Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�A s I mentioned in my December 2008

column, I purchased a new Beretta687 Silver Pigeon II trap combo inAugust. The gun is one of Joel

Etchen’s special runs (see his websitewww.joeletchenguns.com). Joel commis-sions these from Beretta each year. Eversince buying a top-single combo for our sonJason in 2005, I have had a fondness for

these guns and often said if I ever boughtanother trap combo for myself, it would beone of Joel’s. I thought this would be a goodopportunity to talk about choosing and set-ting up a new trap gun. It doesn’t matterwhat brand of gun you buy; you alwayswant to choose one you like and knowsomething about and then want to researcheverything you can on it.

by Ed Clapper

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As seen in the January 2009 issue of Shotgun Sports Magazine © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Visit www.shotgunsportsmagazine.com and request a free issue.

Choosing The GunBecause of my past experience with

Joel’s guns, my choice was easy. I waspleasantly surprised to find the stockson almost all of Joel’s special-order687s have 1⁄8" to 3⁄16" of cast — cast-off inthe case of right-handed stocks and cast-on for lefties. That’s important, becausea stock that has some cast will usuallyfit most people better before any adjust-ing is done than one that is neutral.

My main selection challenge becamewood figure and, when the choices areas vast as Joel’s, that can take awhile.As the photo of my friend Larry’s,Jason’s and my guns illustrates (seepage 40), they can be had as 30" or 32"over/under, 34" top single, 34" unsin-gle or a combo with a single barrel andan over/under barrel in either 34"/32"or 34"/30". I went with an “EELL”wood upgrade with 34" unsingle barreland 32" over/under barrels.

The checkering on these guns differsslightly with the wood grade. The stan-dard wood on these higher-grade guns isquite attractive. Jason’s and Larry’s gunsbear machine-cut checkering (it’s almosttoo perfect, and the lines are too straightfor it to be hand-cut) in the metric equiv-

alent of 22 lines per inch (LPI). My“EELL” wood has the equivalent of 24LPI checkering. As the number of linesof checkering per inch increases, the“diamonds” cut into the wood becomesmaller and closer together. I’m happythere are no fancy ribbons or fleur de lis,as I find that too gaudy for my taste.Both checkering styles are very comfort-able when shooting without gloves, as Ido. When I handle a gun with the morecommon 20 LPI checkering, it oftenfeels abrasive by comparison. It’s a per-sonal thing, but it can make a differencewhen you are trying out new guns.

I like the oil finish for the wood usedon these guns because minor scratchesand other damage are easier to repairthan with a polyurethane finish. It alsosets these guns apart from other trapmodels and imparts a “classicEuropean” look. Joel orders his inBeretta’s Silver Pigeon II grade, whichincludes an almost-ornate receiverengraving pattern and nicer wood.

They come in a hard-plastic case, withstock and choke wrenches and a secondrecoil pad that is 1⁄4" thinner than the onethat comes on the gun. Unsingles alsocome with a rib-adjustment tool. Littledetails like this can sway your deci-sions when choosing a gun.

Joel chose the 687 as the platform forhis guns because the newer 682 modelhas a “high-tech” theme reflected in itselliptical engraving pattern not avail-able in higher grades, and some folksprefer the more “classic” wood check-ering and receiver engraving patterns.The 682 has Beretta’s superb Optimabarrels featuring overboring and verylong chokes that cause less pellet defor-mation, and Joel specifies those for his687s. The top-single barrels also have aweighted “rib” added below the bore.The only 682 features these guns lack isthat model’s position-adjustable trigger,which can be retrofitted to any 687, ifneeded for better fit. Joel has the stockcomb made 3⁄16" lower because a lot ofhis trapshooting customers requestedthat on earlier models.

