Count Zero

I have had a pair of these for a few months. I think there are a good teaching aid, however, you need to bear the battery life in mind. I wouldn't recommend using them for an extended period of time either - they aren't going to be that comfortable over a long period and the camera does obscure your vision a bit. When you have them on, you look like a bit of a geek too! I will leave you to decide if that is a good or a bad thing. I used them for filming skeet - I edited it together with the footage from a GoPro and it was pretty useful to me. Was it £200 worth of useful? Not sure. Cheers, S.

I have two Beretta 692 Sporters. I have had them for just over 2.5 years and both guns have had about 30K rounds through each of them. They are set up identically so that I can swap between them and never worry about a particular gun being “my backup gun”. In my opinion, they handle exceptionally well and the 30” Sporters work well for me shooting skeet. The not so good news is that they seem to have had their fair share of teething issues and this has put some shooters off the 692 and seems to have put other shooters off Beretta altogether. As far as I am aware, the three main issues with the 692 are: The screw can drop out of the adjustable trigger blade. It has happened to me, but now I have a spot of threadlock on these screws. This is an easy fix even if this hasn’t happened to you yet. I also carry spares with me in case someone else loses a trigger screw. The ejector retainers have problems with lugs shearing off. This can cause problems if a shard of metal gets into the ejector mechanism. Failing that it is easily fixed. Beretta issued new retainers (I believe that they are now hardened) in July 2016. These parts have been changed on both of my guns, but not before the lugs had sheared twice (always on the bottom barrel). The issue has not reoccurred with the new retainers. The top tang bolt that holds the trigger assembly in place can shear after about 20K rounds (according to some shooters). Just search for “Beretta 602 top tang screw” on Google. This happened to me at the weekend on one of my guns (and in a comp!). The gun is now with GMK for repair under warranty. Fortunately, I had my spare 692 with me. GMK in the UK have always been great at fixing these issues and I can’t fault the guys that I talk to in the workshop. But you need to remember that they only repair them, they didn't make them! Since the 692 was a new model, they themselves have been learning about the issues as they occur in the field. I do wish that the 692 was a little more reliable – however, I always think that I would carry two for competition use. I cannot comment on the more recently made 692s. Hope this helps.

Yup, I have Isis comb raisers on both of my guns and they work a treat. I have fitted 4mm comb raisers and haven't experienced any problems with them. They have properly been on the guns for the last 12-18 months and are regularly out in all weathers. They are a pretty effective (and inexpensive) solution.

I have shot a lot of CompX (9 - 28g) for skeet and have been really impressed with them. In the last couple of years, I have probably shot 30-40,000 rounds. They seem to pattern well (at 20m with a Bertetta 692); have little recoil (the 21g shot well too with even less recoil); leave little dirt in the gun (most of what is left behind is a small amount of plastic fouling); pretty reliable (I tend to get one dud in approximately 10,000 rounds which seems good to me); and they are good value for money. A couple of shooters that I have bumped into have referred to them as a training cartridge (whatever that means!) and, despite trying other cartridges, I always came back to using CompX. In terms of price and performance, they seem pretty good. Having said all of that, I have very recently changed to ProPiston. These seem a little punchier and I am getting better kills, but they are significantly more expensive. I wouldn't surprised if some (or all) of this is psychological, but the combination of the cartridge, the gun and the way that I shoot seem to work for me. Just my 2p!

Good question. My guns (two identical Beretta 692's) are serviced every year. I always pull a bore snake through them after use and about once a month use a set of brushes on them. I thought they were reasonably clean. However, when they were returned from their last service, the gunsmith estimated there was a layer of plastic about 10/1000th inch thick throughout the barrels. At that time, I was using CompX all the time and both guns would probably have seen around 10,000 rounds through them. I was a bit surprised given that they had been cleaned (albeit by me) every time they had been used. With the change to ProPiston, I have changed by cleaning regime and get the gun barrels back to spotless every time - no streaking, just shiney chrome. I can say that they are probably as clean now as they were when I first got them back from the gunsmith. Do I notice any changes ballistically? No. Not really. The gunsmith reckoned that the constriction caused by the plastic fouling would have affected the shot pattern, but I can't honestly say that as a shooter I noticed. So why bother cleaning them? Given that it only takes me 5-10 minutes to get them back to clean, why wouldn't I? For me, it is about consistency - I use the same cartridges, same skeet vest, same gun etc. Making sure that my guns are clean is just controlling one more variable. It might not affect the ballistic performance of the gun, but why take the chance that it does when it takes little effort to remove this as a variable. I guess everyone has a different cleaning regime. It is just about finding something that works for you.

I have just swapped from shooting CompX to ProPiston. I like the patterning and consistency of the ProPiston, but was a bit concerned about the amount of cleaning my gun required afterwards. I am a skeet shooter so my guns see a fair few cartridges through them and I always clean my guns after using them. I am using a Beretta 692 and the back bored barrels on these guns seem to make them more difficult to clean using a traditional phosphor bronze brush. I think most cartridges will produce some sort of fouling. In my experience, the CompX produce plastic fouling - there is a deep shot cup on the plastic wad which means that the shot goes up the barrels and out of the chokes while still in the plastic wad. As a result, the plastic fouling is throughout the barrels and even into the chokes. ProPiston, on the other hand, has a shallow cup and most of the lead shot is in contact with the barrels while travelling up the barrels. As a result, most of the fouling from ProPiston appears to be lead fouling with some carbon deposits. In my guns, it seems to be worst around the forcing cones. I have found the best method of cleaning is to use a bit of solvent (I am using Mannol Brake Cleaner) with a tornado phospor bronze brush (you can find them on eBay). Normal phospor bronze brushes just didn't seem to have much impact and I was struggling to get the barrels clean. Using the tornado brush, I can usually get the barrels clean in 5-10 minutes. Most recently, I have been using the drill version of the Magic Bore and that seems to be even more effective, but it is still early days with this. Hope this helps.