $100-$200 dollar versions. ASM received permission from Beretta to sell the O/U as a kit gun. The barrels are thicker and the fit isn't all that great. The breech hooks don't fit tight.

They are easy to spot, no Beretta markings on the barrel and the barrels have thicker walls.

 

[silverfox]

Right now on the gun auctions there are a couple claimed to be new or almost new. One in the box and one not and they are in the $700 to $800 range.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[benvenuto]

several colleagues at my club have them, meant to be good competition guns with one proviso (stated above) that a bit of extra attention is paid to keeping the channel to the bottom barrel clean.

 

[bub524]

Just a recent post from another unmentioned site. FYI

The Beretta O/U repro Shotgun came on the market in 1980 to mark 300 years of Beretta gun making .
Most were in 12 gage with 30inch barrels and came complete with powder and shot flask , nipple and combined breech plug key {wrench} and a complete cleaning kit.
These guns had many faults which needed to be rectified the main ones were the locks which had poor mainsprings and needed reharding, also the full internal lock parts needed tuning in ,the hammers on some needed adjusting to hit the nipple square.
On the barrels a big fault on some was the allen screw in the bottom barrel this on some developed a gas leak which in turn burnt a hole in the for end of the stock The stock was just plain walnut on most with no figure or colour.the ramrod on the gun were so thin that using them would surely break
These when they first came on the UK market retailed at £350 sterling the draw back with this was you could purchase a sound shooting original for less money so many dealers were left with guns on their hands and had to drop the price.
When the price did fall I purchased a pair and customized them ,tuned in the locks and stained the stocks.I use these guns regularly for game shooting and they now give me trouble free shooting, for game I use a load of 2.3/4 drms of FFg to 1/1/8 oz of No 4 shot for pheasant and 6 or 7 shot for pigeon or pest control.
I have enclosed a photo of my pair of Beretta O/U.

 

[rayb]

Have one .

It can be sort of finiky, be sure to keep everything clean, and you'll do ok.

Spend some time and get a good fit on the caps to insure it fires well.

There was a "fix" to improve the firing that has been published in Muzzle Blasts and then on this forum last year or so.

Spend some time with it at the pattern board, it should do ok for you.

Shoot it and enjoy.

rayb

 

[Bear Rider]

A question for those of you who shoot these guns regularly.

Have you replaced the ramrod? If so, what are you using?

 

[varsity07840]

I used the one on mine, but only because I used
wonder wads over the powder and shot. It is totally useless if you use conventional card wads.
When using them at the range, I used a range rod. In the field I tried a three piece affair but screwing it togeather for every reload was a pain, so I switched wads. By the way, my gun was an ASM kit. If the barrel walls were thicker on the ASM, I'd hate to see what they were on the Beretta. The gun performed pretty well. Some have had ignition problems with the lower barrel, but I didn't. The half cock positions were lousy. If you really squeezed on them they'd let go. I eventually put a turtle front and leaf rear sight
on it and turned it into roundball gun. It shot patched .690 balls rather well.

Duane