To learn more about Berettas in gen-eral, I spent the better part of a day atBeretta USA’s headquarters inAccokeek, Maryland, about 40 minutes

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Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�

The whole enchilada! The 687 Unsingle Trap Combo and all its goodies came in an ABS case.

southeast of Washington D.C., as theguest of Technical Support GroupManager Randy Bimson. I was able tofollow the production of their semiauto-matic shotguns and handguns from barstock to finished product and, althoughthere is a lot of 21st-century automationinvolved, there is also a lot of hands-onwork. I was greeted by a lot of smilingfaces, an indicator Beretta USA must bea good place to work, and it appearedsales have been good, because the plantwas running two shifts seven days a

week. As impressed as I was with thevastness of the manufacturing opera-tion, I was equally impressed by thesmall size of the repair center. Half adozen gunsmiths maintain a two tothree-week turnaround on most repairs,which speaks volumes about the lowfrequency of failures experienced byowners of the guns. I suggest everyonedo as much research as they can into thetype and brand of gun they think theywant, especially a gun you plan to use incompetition for many years.

Adjusting For Your NeedsThe comb on my new gun had been

made adjustable by Mark Shimchick,who has a stock shop in Joel’s build-

ing. I found his work to be very good,as I was able to observe him workingfor a few minutes and see some of hisfinished products. Mark furnished rub-ber spacers for the adjustable comb,something I had never seen used forthat purpose before. The posts are 7⁄16"in diameter. Flat washers in plastic ormetal in that size could be used if youdon’t want to use the rubber ones(which work fine). Once I arrive at acomb height for Singles, I make tubu-lar spacers for my combs and add a flat

spacer when I raise the comb forHandicap. That way, I can tell at aglance which way the comb is set. I’vebeen known to put my gun away aftera Handicap event without resetting thecomb to my 16-yard height and, ifspacers of the same kind were used forboth settings, the difference might notbe readily apparent during a “seniormoment.” For this gun, I used 7⁄16" inte-rior diameter PVC tubing I paintedwith metallic black spray paint to makeit easy to identify.

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This photo shows the underside ofJason’s 687 Trap Combo’s receiverand my newer model. Joel Etchenprefers to offer guns with a more clas-sic receiver engraving pattern.

Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�

Photo by Jason Clapper

Shooter tastes and needs vary.The Etchen Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon IITrap is available in over & under (single

gun), top single (single gun), unsingle(single gun) and combos with the over/under

barrel and either a top single or unsingle.

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The stock had a length-of-pull(LOP) — the measurement from theface of the trigger to the center of theface of the butt — of 141⁄2" with thethicker of the two supplied recoil padsinstalled and 141⁄4" with the thinner onefitted. The pads themselves measured3⁄4" and 1⁄2" thick, respectively. The dropat the comb — the distance from thetop of the rib to the top of the comb —is 15⁄8", and the drop at the heel — thetop of the stock where the recoil padattaches — comes in at 21⁄4". The stockhad zero degrees of pitch, so the buttwas at a 90-degree angle to the rest ofthe gun, an angle that fits most peoplebut can be changed with tapered spac-ers, differently shaped recoil pads or,of course, a saw. The offset, as I men-tioned earlier, can pretty much becounted upon to be 1⁄8". The pistol gripwas adorned with a slight palm swell.

The receiver’s top tang houses thecombination barrel selector and safety.Moving it to the left (one red dotexposed) fires the bottom barrel first;moving it to the right (two red dotsexposed) makes the top barrel fire first,and sliding it rearward engages thesafety, which is not automatic (a verygood thing on a target gun). I like this

setup because it is easy to see and oper-ate. The triggers are set by inertia,which means the recoil of the first bar-rel firing sets the second trigger so thatbarrel can be fired.

The unsingle barrel had anadjustable rib with 10 forward-slopingpickets. The gun’s point-of-impact(POI) can be changed with a mecha-nism at the muzzle end of the rib —moving the rib down moves the POI upand vice-versa. There is a lockingscrew in the nose of the rib’s hangerand several screws at the rear of the ribthat must be loosened before thethumbwheel in the rib adjuster can berotated to move the front of the rib upor down. All those locking screwsmight seem redundant, but thisadjustable rib doesn’t ring or rattleevery time the action is closed. Anextra plus is the added support whichhelps prevent the aluminum rib frombeing bent during handling. All screwsuse the same Allen driver, and a small

tool came with my gun. Anyone whoreads my articles regularly knows I ama big fan of adjustability.

