Gun

BERETTA 682 GOLD E

EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS
The new 682 has striking looks. Richard Rawlingson looks to see if the performance matches the packaging

It seems hard to come to terms with the fact that Beretta's 682 - the company's crucial mid-range competition model - is nearly 20 years old. It seems no time at all since the likes of Barry Simpson and of course George Digweed were using the original version to clock up a stream of victories, but time moves on. The new gun is the latest in the evolutionary process which has now seen four distinct phases of the 682's life. The Supersport marked the first major change and was itself replaced in 1995 by the Gold with its distinctive 'Greystone' finish. Now the Gold itself has evolved.

In truth so much has altered on the new gun that Beretta must have been tempted to go for a completely new name. They decided instead to hold on to the brand heritage and probably with justification. With a completely new model - the DT10 Trident - also hitting the shops this summer (of which more in a later issue), there would be the real danger of customer confusion.

Beretta are making great play of the fact that this is not just a cosmetic makeover. Improvements we are told have been made on three fronts - design, ergonomics and performance. It has certainly resulted in a package crammed with features.

The Range

Beretta plan to make the Gold E a major contender in every branch of the sport and have announced seven distinct models for sporting, Olympic and American skeet, and four trap guns - Olympic and American (with raised rib), Double Trap and Helice. Not all however will be coming to Britain. GMK will list the sporter in three barrel lengths (28,30 and 32") plus the two main trap models and the skeet version. In addition to the detail differences, each model will have quite separate handling characteristics. The sporters are designed to be very neutral, balancing exactly on the pin, while the skeet gun has slightly stock-heavy balance. The trap models are biased forward, the Olympic gun marginally for speed of handling, while the American trap gun has a distinct nose-down balance combined with a high rib.

Our test gun is a sporter, likely to be by far the most important on both sides of the Atlantic.

Technical Overview

The 682 story has been all about shedding bulk and weight. Take one of the early guns and put it alongside the new one and you will see -and feel - an immediate difference. The latest guns are slimmer and sleeker all round and the scales confirm that impression. An early sporter would have weighed in at 8½lb (3.86kg) or more; the new model is nearly a pound lighter.

This process started with the slimmer Supersport, but it is in the barrel department that the latest progress has been made. The 30" barrels on the test gun weigh 1350g (just under 3lb) and that had me checking back to the section on guns in my biography of George Digweed. I remembered Chris Potter telling me how they had searched for the lightest barrels sets they could find for George's guns in 1988 before settling on weights of 1530g. The difference now of 180g (nearly 6½oz) is quite substantial. Much of it has been saved by removing all the mid rib from the area hidden underneath the fore end and ventilating the remainder.

There is however much more of interest in the barrel department than just weight. The most obvious is sticking out of the end in the form of a completely new choke system called Optima-Choke®. Clearly intending to beat the after-market choke makers at their own game, Beretta have come up with a new design of long, thin-wall choke tubes which protrude about 20mm from the muzzles. They have been given colour coded bands, rather like the Seminole system, to identify the chokes in use. Beretta's normal factory chokes are better than most and these are well up to specialist standards in terms of quality of machining.

Don't imagine however that you can update your existing Beretta with a set of the new chokes - they won't fit - and that gives you a clue to the other major departure on this gun. The literature talks of new 'Optima-Bore' barrels, with an internal profile 'studied specifically to smooth the felt recoil'. Running the bore gauge through them reveals extended forcing cones followed by bores of .731". This is significant because Beretta - along with most of the Italian trade - normally choose to leave their bores on the tight side of the nominal 12-bore dimension of .729". I would expect to see around .724" as the norm. 'Optima-Bore' therefore represents a significant degree of over-boring compared to a traditional Beretta. Less charitably you might say that the company are now conforming to what has elsewhere been the accepted 12-bore dimension for many years! This system is available on sporters and American trap and skeet models only, so Beretta clearly do not feel it appropriate for disciplines confined to UIT 24 gram rules.

Other features on the barrels are a single small white bead and a tapered (10-7mm) ventilated top rib. The latter has a diamond cross-cut pattern when viewed from above but appears as straight lines when viewed along the rib towards the light. This aids pointing and accentuates the taper. Hinge pins and barrel shoulders are replaceable, although experience suggest many tens of thousands of cartridges are necessary to show any appreciable wear on this well-proven action.

