Description
The Beretta 686 Sporting in 12 gauge, left hand, part number J686S1230BFL, is a genuine left handed clays gun rather than a right handed one sold to a left handed shooter. The stock is cast on for the left shoulder, which is the part almost every other maker leaves out. Barrels are 30 inches, blued with a vent rib, chambers are 3 inches, and the top rib is the wider 10 by 6 millimetre tapered sporting rib rather than the field profile.
The receiver is steel with silver engraving, and the walnut stock carries Beretta’s B-Fast adjustable comb. Five flush Optima-Choke HP tubes ship in the case, the pad is the Extralight, and the trigger is the single selective inertia unit.
What left handed actually means here
Cast is the sideways bend in a stock that brings the shooter’s eye over the rib. A right handed stock is cast off, away from the right cheek. This one is cast on, the mirror image, so a left handed shooter mounts it and looks straight down the barrels.
Shooting a right handed stock from the left shoulder pushes the eye inboard of the rib, which throws patterns to the left and is very hard to correct with technique.
Combine the correct cast with the B-Fast adjustable comb and both axes are solved: cast handles left and right, comb height handles up and down.
Left handed 686 Sportings are built in small numbers and they do not sit on shelves. If you shoot left handed and you want one, this is not a gun to think about for a month.
The Beretta 686 Sporting as a clays gun
The 10 by 6 tapered rib gives a wider, flatter sighting plane than the field rib, which makes the picture easier to repeat across a round.
Thirty inch barrels carry their weight forward, which keeps the swing moving through a crosser instead of stopping on it.
The low profile boxlock and steel action are the same architecture that has kept 680 series guns tight through decades of heavy round counts.
Conical locking lugs and replaceable shoulders mean a loose action after a hundred thousand rounds is a gunsmith job, not a write off.
Specifications
- Model: Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting, left hand, part number J686S1230BFL
- Gauge: 12
- Chamber: 3 inches
- Barrel length: 30 inches, blued with vent rib
- Top rib: 10 by 6 millimetre tapered sporting rib
- Action: over and under boxlock
- Receiver: steel, silver engraved
- Chokes: five flush Optima-Choke HP tubes
- Stock: Grade 2 walnut, cast for left handed shooters, B-Fast adjustable comb
- Length of pull: 14.38 inches
- Recoil pad: Extralight
- Trigger: single selective inertia
- Left handed: yes
Shotshell dimensions and pressures are standardized by SAAMI, and the 3 inch chambers accept 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells, though clays shooting is 2 3/4 inch work. Standard 1 1/8 ounce target loads are the sensible practice shell, and Browning BXD Upland in 5 shot covers the days you take it hunting. Set the comb on a pattern board before you shoot a round with it, and do not dry fire the gun without snap caps.
The same B-Fast Sporting build is listed in 20 gauge and 28 gauge, and the field guns are here in 12 gauge 30 inch and 12 gauge 28 inch.
Why it is worth considering
- A stock cast on for the left shoulder, which is the part most makers skip.
- A B-Fast adjustable comb, so cast and comb height are both solved rather than one of them.
- A 10 by 6 tapered sporting rib, wider and flatter than the field rib.
- Thirty inch barrels, which keep a swing moving through the target.
- The 680 series boxlock, an action that stays tight through heavy round counts.
Who it suits
This is for a left handed clays shooter who has spent years compensating for a right handed stock and has decided to stop. Right handed shooters should buy the standard Sporting, and an upland hunter will be happier with one of the lighter field builds. Every long gun we sell ships to a licensed FFL for transfer.
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