I can add some info about the Beschi "parts" guns.
I intentionally bought a .410 Beschi gun. Although I paid more than what I would have for a 20ga Beschi, it was still worth it to me, since decent .410 guns bring such a premium.
Some other obvious ways to tell a Beschi 4E from a ICD 4E:
The wood quality of a Beschi will most likely be basic straight grain
The buttplate may be a 3/8" thick wood plate.
The checkering may be simple point patterns on the grip and forend instead of the proper fleur de le checkering for a 4E
The barrels may be marked "Armi Beschi, Gardone V.T., Italy"
Add those to the give-aways such as the stippled or X'd out Ithaca Classic Doubles marking in the ring on the bottom of the frame and the 470xxx information.
As another reference point, my Beschi is 47014x
So, onto some problems with the Beschi I bought.
1) The first thing I noticed was the chambers were really tight with common factory ammo from various makers. There was significant resistance to inserting 3" shells, even though it measured 3" chambers. Each shell had to be pressed in all the way up against the ejectors.
2) the tight chambers prevented ejection of the empties
3) the toplever was unusually hard to push over. The spring pressure was very high.
4) the toplever would stick after firing and extreme pressure was needed to push the lever over to open the gun
5) the center of the point of impact of the right barrel was about 8" left at 30 yrds
6) the choke tapers were very rough.
Here's what I did.
1) recut the chambers with a brand new chamber reamer. A few minutes of work if you have the tools
2) same as above
3) I disassembled the gun and clipped the obviously too powerful coil spring on the toplever
4) I polished the hole and guide for the toplever spring.
5) I worked metal off of one side of the choke with polishing sticks I made from wood wrapped with wet or dry paper of various grits
6) I polished the chokes and tapers with a tool I made.
Although I've addressed all the issues above fairly quickly, I wouldn't recommend one of these guns for someone that would have to pay for gunsmithing to fix these problems. I doubt I have more than 6-8 hrs of work in this gun.
Again, I wouldn't have gone with a Beschi parts gun if I wanted a 20ga gun, but nice handling .410s in this price range are limited, I like the handling and weight (6lbs), and certainly a real .410 ICD would be very pricey. I'm satisfied with my gun for the money. But buyer beware.
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03-11-2012, 05:49 PM
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