Coming to the ergonomics area of the design, the eye is immediately drawn to the chequering of grip and fore end. In fact chequering is a misnomer because the design is a pattern of ellipses cut by laser. The effect is rather like the pimples on a table tennis bat and very effective. The grip itself is more open in radius than I recall and better for it, spoilt only by the inclusion of a palm swell which always feels out of place to me on a sporting gun. The trigger is both adjustable to three different positions and also interchangeable. A blade canted for left handed use is included in the kit along with a set of spare springs and strikers. The trigger itself is mechanical not inertia operated.

Following Browning's lead, Beretta have introduced adjustable stock systems to some of the Gold E models, using an exclusive mechanism made from a lightweight carbon-reinforced polyamide material. This incorporates a memory feature which retains settings after the unit has been disassembled and a simple system of cast adjustment. Our test gun came with a standard stock so I have not had a chance to play with it yet. GMK tell me that it will be available on both trap and sporting guns as an extra cost item, adding about £175 to the recommended list price of £1870.

Cosmetics

Once again Beretta have teamed up with Guigiaro Design, who were responsible for last year's new Urika semi-auto. They have again come up with striking cosmetics for the new gun. The action features contrasting panels of matt and polished electroless nickel with a pattern of bold swirls and gold Beretta badge and name. The styling cues are all very much from other sports equipment rather than traditional gunmaking and seem to be a conscious effort to give the gun a contemporary feel. It will certainly limit any cross-over into game shooting for this is now an uncompromising competition gun. It will also polarise opinion I suspect in a way that a more conventional and bland design would not. I personally find it rather striking but wonder how dated it might look five or six years down the line.

Dark and boldly-figured wood is used and it is finished with a new gloss oil finish. This I confess I do not like, looking to me at least like the worst of both worlds - neither glossy enough to be a good lacquer, nor traditional enough to be a good oil finish. It lacks the tactile quality of a good hand-rubbed oil finish.

Two soft rubber heel pads (20 and 25mm) are supplied with the gun, completing a very comprehensive package, all of which is housed in an innovative new gun case also designed by Guigiaro. This includes two moulded handles, one in the conventional place and one at the end - a real 'why didn't someone think of that before' feature which makes the case much easier to handle in tight spaces like a car boot. The battle to add value to guns in this price range is really hotting up these days. Long gone is the era of a cardboard box and  cheap 50p choke key. Now we get the fancy case and accessories kit previously the province only of the top of the range models.

On Test

UK specification sporters will stay with the stock dimensions that have become the accepted standard on all Berettas with drop of 35mm at comb and 55mm at heel. The length is 373mm (14¾"). These are sensible standard dimensions, especially as 'non-standard' shooters will have the option of the adjustable stock to obtain perfect fit.

The handling is very much on the fast side, noticeable particularly on tight angle quartering targets. Anyone used to the typically barrel-heavy early models would not recognise this gun. Whether it has gone too far the other way will always be a matter of personal taste, but there is no denying that a significant proportion of sporting shooters like some weight out front. I feel that the company may have been influenced by American tastes in setting up this gun.

Mechanical function was faultless, with the triggers a delight. There is absolutely no slack at all in the mechanism and the pulls are very crisp - as good as you will get anywhere. The first barrel fires at 3¾lb, the second at just over 4½ lb. Sadly a very tight schedule did not allow time for detailed testing of the new choke system, although a quick trip to the pattern plate gave no cause for alarm and subjectively they inspired plenty of confidence out on the layout. I hope to bring you a more detailed test in the near future. As to the claims of smoother recoil from the new bore profile, no objective test is possible because of all the variables involved. Certainly recoil is not unpleasant but at the end of the day the gun still weighs just over 7½lb and will not soak up recoil like one a pound heavier, no matter what you do to the bore. I suppose you could conclude that it could have been worse without it.

Summing up, the new Gold E is a very slick package that will slug it out toe to toe with the new Browning Ultra range in terms of price and specification. Both offer outstanding value for money in the current competitive retail market and both look sharp and bang up to date. The Beretta though gets closer to the cutting edge in its styling and presentation. The real difference is in the handling and only an extended session on a range of real targets will identify which is for you. If you get the chance you might like to add the new Marocchi M99 to that shortlist too - it splits the difference in many ways.

For more information contact GMK 01489 579999