Marc M Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Hi all, I need a little help trying to distinguish the differences between the various letters Beretta associates to its range of guns. I'm assuming it denotes differences in wood grades, and engravings etc? The situation is thus, I've seen an advert on another forum for a 12 gauge Beretta 687L and wondered what info you guys had for this? I've done a search on Guntrader and have found other 687 variants for sale; Silver Pigeon I through V, Game, Sport, E, EL and EELL but not a plain 687'L'. Is the L the entry level wood version of the Silver Pigeon? I've seen some EELL guns in my local shop and they had much nicer wood, engraving etc but similarly nice price tags This particular gun has fixed choke 1/4 and 5/8 28" barrels and is apparently in very good nick. I was thinking of this as an ideal first shotty as the price seems very reasonable. Does the 'L' denotation give away the guns age at all? I've tried contacting the seller but have been politely informed he is offline till at least Sunday evening and I'm desperate to know whether to get the hopes up or not!!! Hope you can help, Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Marc, It may be an older model, i.e. 10 years plus, I think the 687 range was labelled differently then. You could always phone Gunmark if you get the serial number off the seller and they should be able to tell you how old it is, although its age is pretty irrelevent, its how many shells have been through it that counts. Double H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted November 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Marc, It may be an older model, i.e. 10 years plus, I think the 687 range was labelled differently then. You could always phone Gunmark if you get the serial number off the seller and they should be able to tell you how old it is, although its age is pretty irrelevent, its how many shells have been through it that counts. Double H Cheers Double H, I'll drop the seller another email asking exactly that then, serial number and how often he's shot the thing, and the owners before that etc etc! Does anybody know if this 687L model number is a Silver Pigeon or not, or was it perhaps just before SP was launched? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Beretta date codes X 1954 X1 1955 X11 1956 X111 1957 X1V 1958 XV 1959 XV1 1960 XV11 1961 XV111 1962 X1X 1963 XX 1964 XX1 1965 XX11 1966 XX111 1967 XX1V 1968 XXV 1969 XXV1 1970 XX7 1971 XX8 1972 XX9 1973 XXX 1974 AA 1975 AB 1976 AC 1977 AD 1978 AE 1979 AF 1980 AH 1981 AI 1982 AL 1983 AM 1984 AN 1985 AP 1986 AS 1987 AT 1988 AU 1989 AZ 1990 BA 1991 BB 1992 BC 1993 BD 1994 BF 1995 BH 1996 B1 1997 BL 1998 BM 1999 BN 2000 BP 2001 BS 2002 BT 2003 BU 2004 BZ 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted November 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 Gemini, do I take it that the date codes you posted above relate to gun serial numbers, rather than model numbers? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddy Posted November 10, 2005 Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 If you get the serial number of the gun you can phone Beretta's UK importer for all of the details. When it was made, when it was imported and when it was distributed originally to a dealer. Tracing is not hard as long as you've got a spare five mintes. That's what I did when I bought my Beretta Ultralight (It is the Xtra-Wood version and it does make all the differencde to the look ) The UK importer is GMK and they are contactable on 01489 579 999 Hope that's of some help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc M Posted November 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 (edited) If you get the serial number of the gun you can phone Beretta's UK importer for all of the details. When it was made, when it was imported and when it was distributed originally to a dealer. Tracing is not hard as long as you've got a spare five mintes. That's what I did when I bought my Beretta Ultralight (It is the Xtra-Wood version and it does make all the differencde to the look ) The UK importer is GMK and they are contactable on 01489 579 999 Hope that's of some help? Cheers Waddy, just saved GMK's number to my phone so as soon as the seller gets back to me with the serial number I'll get right on with a spot of detective work Nice one mate! PS Was browsing the gun rooms at Bamford's in Chorley the other week, spotted a couple of the Xtra-Wood Beretta's, how do they feel wen shooting them? My initial impressions having a quick swing in the shop were the stocks felt very tacky. Certainly look the part though, from a distance I thought from the "grain" it was one of the EELL's and was about to make a *** of myself to my missus by saying "now THAT's the difference there love, bet that beauty is £2500+!!!", glad I didn't though, it was bloody Xtra-Wood Edited November 10, 2005 by Marc M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potshot Posted November 10, 2005 Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 (edited) Very briefly before the Silver Pigeon range - the 686 was the base Beretta o/u model in various calibres/ fixed or multichoke / barrel lengthe etc. The next model up was the 687 which came with a similar range of calibres/chokes/barrels. In the 'game' range it came in basic L grade (light) then EL (extra light) and so on up to EELL a top of the range game gun. At the same time there was a 682 range which were primarily a clay gun. This is a gross simplification but should give you a rough idea. Edited November 10, 2005 by potshot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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