So my go-to game gun for awhile has been my 1975 post-Garcia Beretta S56E. It's had a lot of work done to it but it's not replaceable in my mind and the time spent was worth every minute and penny. (actually well under a grand)
So I always keep my eye out and the prices on the older Beretta 20s has at times been crazy. I knew when the right one came along I'd pick up another, for various reasons, but mainly to have one with tighter chokes. I saw this gun listed as a Golden Snipe but noticed the forend latch was the same as my S56E and the BL guns. For the price I jumped on it as I've seen BL-4s go for almost twice the buy-it-now on this gun.
Turns out I got lucky, right on the barrel flats it says S56E and it's a 1968 gun that with the sling swivels I'm guessing was first sold in Europe. I'm thrilled! My original gun (blued) is 5lbs 10oz with the Microcell pad, the new gun is 5lbs 15oz with butt plate and I will have some wood removed and a Microcell put on it as well, hoping to keep it just under 6lbs. The original gun is opened to .004 and .018 and this one will be .015 and .025 eventually. Now it's .025 and .032 and I might just leave it that way.
