Silver pigeon 1 sporter

[Kr55tan]

Hi so my sgc as arrived and I'm looking at buying my 1st gun mainly for sporting clays but hopefully in time some game and pigeon shooting I've tried a new 686 silver pigeon 1 sporting today and really liked it just wondering on any views you guys have good or bad

thanks

 

[Bluebarrels]

I think gun fit is the most important  thing to consider,a cheaper gun/ make which fits will always be better than a more expensive gun that doesn't fit.

[Kr55tan]

7 hours ago, Bluebarrels said:

I think gun fit is the most important  thing to consider,a cheaper gun/ make which fits will always be better than a more expensive gun that doesn't fit.

The 686 seems to fit ok I will eventually get a gun fit when I'm consistently mounting my gun in the same position then I'll get fitted

 

[johnphilip]

How do you know the gun seemed to fit ok , did someone check it for you , or did you have a round of clays.  With in reason any gun will fit , BUT will it be shooting were your pointing it , i belive gun fit is more important than gun mount. If the gun fits then you can learn to mount . If you learn to mount the gun in the same place each time. What will happen , if you got the gun fitted later .you could wear a pair of jeans that are to long , but they wont be right . 

[Kr55tan]

1 hour ago, johnphilip said:

How do you know the gun seemed to fit ok , did someone check it for you , or did you have a round of clays.  With in reason any gun will fit , BUT will it be shooting were your pointing it , i belive gun fit is more important than gun mount. If the gun fits then you can learn to mount . If you learn to mount the gun in the same place each time. What will happen , if you got the gun fitted later .you could wear a pair of jeans that are to long , but they wont be right . 

I'm pretty new to this I had 50 clays with the gun and a experienced shooter said the gun fitted fairly well but he said the gun fit isn't important until you are constantly mounting in the same position because you could have your gun fitted to a certain mount and only mount in that same place 2 out of 10 shots this means the gun didn't  fit for 8 of those 10 shots 

but like I said I'm new to all this and try to listen to everyone although I do understand some will be wrong

[welshwarrior]

1 minute ago, Kr55tan said:

I'm pretty new to this I had 50 clays with the gun and a experienced shooter said the gun fitted fairly well but he said the gun fit isn't important until you are constantly mounting in the same position because you could have your gun fitted to a certain mount and only mount in that same place 2 out of 10 shots this means the gun didn't  fit for 8 of those 10 shots 

but like I said I'm new to all this and try to listen to everyone although I do understand some will be wrong

I’d agree with his statement but can’t comment on how well that gunnfitted you as I’ve not seen it.  

SP is a good reliable gun and if it suits you will do you well. 

[humperdingle]

As a novice, my advice would be to go down the ‘Does it feel right?’ route.

 

Fortunately, the Beretta 686 will hold its value pretty well, if you find it doesn’t fit you perfectly in the future. And don’t forget, you can fit spacers, etc, to tweak the fit.

The 68# range is well established, most of the parts between the ranges are shared, so parts are cheapish and plentiful, and fairly simple to work on.

 

Try dry-mounting the gun with both eyes closed. When you open your eyes, is the picture you see correct? Do this several times and you will get at least a rough idea that the gun is suitable for you.

[Kr55tan]

1 hour ago, humperdingle said:

As a novice, my advice would be to go down the ‘Does it feel right?’ route.

 

Fortunately, the Beretta 686 will hold its value pretty well, if you find it doesn’t fit you perfectly in the future. And don’t forget, you can fit spacers, etc, to tweak the fit.

The 68# range is well established, most of the parts between the ranges are shared, so parts are cheapish and plentiful, and fairly simple to work on.

 

Try dry-mounting the gun with both eyes closed. When you open your eyes, is the picture you see correct? Do this several times and you will get at least a rough idea that the gun is suitable for you.

Thanks

[Snoozer]

Here maybe.

 

[Scully]

Good gun, should serve you well. 

Regards dry mounting in a mirror. As has been said, mount the gun towards the mirror with your eyes closed, as advised. The picture you should see is your right eye ( if right handed ) directly above and in line with the rib. If not, then close you eyes and try again. When you can consistently see the correct picture then practise practise and practise until you see that picture every time. Then keep on practising. 👍

[Kr55tan]

5 minutes ago, Scully said:

Good gun, should serve you well. 

