Need help ID'ing Beretta O/U

[redneck2]

local dealer has a Beretta tagged as an S687EL. Has game scenes on the sides in 24K gold inlay. Side locks. Lockable factory carrying case. New, unfired.

I looked in the Blue Book and the Beretta website. Nothing listed that matches this. It's listed as an original $3,500 selling price, but $2,000 cash will take it home. Wondering what it's really worth.

 

[kudu]

Redneck2,

I found a S687 EL Gold Pigeon in the Blue book. Same general specs as the S687 L Onyx. Boxlock with Gold Inlayed game scene on sideplates, Highly figured walnut, and more engraving, oval nameplate, 6.8lbs, cased. Disc. 2002.

100% $3335
98% $2475
95% $1950

Sounds worth the money asked

 

[PJR]

There are a couple of S687 EL listings in the 25th Edition of the Blue Book with values ranging around $3,000 for 100 per cent condition. This is probably an older gun with Mobile chokes, the newer ones come with the Optima chokes.

There is however also a 687EL Onyx which lists around $2,300 at 100 per cent although they have been discontinued since 1990.

At $2,000, it sounds like a pretty good deal. Just make sure that it is what it claims to be.

FYI, this gun is not a sidelock although the sideplates make it look like one. It has the same action as the standard 687.

Paul

 

[redneck2]

After I posted this I did some looking on the gun auction sites. I'd guess it's the Gold Pigeon (funny, I grew up on a farm and never have seen a gold pigeon)

the $2,000 price looks quite appealing. It's got a wood cross inlaid buttplate. Really cool looking but I'm thinkin' 100 rounds on the sporting clays range would be brutal

the dealer was making a big deal out of how good the sidelock is vs the boxlock. Looks like Beretta was pulling a fast one

anybody know the difference between the mobile and optima chokes??

thanks for the help

 

[PJR]

Mobile chokes are designed for the narrower Beretta bore diameter which is common among Euro shotguns.

Optima chokes are designed for the more recent backbored Berretas. It is similar to the difference between the Browning Invector and Invector Plus.

If your dealer is making a big deal about the "sidelock" then he either doesn't know what he is talking about or is trying to pull a fast one. They are not sidelocks but sideplates and there is a world of difference between the two.

Regardless, at $2,000 it sounds like a pretty good deal.

 

[kudu]

It may have the newer chokes in it if they were made untill 2002, but right off hand I can't recall what the difference in the chokes was.

 

[kudu]

I was just on the Jaquas fine guns web page and they had numerous 687EL Gold shotguns of different specs. All the new ones ran from $3250-$3900.

http://www.jaquas.com/gunlist/Search.asp

 

[rust collector]

Your dealer may be closing out a superseded mobilchoke gun. Fine looking shotgun, but as others have noted older Berettas have somewhat of a reputation for recoil effects. If the new, more open optima bore with the longer forcing and choke transitions makes a significant difference, the older design's value may have suffered.

Real sidelocks usually mean real money. The sideplates on this model are a matter of form rather than function. It is a handsome piece, regardless of the mechanical details. If it's an optima gun, I don't see how you can lose.