AYA or Beretta?

[Steven Adam Gray]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

I’m confused. SxS or O/U or it doesn’t matter? For SxS I’d go aYa and O/U a Citori as Kevin said. Beretta feels better to me but I’ve seen a number of issues with Berettas lately. I shot a 28g Browning 725 clays gun. Man it’s not the prettiest thing but a hoot to shoot.

Andy sir what problems are the beretta o/u facing ive considered purchasing one several times just never found the right one
Thanks, Steven

[Andy]

I’ve seen poor finish work with burrs on the ejector or a DT11, cracked forend on a 694, misaligned mid bead on a 694 (mine), rough trigger on another DT11 and poor wood to metal fit on a 687 silver pigeon. These were all new guns in the past 4-5 years. Granted the majority were fine but sure more than Perazzi, Blaser, Browning and Caesar Guerini. Cole Gun told me they have noticed more quality issues with Beretta. My feeling is when you start making every gun under the sun and all sorts of plastic guns stuff changes. I could be wrong but I’d see any beretta in person before I bought one. That’s my two cents. Oh and a 694 with unregulated barrels from the factory that had to be retuned. And that’s not a cheap gun.

[Steven Adam Gray]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

I’ve seen poor finish work with burrs on the ejector or a DT11, cracked forend on a 694, misaligned mid bead on a 694 (mine), rough trigger on another DT11 and poor wood to metal fit on a 687 silver pigeon. These were all new guns in the past 4-5 years. Granted the majority were fine but sure more than Perazzi, Blaser, Browning and Caesar Guerini. Cole Gun told me they have noticed more quality issues with Beretta. My feeling is when you start making every gun under the sun and all sorts of plastic guns stuff changes. I could be wrong but I’d see any beretta in person before I bought one. That’s my two cents. Oh and a 694 with unregulated barrels from the factory that had to be retuned. And that’s not a cheap gun.

Wow yeah a dt11 and a 694 arent cheap guns and you'd expect better for what you are paying for them even the 687 for a 3k plus gun id expect better all my browning citoris have pretty good metal fit and finish also wood fit is good as well and for the money I have 2000 in my 12ga 30 barrels cxs and almost 2800 in my feather lightning 20ga 28 inch barrels. But I guess I stick with Browning.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Steven Gray

Wow yeah a dt11 and a 694 arent cheap guns and you'd expect better for what you are paying for them even the 687 for a 3k plus gun id expect better all my browning citoris have pretty good metal fit and finish also wood fit is good as well and for the money I have 2000 in my 12ga 30 barrels cxs and almost 2800 in my feather lightning 20ga 28 inch barrels. But I guess I stick with Browning.

Don't get me wrong, Beretta's handle better than Browning's all day in my book, I'd just see the gun before buying it.

[Ed Blake]

Last week I took delivery from Millers Gunshop in Delaware a 28 gauge 30” Browning 425. It’s a lot of gun for the money and I recommend it. I also have an AyA 4/53 SxS 28 with 29” barrels. It’s a great gun too but at just under 6lbs it doesn’t handle as well as the 7lb 425.

[ArtS]

I have spent my life, it seems, buying and selling Citoris and Berettas. My favorites were always the Berettas; I almost always shoot the Citoris better. I always hunt with Berettas if using an O/U. Citoris have the weight and fit in the target models for me to shoot well. My sleeper of the bunch was a 425 Special Sporting that I shot better than any shotgun I ever owned; I stupidly sold it. The 12 Citori to me is way to heavyto carry in the field. The Citori in the subgauges are way to heavy in any form to justify. The only ones I like are the 16 ga lighter weight models. I see no advantage to carrying a 7 lb 28 ga just to say I am hunting with a 28. It is my favorite gauge and I have found that a very long and light 28 will shoot well and carry well, with the benefit of lighter shells. Past that, I will choose a 5-1/2 to 6# 20 ga over the 28. I have owned many more Berettas than Brownings but strangely enough have not bought a new Beretta in a couple of decades. I simply think that around the time that they changed their engraving techniques, the engraving quality fell through the floor and the prices skyrocketed. In the seventies even the field model carried a small amount of quality hand engraving and was an honest value. Now I always look in the used market and enjoy them more. I have Berettas from the early thirties through the mid 80's and like them all. I have sidelocks, field guns, double triggers and any number of other variations. All are accurate, durable, beautiful and shoot well.

[Double Lab]

Originally Posted by Ed Blake

Last week I took delivery from Millers Gunshop in Delaware a 28 gauge 30” Browning 425. It’s a lot of gun for the money and I recommend it. I also have an AyA 4/53 SxS 28 with 29” barrels. It’s a great gun too but at just under 6lbs it doesn’t handle as well as the 7lb 425.

That's who I bought the exact same gun from and I sold it to finance another gun. You will love it and you are correct, it's a lot of gun for the money. One of them is in my future again.

Getting back to the quality control of the Beretta's. One of the fellows in my weekly shooting group had his A400 develop a crack in the receiver. Beretta was of no help so his purchased another A400 and yesterday on it's maiden voyage it failed to feed and eject about every 10 shots. The older Beretta products were much better than what is being produced now.

[Bill Murphy]

OK, I think I understand. Berettas are bad, Brownings are good. Beretta field models have bad hand engraving. Huh? Hand engraving? I own about 17 Browning Superposed and about a half dozen Berettas and am very satisfied with all of them. My main shooting Beretta was purchased about fifty some years ago and has given me few troubles except the birds I missed.