Exudate Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Well, not exactly a proper review at the moment, but to cut a long story short I acquired one of these at the beginning of this week (not actually a pic of my gun, just one I acquired from the web): I've been wanting a dedicated clays semi-auto for some time, and after shouldering one of these at my local RFD I was instantly impressed, so much so that I walked out of the shop with it. Impulsive, yes, but I have to say that it felt rather right to do so (and still does, for that matter). The model I bought was 12 gauge, 32" barrel which also came with the kick-off recoil reduction system (not present on the pic above). It also came with the usual Beretta hard case, choke key, 3 extended OCHP chokes (IC, M and IM), oil and a key-thingy for adjusting the rib and comb (extra comb shims were also included). The point of balance seems well placed and it swings smoothly. The walnut stock looks beautiful. My only issue at the moment is that it's too damn long to fit in my safe, so I have to store it deconstructed. It shoulders very nicely, with the high rib and comb providing a very comfortable 'heads-up' shooting position, that I've never experienced until now. I have yet to fire it, so I can't comment on its range performance at this stage. The overall build quality appears to be of the good standard you'd expect from Beretta. The high rib is firmly fixed in place, but has a good deal of 'springy' give in it. I'm assuming that this is a good thing, since it'll probably just give instead of damage if accidentally knocked. Whether or not it'll survive thousands of rounds of recoil is another matter, one which I can't comment on right now. I'll be visiting my local clay club next week (or so) for a session on the pattern plate, with an instructor. I want the gun to fit me correctly and pattern as desired before I shoot it in anger, so to speak. According to Beretta, the rib can be set to thrown anything from a 50/50 pattern right up to 100/00, so in theory it can be used for any shotgun discipline. I usually shoot sporting clays, and there seems to be mixed feelings about high rib guns for this purpose. In my mind, theoretically, if the gun can be set up to thrown any desired pattern, it should be fine, but that's just theory. I'll have to actually shoot it to answer that one for myself. Anyway, that's where I'm (rather excitedly) at, at the moment. There'll be more to follow (eventually). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinchesterDave Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Nice little write up mate! Sounds ace! Hope it shoots well for you. Good luck bud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted June 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Nice little write up mate! Sounds ace! Hope it shoots well for you. Good luck bud Thank you very much there, mate. As I say, once I've got it all set up and I've shot it properly a few times, I'll update the post with my findings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted June 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2016 Managed to get the Beretta Multitarget to the pattern plate at the weekend. Glad I did, since out of the box it was patterning way too high for sporting clays. It's the first time I've seriously done this, so please bear with! The image of the 30" circle patten board with the wad embedded in the outside 15 sector was 1 cartridge (Gamebore Blue Diamond, 28g 7.5, fibre wad) fired from 30 yards through a quarter choke. The shotgun was aimed like a rifle at the centre cross. The tedious bit is then to count all of the pellet strikes in each zone, then do some simple stats. In all honesty, I couldn't be bothered to cut open 3 cartridges and take the mean number of shot in them, so I took the lowest quoted figure from 3 separate reference tables of 342 pellets of 7.5 shot in a 28g load (numbers varied from 342 to 400). 290 pellets in total landed inside the 30" circle. 221 fell above the horizontal centre line, 69 below. This means that the shotgun was throwing a 76% / 24% pattern, so it's patterning high, too high for sporting clays. The rib needed to be adjusted (raised) to bring the mean point of impact down. Encouragingly, 143 pellets landed to the left of the vertical centre line, and 147 to the right. This means that the pattern was nice and centred, 49% / 51%, which is perfect. After raising the rib, I then fired 3 cartridges at a fresh pattern board, to help give a better mean point of impact pattern. This is the image with the wad stuck in between the 10 and 11 line. The pellet strikes were then counted as before (remembering to base the calculations on 3x342=1026). This time, 64% landed above the horizontal centre line, 35% below. This is much closer to the sporting clays ideal of 60% / 40%! Ok, so it might need a bit more tweaking, but it's close enough for now. The left / right split reassuringly stayed centred at 51% left and 49% right. The comb height didn't need any adjustment for me. If I close my eyes and mount the gun, I consistently get the correct sight picture, so I'm leaving well alone. By doing this, I now have the confidence that the gun was shooting where I pointed it. Just have to see now how it performs on the range! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfireboy Posted June 28, 2016 Report Share Posted June 28, 2016 (edited) Nice write up, thanks for taking the trouble. I've seen the multitarget in the shop, looked like a good bit of kit to me, not that I'm really a clay shooter though. Hope it serves you well. Edited June 29, 2016 by Rimfireboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinchesterDave Posted June 29, 2016 Report Share Posted June 29, 2016 Nice one mate! Well done for putting the effort in too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingman Posted June 29, 2016 Report Share Posted June 29, 2016 Do you have the GunPod thing on your gun, if so what do you think of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted June 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2016 Do you have the GunPod thing on your gun, if so what do you think of it? Sorry mate, I don't. However, after reading about it, I'm not sure I'd have much need for it. I always clean my gun fully after each round of sporting clays, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingman Posted June 29, 2016 Report Share Posted June 29, 2016 Ok, lovely looking gun by the way, hope you enjoy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 How are you getting on with this? I like having an auto around as well as my o/u so this looks like a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 How are you getting on with this? I like having an auto around as well as my o/u so this looks like a possibility. Sorry Peter, only just noticed your post. Yep, I'm still loving it and scoring well with it. In short, I'm very impressed. Seeing as you're in Milton Keynes, if you can get to