The overall weight of the 34"/32"combo is 8 pounds, 8 ounces with theover/under barrel and 2 ounces morewith the unsingle. I like a heavier gunand, as I get older, I find a slightly butt-heavy gun more comfortable to shoot,so I added 16 ounces to the stock. Thatbrought my gun to 9 pounds, 12 ounceswith the over/under barrel and 10pounds even with the unsingle. Weightdistribution is a very personal thingand only you can decide what worksbest for you after experimenting withdifferent guns and configurations.

The nominal bore diameter seems tobe .730" on these guns, with a maxi-mum of .732". I say that because thenine bores of the three guns I measuredwere between those two numbers.Joel’s guns come with Beretta’s flush-fitting Optima choke tubes, and theyare some of the best factory chokesI’ve seen. I don’t need more than theImproved Modified (IM) to paint thesky with inkballs. Since his experiencewas similar to mine, Joel changed thechoke selection for his guns from thestandard issue of one ImprovedCylinder (IC), one Modified, one IMand two Full tubes. Joel specifies twoIM and one Full. Joel is one ofPennsylvania’s best trapshooters and aformer state Doubles champion — ifhe says you just don’t have much needfor a Full Optima choke with his guns,that’s good enough for me!

My actual choke constrictions,given a bore diameter of .732", wereIC .008", Modified .016", IM .026"and Full .038". The parallel — unta-pered portion at the muzzle end of thechoke — on all four tubes seemed fair-ly consistent at 1⁄2". To me, that is asubstantial amount of parallel, but theoverall length of these chokes allowsfor that much parallel without creatingan excessively steep tapered portionand apparently causes the chokes topattern tighter than their markingswould indicate.

For the last six years, in all my shot-guns except one (the one with theHastings High-Rib Trap Barrel), I’veused chokes from Wright’s Gunsmithsin Pinckneyville, Illinois (see theirwebsite: www.wrightsgunsmiths.com).Wright’s doesn’t make choke tubes forthe Hastings High-Rib Trap Barrel (seepage 42) on my Remington 1100Tournament Trap. Stu sent me tubes

Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�

On the bottom is my receiver with Allem’s Roller Release trigger system. On topis the factory pull-trigger system with the powerful coil-type hammer-springassemblies to drive the hammers. If you don’t need a release trigger, just be surethe trigger pull on whatever gun you choose works with your shooting style.

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for the new gun’s over/under barrelwith Doubles in mind and his sugges-tions for Singles and 27-yard Handicapchoking for the unsingle. All threetubes I decided to use printed nice,even patterns, and the tighter constric-tions gave slightly hotter cores, whichis what you would expect. There wereno gaping holes or useless fringes inany of the patterns I shot. I like extend-ed tubes because placing the muzzle ona leather toe pad between shots doesnot rub the bluing from the barrel oradjustable rib mechanism, which is

also flush with the muzzle. Beretta’sOptima chokes are very long — theymight be the longest ones available —which makes the taper much gentler onthe shot, improving patterns and reduc-ing the amount of plastic scrubbedfrom the wads. Being extended,Wright’s chokes are a little heavierthan the Optima tubes.

The chokes I will be using most inmy gun’s over/under barrel areWright’s #5 (.020" constriction) in thebottom barrel and Wright’s #7 (.028")in the top barrel. The unsingle willcarry a Wright’s #8 tube (.032"). Jasonuses Beretta’s Optima chokes and has

his over/under barrel choked IC/IMand IM in his top single barrel.Personal taste, style and testing on apatterning board will help you decidewhat you want to use.

I had the stock on my gun shortenedto yield a LOP of 141⁄8" with a recoil padadjustable for height and cant. I decid-

ed replacing the recoil pads that camewith the gun was a “must” for me. I usethe “Rocker” pad by Kick-eez on mostof my shotguns because its convexshape fits my shoulder pocket and chestbetter than a flat or concave pad and itdoesn’t have a “tractor-tread” face tochafe my skin when shooting in a short-sleeved shirt. Again, personal prefer-ence is the key here.

The pull triggers on Joel’s guns arevery nice and break at about 4 poundswith fairly good repeatability. Havingshot nothing but release triggers for trap-shooting for the last 14 years meant achange had to be made on my gun.

