doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Beretta Silver Snipe

I picked up a 1964 Beretta Silver Snipe with 26" VR barrels in very good metal condition and dinged up wood, but solid. My plan is to set it up for my wife or daughters to use with my light 3/4oz 20ga loads. I have an extra set of barrels that are VR 28" and in almost new condition. The gun is 5lbs 15oz with the shorter barrels and 6lbs 2oz with the longer ones. The internals seem to be in great shape, much simpler design than my S56E with flat springs and non-selectable trigger.

Overall I'm pretty taken with it for a cheaper o/u. Handling is nice, triggers good, resets easily with a tap on the butt. The longer barrel set is a little snug, may have Coles fit them. The serial # is only 870 off the guns serial # which was lucky I suppose.

Has anyone had any extensive experience owning one or having problems with them. I'm guessing <400 rounds a year of light loads will go through it, maybe some hunting.

Nick Hahn did an excellent write up of them in the Winter, 2012 DGJ. We (my late Father and I) have owned one since, well, 1964, and it has been a good little soldier.
A firing pin broke early in the gun's life, perhaps the early 1970s, they were a stock item at Ahlman's-my Dad bought two, the second hasn't been needed.
Dad's is a 26" barrel 12 choked mod/imp mod, and he put the dreaded white line pad on about 20 minutes after he got the gun. When the pad was new (and, soft) the single trigger would fail to reset with light loads, but, that went away after I cleaned it and the pad got old and hard.
They are a bargain in today's gun world.

Best,
Ted

I enjoyed mine and used it all over the world.
It is basically the same as the S55 Beretta.
In fact, it may have an S55 stamp somewhere on the action.
No issues with my gun.
The Snipe has extractors and should be easy for the girls to open.
Mike

I had a Silver Snipe with the octogon receiver top. It was imp mod/full and I used it for years. I killed a lot of ducks with that gun! Now it has been passed to a friend's son-in-law who is just starting to learn to hunt. Jim

I had a Golden Snipe in 20 gauge many years ago. Beautiful well made little gun with two sets of barrels in a red velvet lined wooden case. I couldn't hit a barn standing inside it with it. Sold it to a friend in 1963 and he still has it, and it is still banging away.

The Silver Snipe was my "go to" gun for a few seasons, until my Dad made me get my own guns. I had to carry it open when I was a kid, and closed it when my Dad's Irish Setter pointed something. When my Darne was in France for a new stock, I used it for grouse hunting, and my Gordon pointed a grouse, which flew almost straight up-I shot the bird, and it came straight down and my setter caught it in mid air before it hit the ground!
A few seasons ago, I collected a rooster with the Silver Snipe that a hunting partner had expended two rounds at, making for a shot that was all of 50 yards for me, and the stars were obviously all in alignment, as I got him. At that range, I usually don't. Rubbing salt into an open wound was the fact that my English Setter, trained in my backyard, swam out and got the bird, returning through a dense stand of cat tails to do it-his high dollar dog with professional training every year didn't retrieve. The gun has seen a lot of 1 1/4oz Federal pheasant loads in 5 and 6 shot over the years, likely at the high end of what it was proofed for.
My Dad never exactly warmed up to the Silver Snipe, nor did my little brother, but, just going by results in the field, and the memories I have with it, it is one of the finest guns I own.




Best,
Ted

Ted - enjoyed your tale, and the composition of your picture.
Thanks.

Great story Ted. Stories are very important to me, infact sometimes I think my main purpose for heading afield with a dog and gun is more to make memories/stories than it is to bag game!

I believe the gun was also in double trigger form with an articulated front trigger. Gil

That gun wasn't a Silver Snipe. It was an S55B. They were sold in Europe, and were the foundation of the Snipe series. The Silver Snipe was always intended for the American market, and came with a non-selective single trigger.

Think of it this way. While all Silver Snipes are S55Bs, not all S55Bs are Silver Snipes!

A facinating side note for the Snipe series is the in-the-white actions that were sold to an English firm (Webley and Scott?) that were then stocked, color case hardened, and sold by that firm. I believe Sherman Bell included one of these in one of his articles a few years past, but, the details escape me.

It was a very good looking gun, however.

Best,
Ted