Regards dry mounting in a mirror. As has been said, mount the gun towards the mirror with your eyes closed, as advised. The picture you should see is your right eye ( if right handed ) directly above and in line with the rib. If not, then close you eyes and try again. When you can consistently see the correct picture then practise practise and practise until you see that picture every time. Then keep on practising. 👍

👍🏻

[figgy]

A used silver pigeon at the right price is a good buy as when or if in the future as you progress and perfect your mount, and may want to sell it you wont lose much if anything.

Parts and chokes are very easy to come by too.

[Kr55tan]

As anyone got any views on the fabarm axis rs12 

[Gerry78]

Had SP-1 there fine well made guns but the problem for me shooting a beretta is there stock was to low I’m a tall sod If it fits you buy it 👍👍

[davewh100]

i would go with the silver pigeon iv got the 687 sports 111 cracking gun, as figgy say plenty of parts and chokes available

[figgy]

17 hours ago, davewh100 said:

i would go with the silver pigeon iv got the 687 sports 111 cracking gun, as figgy say plenty of parts and chokes available

I have a 687 silver pigeon grade 4 very nice gun.

as for the Fabarm RSR12 look like a K80 Super sport with no mid rib  but reviews from shooters are terrible trigger pulls and not nice to shoot, shame as they look nice. 

If your only wanting to spend a little two friends have bought ATA elegant shotguns and from a few paces I thought it was a beretta EELL very nice looking gun for little money. 

[Robden]

On 18/10/2018 at 12:55, Scully said:

Good gun, should serve you well. 

Regards dry mounting in a mirror. As has been said, mount the gun towards the mirror with your eyes closed, as advised. The picture you should see is your right eye ( if right handed ) directly above and in line with the rib. If not, then close you eyes and try again. When you can consistently see the correct picture then practise practise and practise until you see that picture every time. Then keep on practising. 👍

I was told to tape a drinking straw onto the rib, then keep practising until I can see through the straw every time.

[johnphilip]

3 hours ago, Robden said:

I was told to tape a drinking straw onto the rib, then keep practising until I can see through the straw every time.

But that way , you are fitting yourself to the gun , i belive the idea of the straw on is , you fix it to the rib , then mount the gun with your eyes closed  then open your eyes are see were you are looking down through the straw .

[Scully]

3 hours ago, johnphilip said:

But that way , you are fitting yourself to the gun , i belive the idea of the straw on is , you fix it to the rib , then mount the gun with your eyes closed  then open your eyes are see were you are looking down through the straw .

But there is no other way to do it without tools to alter the gun, and if you don’t have a consistent mount there is no point in altering the gun. You have to make yourself fit the gun if you can’t make the gun fit you, if that makes sense. Sometimes it is only a matter of slight adjustments in ones mount which can give us the picture we want to see.  To fit the gun to oneself, all anyone can do is adjust the mount each time until we get the sight picture we want. You then practise practise practise ad infintum until muscle memory takes over and you do it without thinking. 

Another thing the OP should avoid is ‘see sawing’ the stock to ones shoulder. See sawing is the biggest contributor to an inconsistent mount. The muzzles should be pushed towards the target horizontally, and then pulled back into the shoulder horizontally; this prevents snag and see sawing. 

[welshwarrior]

Scully some good advice there especially the seesaw but a correctly fitted gun should not be pulled back into the should.  See Richard Faulds mount in this video near text book as always no see saw no pulling back. 

 

[Scully]

Thanks for the vid’ WW, good to watch....are you sure there isn’t a little see saw for that second bird? 😉🙂

Must admit the ‘thrust’ of the muzzles towards the target is a bit of an exaggeration, and it consists more of pointing the muzzles towards the target to ensure that they stay below the line of the bird and that I don’t see saw. It’s all just an attempt to keep the gun horizontal ( more or less ) as I mount it. 

Thanks again.

[barbel]

I had a 687 silver pigeon, new, liked it, my friend had a browning 425 other than felt heavier I started to think it felt better, my silver pigeon developed a timing problem when ejecting, in the end they swapped it for a browning 525 sporter, im so glad I did because I feel I wont be getting rid off it, in other words take your time before spending your money, just take your time.

[blackbird]

The silver pigeon along with the Browning 525 are fantastic guns, you will not go far wrong with either i say if you like the SP buy it.If you find you shoot well with it & it does not hurt you with recoil don’t worry about fit, just enjoy shooting it.

Edited October 25, 2018 by blackbird