Baretta ES 100

[Jim Sarakun]

Never having ever been a great lover of Italian guns, the reason being I have over the years, seen some poor examples of Italian workmanship, I did in fact for all kinds of reasons the least being that those Italians are now making a good range of guns, go out and buy the Beretta, ES 100.

 

The main reason, is that most shooters I know, own one or have owned one, or know someone who owns one, and in the circles I move, keep carping on about how good they are and how long they have had it, the warranty dah dee dah, why are you still using that obsolete Turkish/Russian stuff, so I thought, perhaps I need a piece of that. I also wanted an inertia shotgun, I have a gas loader and O/U, so wanted something different.

 

Maybe Michelangelo, Donatello or da Vinci and the like, would be proud that the sons of their sons have come up with what I consider to be a nice looking range of Shotguns, nice feel too, better than some of those Italian women anyway.

 

So today I ventured forth, full choke screwed in, the best for Pigeons in my view, out into Gods Country, with my first ever piece of chocolate metal, slung over my shoulder. What a glorious day it was too. Sun was shining and it was ohhh sooo warm. I went with Hot Shot Ryan, one of the better shots I know, who had adorned himself with a Beretta gas semi, one that we think is duff, doesn't fit back together without a lot of jiggling and swearing, and has been back to Beretta to be fixed. Came back 6 WEEKS LATER just the same incidentally. Italians eh?

 

It was about 10ish, and there were Pigeons everywhere. I spose we are lucky to have a plentiful supply of Pigeons down here, though getting under them is a different story, especially this time of year, and I had the perfect killing machine with me Ryan too, and we joked on how we would probably both have been better off bringing a single shot, gun each with us.

 

By 10.30ish, we were ready to rock, with a couple of dead birds on floaters, 6 dead birds in cradles, 6 rubbers and one flapper adorning the field of Rape. Notice that odd bird, never an even number, a superstitious belief we have, that there is always that single bird out looking for a screw, come on, we have all seen it. Within 5 minutes of being sat down, they were all around us. Just out of range, like they do, to taunt us.

 

I was itching to pull the trigger too of my new Pizza gun, though sensibility overcame my eagerness, but I did bring it up a few times in anticipation, only for that mental split second decision that tells you it's too far out, waste of a cartridge, which overrides the trigger pulling bit. It did come up well, and that bead was right where it should be, without any quick adjustments to the way it's held prior to the pull.

 

Well, we sat there for a good hour and the birds just did not want to know our pattern, so time for a change. That old saying, if you haven't shot anything in an hour then do something, resulted in us bringing in the rubber decoys, the floaters, flapper and putting out a twirly, not forgetting that odd bird. Now it was mid day. Well, within 5 minutes we had a dive bomber. Ryan showed it what a B word semi is capable of.

 

The next shot was mine. A group of 5 came in, wings back for touch down, doesn't that look so cool when they do that, Ryan was giving it large in my ear, "3 birds easy", BANG, first one down, click, blasted gun didn't re cycle. Up Ryan pops and gets another. The spent cartridge had jammed, not enough inertia to throw it out. I was using 28grm my usual thing. This was the case for the next few shots, it did not want to cycle.

 

Now, being the dashed good looking, intelligent type of listen to your peers who have trod this path before kind of person, I opened the box of 30grm I had bought with me. The 32grm box can wait it's turn.

 

So, me and my 5 reverse gear Beretta, waited our turn but this time with 3x30grm cartridges up the spout. 4 dive bombers from behind were my next task, how well that twirly works at times is beyond me and today was the first time I have used it since Spring, but today it was playing it's part, after being relegated to the shed because of lack of interest, from the birds that is, not me, since then. 3 shots bought 2 down. I was beginning to think that this Italian lover may be as good as the Turkish Delight I normally use.

 

And so the next few hours went on, the gun re cycled with the 30grms without a hitch. It wasn't a brilliant day Pigeons in the bag wise, we picked up 39, but the blue sky, sunshine, crisp breeze, Ryans crappp text jokes and enough birds coming in to keep the interest, made it enjoyable for the few hours we were out there.

 

My first ever Beretta was for me, nice and light, easy to mount, didnt catch my jacket at all and I did like the trigger. I don't know what it was but it seemed, well, lighter than my other guns. The re cycling is not a problem and I think 250 heavyweights will solve that and "bed it in", though I only shoot Pigeons, so any invites for Elephant shooting locally, where a heavier load is required, will be gratefully received.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Jim Sarakun

[Lampwick]

Great write up Jim keep them coming Im in the market for a new semi and not sure about this one!

 

Cheers

 

Shippy

[bobby dazzler]

will be useing mine for the first time tommorow hopefully no jam ups

[poontang]

Nice write up, but I think the ES100 is made in SPAIN

[Jim Sarakun]

I think China. The stock on mine says Spain and the barell says, Italy. History tells me that Italy prefers the winning side, so I conclude that in this new global economy we live, China, the Chinese who do in fact run the American economy.

[utectok]

Great write up enjoyed reading it keep em comming!

Edited December 11, 2010 by utectok