doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help identify Beretta sxs

If it's a 1957 gun, it's likely a 409. Remove the forend; you should find "409" marked on the underside of the wood. (Silverhawks were essentially 409's with some modifications for the American market, and were in fact marked 409 on the forearm wood.)

Above picture with the square crossbolt gun looks odd to me. If the crossbolt is square--which it certainly appears to be--then why is the hole in the rib extension round, like for a Greener? Square peg in a round hole???

Yes, but your gun has fuller coverage on the fences and is single trigger. Are the chokes marked on your gun (I can't seem to find choke markings on mine)?
Here are pictures of a Beretta 409 16ga. sold by Champlin Arms. It is virtually the same gun as my 20:

Take a look at Wilson page 79. There are several models with this style cross bolt. It could be a 409 bis, but again, without pictures, it could be an early 470, or ...

Is there any thing on the top rib or the barrels near the breech?

The problem is that Beretta will phase out / introduce models based solely on country. Without the Beretta Italy catalogs, it is very difficult to pin down a model. Enough Beretta's have made there way here from Europe to cause confusion. An example exists today of this marketing. Look at any Beretta USA catalog and they do not carry a sxs slug gun. Yet they market it in Europe.

I have never seen a time line of Beretta shotguns by model. Even Wilson did not attempt it in his book.

If you really want to get confused, take a look at this auction. As far as I can tell, it is a Model 9.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=59500677
He is asking way to much for this one...




Pete

About 1" back the 1/2" word "Beretta" closely surrounded by an unmatted oval and then 1/4" back a small Beretta logo between that and the breech.
No markings under the forearm wood except for the serial number and some tiny mark stamped into the metal.
Sorry about the lack of photos: I left my camera at my daughter's house last week.

Except that this is 12 Ga., this looks like my gun -- the words "CHOKE," but no choke marked. Note the 1942 date. This is from a greek website:
http://www.gunandknifeclassics.gr/index....2&Itemid=61

The actual model number is frequently stamped in the forearm wood on the underside where it is not visible, suggest you pull the forearm and see what it says.

TW I have only ever seen 409 stamped on the berettas I have looked at my 410 has no model no from memory the 409 has "ausonic steel barrels? the 410 titania steel and 411 some ohter type that escapes me at the moment
GWP my gun has 2 triggers just I cropped the photo a bit much
as for choke it has 18.4/17.4 on the left and 18.4/17.6 on the right well that was what it used to be it now has .008" and .015" it was the best thing I ever did to my gun

First, I want to thank everybody for their help. I am now certain the gun is a 409PB even though it is not marked as such (even under the foreend).
Following your post re what I now realize are choke numbers, both barrels are marked 15,8 which is .622 inches (20 ga.) and the left barrel is marked 15,0 (.591") and the right barrel is marked 15,5 (.610"); the barrels are "ALLOY CHROMIUM ELECTRIC STEEL SPECIAL TYPE AUSONIA" and I see the number "70" which appears to be the barrel length and K 1,180 (strength?).
Do those choke numbers correspond to MOD and FULL?

The 70 is 70mm for the chamber length of 2 3/4". In general, Beretta's are bored a bit on the tight side, this according to Mike Orlen. So you will need to measure the bore and the choke.

The 409PB is nice gun by the way.

Pete

GWP as posted 70mm is chamber length the 1180kg is the weight of the barrels this is a proof requirement it means if the barrels weigh less the gun is out of proof it is a quick way to see if the chambers are lengthed or chokes have been opened
so technically if you have a guns chokes opened it becomes out of proof in the country of manufacture