Sporting Targets at Riseley or Drayton Parslow, then I'd be happy for you to have a go with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 Nice write up and I expect to see a few of them appear in the future at clubs. I like shooting autos but picking carts up at clay grounds when they bounce of the cage and end up everywhere gets annoying. Even with a pick up stick. Let us know how it shoots when you have put a thousand through it and it's loosened up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) Nice write up and I expect to see a few of them appear in the future at clubs. I like shooting autos but picking carts up at clay grounds when they bounce of the cage and end up everywhere gets annoying. Even with a pick up stick. Let us know how it shoots when you have put a thousand through it and it's loosened up a bit. I've had the gun for 7 months, now, and estimate to have put around 800 cartridges through it. I have to admit that I'm absolutely smitten by it! It's never failed to feed or eject, not once. All of the adjustable bits have stayed good and tight. I've never had to nip anything back up because it was coming loose. Cleaning it isn't a great chore, either. In fact, the only downside so far is that I have to store it in the safe with the barrel off of the action, since it's just too long to store assembled. I love the way it fits into my shoulder and swings smoothly. Since having it, my average on sporting clays has risen from consistently being in the low to mid 60s to consistently low 70s. Very impressed so far. Edited to say that I always make an effort to pick all of the safely accessible spent cartridges up. I don't ever want to be one of 'those'' guys you hear about on threads who give semi-autos a bad name. One thing I will say about this gun is that it does spit cartridges out a long way, significantly further than my inertia driven Benelli M2. Edited January 26, 2017 by Exudate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Sorry Peter, only just noticed your post. Yep, I'm still loving it and scoring well with it. In short, I'm very impressed. Seeing as you're in Milton Keynes, if you can get to Sporting Targets at Riseley or Drayton Parslow, then I'd be happy for you to have a go with it. Thanks for the reply and the info. I may just take you up on that offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Don't ever shoot a SX 3 with big loads then, they go tens of yards. So long as your happy with it and your scores are the better for it it's your perfect gun. I love semi auto but hate cleaning them, hence why I now shoot a Benelli little cleaning and not very often required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmaxphil Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Don't know if you're interested but brattonsound make a musket safe that's very tall, takes my 30" auto easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Don't ever shoot a SX 3 with big loads then, they go tens of yards. So long as your happy with it and your scores are the better for it it's your perfect gun. I love semi auto but hate cleaning them, hence why I now shoot a Benelli little cleaning and not very often required. I share your frustration with cleaning! My Benelli M2 is easy compared to the A400, but in all honesty it's really not that bad either, especially since they've now re-worked the bolt so that it closely resembles the Benelli design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Don't know if you're interested but brattonsound make a musket safe that's very tall, takes my 30" auto easily Thanks for the heads up on the musket safe, but to be honest it's not too much hardship to store it with the barrel off. You just don't reassemble it after cleaning, instead you do it when you take the gun out to go shooting. Of course, it takes up 2 slots in the safe, which might be an issue one day, I suppose. The action with the fore-end wood and securing end-cap goes in one, the barrel in another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevo Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 (edited) I have to say when I have my A400 ( the one with the gun pod ) the one thing that I really did like was the ejection. With the rotary bolt design. The spent shells where thrown almost forward. Well more like 45 degrees. But the spent shells thrown out of the hide ( I just used to pick up shells when I went to sort out decoys or bring dead birds in. So things were always kept tidy ) Also when I did ever use it clay shooting. The same happened there when in the cages. Found it less off putting than them bouncing around in the cage banging you in the side of the head Edited January 28, 2017 by stevo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 I have to say when I have my A400 ( the one with the gun pod ) the one thing that I really did like was the ejection. With the rotary bolt design. The spent shells where thrown almost forward. Well more like 45 degrees. But the spent shells thrown out of the hide ( I just used to pick up shells when I went to sort out decoys or bring dead birds in. So things were always kept tidy ) Also when I did ever use it clay shooting. The same happened there when in the cages. Found it less off putting than them bouncing around in the cage banging you in the side of the head Pretty much the same thing for me, Stevo. I never notice the ejection. All I can say is I absolutely love the way semi-autos handle and shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted January 29, 2017 Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 Thanks for the heads up on the musket safe, but to be honest it's not too much hardship to store it with the barrel off. You just don't reassemble it after cleaning, instead you do it when you take the gun out to go shooting. Of course, it takes up 2 slots in the safe, which might be an issue one day, I suppose. The action with the fore-end wood and securing end-cap goes in one, the barrel in another. I used to own an O/U with two sets of barrels. I fitted a homemade bracket to the cabinet door and slotted the spare barrel to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted January 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 I used to own an O/U with two sets of barrels. I fitted a homemade bracket to the cabinet door and slotted the spare barrel to it. Not a bad idea at all, that. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted February 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 Got this pic of it a little while ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfireboy Posted February 9, 2017 Report Share Posted February 9, 2017 Got this pic of it a little while ago Nice fence, lovely grain.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exudate Posted February 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 Nice fence, lovely grain.... Thanks! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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