Beretta 682 Trap 1986 Vintage

Well I'd better fess up! I've bought the above From Avalon guns as a second gun for use by visiting friends and family and hopefully daughter and perhaps my wife who has always been not keen on shooting.

I have wanted to go to Avalon for a while since my hip operation. On arrival guns that had been on the web and of interest had all been sold the day before so I was a bit depressed until I found this apparent bargain which apart from a couple of minor dings to the stock seemed very tight with the jewelling on the barrels still very much in evidence in spite of 20 plus years of use.

Couldn't resist it and having done the deal found out that the price had only been reduced by £400 that very morning so it had not stood out on the web the day before as it would have seemed overpriced.

Need to get the chokes honed down from 3 quarters and full to one quarter and one half and some taken off the stock for the ladies and it seems like a quality gun for a cheap price.

Have I missed anything?

Of course my wife loved the day out to Clarks Village outlet shopping centre and didn't begrudge me a couple of hours at the gunshop in Street, Somerset.

Worth a visit and there are some good clay grounds fairly close.

Nice find Robert, they literally don't make them like that anymore. If as I suspect it's a 30" then it's the gun that GD used to win everything in his early days. Personally I wouldn't alter the chokes at all or at least not quite as open as quarter / half because a Trap gun ought to be at least half / three quarter.

Agree with hammy a great gun and a bargain i wouldnt butcher it though its sacrilege to butcher a trap gun just use a suitable cartridge.

Hamster said:

Nice find Robert, they literally don't make them like that anymore. If as I suspect it's a 30" then it's the gun that GD used to win everything in his early days. Personally I wouldn't alter the chokes at all or at least not quite as open as quarter / half because a Trap gun ought to be at least half / three quarter.

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Yes it is one like that used by GD and the barrels are really 29.5 inches.  I have seen lots of trap guns which have been "sporterised" so didn't see a problem with getting the barrels honed out but if you don't think its right then perhaps I shouldn't.  I believe I'm right in thinking that fibre wad cartridges pattern wider than plastic wads so I might save it to use at my fibre only club.  It will also come in when I go to the NCSC at Bisley for some DTL and trap in August!

Any suggestions as to cheap cartridges that are known to pattern wider than normal or am I going to have to find some by trial and error?

Shall I put some pics up?

RobertBeard said:

Any suggestions as to cheap cartridges that are known to pattern wider than normal or am I going to have to find some by trial and error?

Shall I put some pics up?

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Robert, Express HV 21g fibres open out like nothing else I've seen. My wife uses them and I've seen her break long edge on stuff. Low recoil too.

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CleverSC3 said:

Robert, Express HV 21g fibres open out like nothing else I've seen. My wife uses them and I've seen her break long edge on stuff. Low recoil too.

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Thanks Will

I have a 1985 that was sporterised by adding replacement 30" m/c barrels. Paid £600 for it about 8yrs ago. Got £800 p/ex against my 692 which I was chuffed with.

Cant see from the underneath pic but does it have Trap written on the trigger guard as previous owner sanded the blueing off mine?

P1Fanatic said:

Cant see from the underneath pic but does it have Trap written on the trigger guard as previous owner sanded the blueing off mine?

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Yes that's right it does have TRAP on the underside of the trigger guard.

I had my first shoot with it today and hit as many as I would normally with my 686e.

Perhaps the thing to do is sporterise the gun completely by having Nigel Teague do his magic and convert it to m/c?

The trigger is also noticeably lighter and crisper than on my 686e.

Pattern it Robert before you make any changes as apparently trap guns poi is higher

Wah !!!

Sacrilee, if you want a sporter buy a sporter but for the love of everything that is holy move away from the trap gun it has done nothing to you.

I have to agree with ips, it'd be much cheaper to just buy a 682 sporter and don't forget the Trap version probably lacks a barrel selector. If you find it's too tight to handle then just open out to 1/2 & 3/4 and avoid being cursed by the gods.

I can see that some of you find the thought of this conversion offensive!

I just saw it as a tool to do a job and it fits me!

Anyhow I'm only thinking at the moment and patterning it before doing anything is a very good idea.

Trying some shells that are known to open up a bit are also a good idea. Teagueing might not be worth it on a gun of this age so honing out a little as Hamster suggests might be a better idea.

Also there is of course no barrel selector, not that I worry about this as it will stop me changing it inadvertently like on my 686e!

Try some cartridges to get the desired effect or as a very last resort open them out as hammy says but remember this is a modern classic and will never lose money but if you adapt it in any way no trap shooter who wants one in his collection will touch it. As has also been mentioned the poi will be too high anyway i would have thought.

ips said:

Wah !!!

Sacrilee, if you want a sporter buy a sporter but for the love of everything that is holy move away from the trap gun it has done nothing to you.

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Yes dead right Ian. No point it wrecking a classic trap gun, and it really is a classic now!!!!! I really hate it when good trap guns are made into sporters, particularly when the whole world is full of purpose made sporters! Sheer madness!!!!

RobertBeard said:

Yes it is one like that used by GD and the barrels are really 29.5 inches.  I have seen lots of trap guns which have been "sporterised" so didn't see a problem with getting the barrels honed out but if you don't think its right then perhaps I shouldn't.  I believe I'm right in thinking that fibre wad cartridges pattern wider than plastic wads so I might save it to use at my fibre only club.  It will also come in when I go to the NCSC at Bisley for some DTL and trap in August!

Any suggestions as to cheap cartridges that are known to pattern wider than normal or am I going to have to find some by trial and error?

Shall I put some pics up?

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If you chop it up or change the chokes Robert, you could make it useless for trap! Please keep it as a trap gun.

Les53 said:

Yes dead right Ian. No point it wrecking a classic trap gun, and it really is a classic now!!!!! I really hate it when good trap guns are made into sporters, particularly when the whole world is full of purpose made sporters! Sheer madness!!!!

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Me too Les, it is in my top ten things in life that I hate, "sporterised trap guns" aargh buy a ruddy sporter.

ips said:

Me too Les, it is in my top ten things in life that I hate, "sporterised trap guns" aargh buy a ruddy sporter.

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Yep!!!! Let's face it Ian, the sporterising of trap guns started back at a time when there was less choice in sporters than there is these days. When I first started clay shooting, a lot of the top boys used two or even three guns to shoot sporting! Many used a skeet gun for almost anything close or where the the whole clay was visible and not just the edge, then they used a trap gun for distance or edge on birds. Some guys also had what really amounted to a heavy game gun, often with 1/4 and 1/2 or 1/4 and 1/4 chokes.  There were a lot of sporting guys that got pattern variation from using different shells too, maybe 9 for close, 7 for distance, whereas others would use 8's for everything. There really should be no need to butcher trap guns these days!