Description
The Beretta 686 Sporting in 20 gauge, part number J686S2030, is the fixed stock clays build of the small bore 686. Barrels are 30 inches, blued with a vent rib, chambers are 3 inches, and the receiver is steel with silver engraving. What separates it from the field guns is the rib. The top rib is the wider 10 by 6 millimetre tapered sporting profile rather than the 6 by 6 field rib, and the barrels are joined by a vented middle rib that sheds heat over a long round.
The stock is European walnut with a fixed comb, five flush Optima-Choke HP tubes ship in the case, and the trigger is the single selective inertia unit.
A 20 gauge that is built to shoot rounds, not birds
Most 20 gauges are made light because hunters carry them. This one is not. It is built with clays weight and clays barrels, which is a very different gun that happens to share a gauge.
A 20 bore throws three quarters to an ounce of shot rather than an ounce and an eighth, and across a hundred targets that difference is felt in the shoulder and the neck long before it shows on the scorecard.
Thirty inch barrels on the scaled 20 gauge receiver land near the weight of a 28 inch 12 bore, so you keep the swing and lose the recoil.
At typical sporting distances a well patterned 20 gives away far less than most shooters assume. What it gives back is the ability to shoot the second hundred as well as the first.
What the Beretta 686 Sporting brings to the station
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.
The vented middle rib is functional rather than decorative. Hot barrels throw mirage, and mirage between you and the target is the last thing you want late in a round.
The low profile boxlock, conical locking lugs and replaceable shoulders are what keep 680 series actions tight through decades of heavy round counts.
A fixed comb is lighter, stiffer and one less thing to check, which suits a shooter whose dimensions already match the standard stock.
Specifications
- Model: Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I Sporting 20 GA, part number J686S2030
- Gauge: 20
- Chamber: 3 inches
- Barrel length: 30 inches, blued with vent rib and vented middle 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: European walnut, fixed comb
- Length of pull: 14.38 inches
- Recoil pad: Extralight
- Trigger: single selective inertia
- Left handed: no
Shotshell dimensions and pressures are standardized by SAAMI, and the 3 inch chambers take both 2 3/4 and 3 inch twenty gauge shells, though clays shooting is 2 3/4 inch work. Federal Top Gun 7/8 ounce 7.5 shot is the practice load and Browning BXD Upland in 5 shot covers the days you take it hunting. Do not dry fire the gun without snap caps, and let the barrels cool between rounds in warm weather.
Shooters who want comb height adjustment should compare the 20 gauge B-Fast build, smaller framed shooters should look at the Vittoria stock version, the 12 gauge is here in 30 inch and 32 inch, and the small bore field guns are the 26 inch and 30 inch Silver Pigeons.
Why it is worth considering
- Clays barrels and clays weight on a 20 gauge frame, rather than a hunting gun pressed into service.
- A 10 by 6 tapered sporting rib, wider and flatter than the field rib.
- A vented middle rib, so heat mirage does not blur the picture late in a round.
- Five flush chokes in the case, so the gun covers more than one presentation out of the box.
- The 680 series boxlock, an action that stays tight through heavy round counts.
Who it suits
This suits a sporting clays or skeet shooter who fits a standard stock and has decided that a hundred targets a week is easier in 20 bore. Anyone who needs comb height adjustment should buy the B-Fast version, and a walking upland hunter will prefer the lighter, shorter field guns. Every long gun we sell ships to a licensed FFL for transfer.
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