By Michael Sabbeth

      My interest in small bore shotguns had been dormant until I was invited by Beretta USA to go on an extraordinary hunt in Cordoba, Argentina last April. Four writers and three Beretta executives put tens of thousands of rounds through a bushel of over/under and semiauto shotguns. But it was writer Layne Simpson's stunning shooting with a Silver Pigeon .410--1800 dove in a day--that rekindled my desire to seriously revisit these diminutive gauges.
      The next morning I shot a Silver Pigeon 28 bore. Nick Sisley took the 410 and my shooting efficiency was quite acceptable. I was hooked. Beretta sent me a 28 gauge 687 EL Gold Pigeon II Sporting to test. I then bought a new 28 gauge Silver Pigeon V. Having fired several cases of ammunition through each gun, I share this review. I did not test the .410 gauge models. For technical details on these guns in all gauges, see www.berettausa.com.

      The 687 EL Gold Pigeon Sporting and Silver Pigeon V are built on the time-tested 680-series actions. During our Argentina trip, Beretta technician Randy Bimson explained the virtues of the Beretta's unique action design features.

The action is bolted by conical locking lugs that insert into the center of the vertical edges of the monobloc. By the nature of their cone configuration, the advantageous design makes the lugs self-compensating for wear; they insert deeper with extended use.The location of the bolt lugs gives maximum leverage against the torque that results when the ammunition is discharged, resulting in tremendous bolting strength.
      Removable trunions screw into the interior sides of the receiver walls and hold the hinge pins on each side. The bolt lugs and the trunions can be replaced easily, quickly and inexpensively with larger diameter parts.
Thus, secure bolting and bringing the barrels to face are readily achieved without having to rework the receiver.
      Jim Bottsford, the renowned gunsmith whose shop is located at the elegant Kiowa Creek Sporting Clays facility in Bennett, Colorado, www.kiowacreek.com told me about a client's 682 sporting gun whose lock up was a little loose after a 150,000 rounds. Jim put new larger diameter bolting lugs into the receiver at modest cost and the gun was ready for another 150,000 rounds.
      Another beneficial feature of the action is that the receiver bottom is a solid one-piece U-shaped piece of steel into which the lower barrel bolts. There are no moving parts or gaps or levers, thus no powder residue or dirt or pieces of shot can get into any moving part. Importantly, chamber pressure is evenly distributed through the action and the surfaces are easy to access and clean.