Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

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SPEEDY
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Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by SPEEDY »

Well I got a call this morning that the new gun has arrived, and 20min latter the postman came and amazingly dropped off my PTA in only 9 days so for some reason Australia post was either just as slow or the NSW firearms registry was just as fast as each other, depending on your point of view (I'm calling the registry being fast for a change)

Anyway the fit and finish was very good, sharp checking I'd bet laser cut, the engraving isn't too over the top but still precise and very clean.
It was caked in packing grease so I know I'm the 1st one to shoot it, it had a deceleratior pad fitted that made the recoil surprisingly easy to manage, rather mild recoil for slugs actually even from a bench.
The wood is very pretty without a blemish, the bluing is deep and uniform and the bores were clean and well polished with longer then expected forcing cones with a shallow transition, that reduced leading from the slugs a lot, and nay have helped with recoil.
The point of balance with the 22" tubes is dead on the hinge where I like it and it shoulders for me like a custom, perfect eye line down the rib to the bead, absolutely dead flat without having to shift position at all so it's very natural to point.
It's got a tighter end bore at .724 (18.4 as opposed to a more common 18.5 or .730) and is supposed to be choked imp/cyl in both barrels but I measured them and the R/H barrel is constricted .10 and the L/H is constricted .16 so it's actually choked imp/syl and light/mod.

It does have one downside, I took a 6 shot shells to pattern and at 30 yards I couldn't hit a 2ft X 2ft bit of cardboard, this could be due to the high front sight, being regulated for slugs or similar but I may have to shoot more instinctively with this gun rather then try line up the front sight, it points well enough.

The trigger is an estimated 3.5-4lbs and really crisp, especially for a shotgun, it has that brilliant switch on the forend that let's you select either ejection or manual extraction, the case is a well made unit and holds everything very securely.
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SPEEDY
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by SPEEDY »

Now for the groups, my range is a little rough, it took a slight adjustment to bring the slugs over to the right about 8" at 50m but it was simple and easy to do.
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I shot this 1st group off a foam rest at 50m, 1st two were touching, I pulled the 3rd low so put another shell in, and put the next one touching the the 1st two and the 4th a little too the right.
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The next group I shot shot from the shoulder at 50m and put 4 rounds into a fist size group.
I think I need a bigger aiming point as the bead covered the whole tape mark.
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But for the 1st time shooting the gun and my 1st time shooting open sights in a very long time I'm pretty happy with it.
I think it is much more capable then I am and it might even do a little better with other slugs, I only have GB on hand.
I will load up some Lee .690 round ball and I'm waiting on a Russian .678 round ball and Lyman style diablo slug molds that I will also try and I'm thinking about getting a, Svarog Italian style 32gm slug with the special wad to try too, I hear great things about it.
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TheoR8
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by TheoR8 »

Noice. :obscene-smokingred: :handgestures-thumbup:

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sav338
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by sav338 »

Very nice Damien.
I’m sure you will enjoy it.

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mchughcb
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by mchughcb »

Very strange the shotgun pattern is that far off the slug aiming. I certainly don't see that with my drillings or combo guns.

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SPEEDY
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by SPEEDY »

mchughcb wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:21 am Very strange the shotgun pattern is that far off the slug aiming. I certainly don't see that with my drillings or combo guns.
Supprised me too, I'm sure it has to do with how I'm aiming it, I think if I shot it more normally with both eyes open might have corrected it.
I will work it out latter in the week when I get back out and can shoot more shells through it.
Funny thing was the targets moved every shot but no hits so they must have been close.
I wasted the 1st 4 shots because of that, it wasn't until I went down range to check that I found that out.
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Rod
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by Rod »

Nice looking gun.

Cheers
Rod

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SPEEDY
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Re: Beretta 471 Silver Hawk slug review.

Post by SPEEDY »

I made a slight change to it, it seems to shoot dead on with the rear sight up or if you just look down the barrel ignoring the front sight altogether.
So I removed the folding leaf sight and modified an express sight to fit the gun without having to modify it in any way.
I'm also chasing a standard barrel for it, but I'm not holding my breath.
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