Based upon their reputation and my pastexperience with their release triggers, Iselected Allem’s Guncraft (See theirwebsite: www.allemsguncraft.com) nearZionsville, Pennsylvania, to install dou-ble release triggers. John and NancyAllem and their sons John Jr. and Mikeare the only employees of their 40-year-old business, so you always know withwhom you will be speaking when youcall. John and Nancy handle the gunsales and travel to Europe to buy high-grade wood blanks direct from Turkishvendors. They have them machine-

inletted for the receiver to which the fin-ished stock will be fitted. From there,Mike shapes the wood to fit the client,checkers and finishes it. The examplesof his work I saw were gorgeous.

John Jr. is the inventive type. A signin his shop says: “If it doesn’t exist,invent it. If it does exist, make it bet-ter.” He recently developed a release-trigger mechanism called the AllemRoller Release employing a roller inplace of the usual release sear that allbut eliminates wear and permits thetrigger to function much more smooth-ly, as well as offering a couple addi-tional and very valuable benefits. The

Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�

Here you see a left-side view of my Beretta’s monobloc and the wonderfully simple and efficient ejector system. The replaceable bar-rel shoulder helps ensure proper barrel-to-receiver fit. The nicely jeweled monobloc walls add to the overall good looks of the gun.

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speed with which a trigger releases isvery subjective, as some shooters likeless reduction in finger pressure beforeit releases than others. With conven-tional sears, removing metal from themating surfaces changes the speed, butmetal removed cannot be put backwithout a lot of costly extra work andpossibly some new parts. On manyguns, installing a release triggerrequires sufficient changes to the lock-work converting the gun back to a pulltrigger may be difficult or impossiblewithout affecting trigger operation.The speed of the Allem Roller Release(for which a patent is pending) can bechanged by simply changing rollersthat come in five diameters and can bechanged by the gun owner with just ascrewdriver once the stock is removedfrom the receiver. The gun can bechanged back to a pull trigger by sim-ply removing the roller. Allem’s has aregulation trap field behind their shopwhere stocks, triggers and guns can betest-fired — very handy!

John Jr. fitted my releases with hisNumber Two rollers, so I can go onestep faster and three steps slower if Iever need to, but after about 500 tar-gets, I can’t see any need for a change.

The triggers are crisp, fast and smooth,and the amount of forward fingermovement to set the second release isvery minimal — just the way I like it.If you don’t need a release trigger, ofcourse, you won’t need to go throughthese changes. Just make sure the gunyou choose has a trigger pull you likeand that fits with your style of shoot-ing. You can often have work done to atrigger by the manufacturer’s customshop or a gunsmith.

With the obvious exception of thetrigger, adapting myself to the new gunhas been very easy because I took thetime to adapt it to me before shootingit. I don’t believe in taking a patterningboard’s word for where and how a gunis shooting because I shoot at movingtargets differently than a patterningboard. I used my 870 as an example soI would set my new gun’s POI as highas I needed. Paper shows I have mynew Beretta shooting about 120%high. I have mispointed a target in the

past or one dropped so that my beadwas covering it when I shot and it stillbroke, something that would not bepossible if I shot with the samemechanics I employ when shooting atstationary patterning sheets. This gunhas been the easiest to dial in of anyI’ve owned and the majority of my bro-ken targets are being center-punchedwith authority.

As I continue to work with the gun, Ifind more things I could tweak. Theraised portion of the stock’s combcould be an inch or so shorter, as thereis very little “level” wood between itand the butt, making shortening thestock a challenge if very much woodhas to be removed. Since no onecheeks a stock that far back, the extracomb length really is not needed. Andthe pistol grip could be extended per-haps 1⁄4" to 1⁄2" further so all of my widehand could fit onto it. Those are prettyminor complaints. Actually shootingthe gun is what separates the wheatfrom the chaff, and I am really enjoy-ing my time on the trap field with thisgun. This might just be the most com-fortable gun I’ve ever owned. Youcan’t ask for more than that! Good luckwith your gun shopping. SS

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Choosing & Adjusting

A NEW GUN�

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