20 ga Insight L vs Beretta Silver Pigeon for skeet

[BillD]

My brother-in-law recently introduced me to skeet with his 20 ga Beretta Silver Pigeon. I've become very comfortable with the gun, it's light weight (6-6.25 lb), smaller frame and stock, and modest recoil. And I can hit a few clays with it! I'm now in the market for my own gun, but the Beretta is a bit rich for me at this stage of the hobby. I was wondering if I might be happy with the 20 ga Insight L as an alternative. If anyone has experience with both the Insight L and the Silver Pigeon I'd appreciate their comparison. I haven't been able to lay my hands on a 20ga Insight L locally to do my own comparison.


BillD

[20ga48]

I've shouldered a number of Silver Pigeons and own the 20 ga Instinct L which I use for skeet. For me, both the Berretas and Instincts shoulder well for me and feel very nimble to hand. However, shotgun feel is very subjective and unpredictable so I probably wouldn't buy the gun until I had the chance to feel it in person.

The Instinct L (as the entry level Pigeon) is a field gun which means it is much lighter than many will tell you they prefer for skeet. The advantages of the heavier gun are less recoil, more momentum for easier swing through, and, in theory, greater longevity. Personally, the 20 ga doesn't affect me as far as recoil. The stocks on the Instinct are pretty straight which causes the recoil to jump confortably backwards. As long as you are concious of your swing, you can still easily hit birds with the lighter gun. Lastly, a quality field gun should still last a good long time. The advantage of the lighter gun is that they are more nimble and quicker to bring on target. In skeet, you know exactly where the target is going before hand but I think this still helps me to get on the targets early. The main advantage is in the field, for which you may be practicing skeet for.

As far as Beretta vs. Franchi. Berettas are probably better quality guns; however, I'd imagine a lot (if not most) of the extra money you pay for a Silver Pigeon I is for brand name and engraving. You will probably hear people littering the internet with any complaint about Franchis possible, because they're cheaper guns. The amazing thing is that people never talk about a Beretta having problems, though I've seen it happen...

[BillD]

Thanks for the feedback 20ga48. Excellent advice about not buying without handling. I will have to commit to travelling to find one. I've read about the advantages of a heavier 12 ga for skeet, but I got a bum left shoulder and the extra 1-1 1/2 lb makes a real difference over a hundred shots.

[BillD]

Thanks for the feedback 20ga48. Good advice about handling one before I buy. So far I haven't been able to locate a 20 ga L in southeast Pa. Last dealer said guns are selling well and Benelli has 200 gun backorder.

[20ga48]

Thanks for the feedback 20ga48. Good advice about handling one before I buy. So far I haven't been able to locate a 20 ga L in southeast Pa. Last dealer said guns are selling well and Benelli has 200 gun backorder.

I hesitated to reply to this because I was hoping someone more experienced would weigh in but I do want to qualify what I said. While I started shooting shotgun as a child, I've only been shooting sporting clays and skeet for about two years now and I probably have 10-15 thousand rounds through. Unfortunately, people with significant experience are rarely interested in 1,000 dollar shotguns to weigh in. Plus, I just dealt with a similar thought process to what you are going through so this all should be some help. To be 100% honest, I didn't handle my 20 ga before I bought it. I did handle an Instinct L in 12 ga, an Instinct SL in 12 ga, and a Diamond in 20 ga. Nonetheless, I wanted a 20 ga L so I bought online and took my chances based on my trying out similar firearms (or the same firearm in 12 ga). In the end, if you want this gun, you might have to take a chance too. Or, you can by a similar priced firearm. The better CZs get good reviews and you see Beretta Black Onxs online all the time for a few hundred more. In the end, you may even need more experience to truly know what you want. My Instinct L was my third gun I bought for target in the last few years. Your main concern starting out, and really for anyone who isn't competing semiprofessionally, is spending your money on ammo and range time and getting used to the gun you have. 99% of shooting is behind the shotgun and super expensive gear only gives you a slight edge which I guess super competitors need to edge out in front of other super competitors. Nonetheless, I've seen plenty of respectable skeet scores shot out of 870s.

[BillD]

20ga48,

Earlier this week I found a well stocked Benelli dealer about 50 miles from home that had both L and SL models in 20 ga. I really liked the handing of the SL but I was wary of the aluminum receiver and the gun being too light for skeet so I bought the L. The good news is, after a 150 rounds, I really like the gun. The straighter stock fits me better than the Beretta Pigeon. When I put the gun to my shoulder and cheek on the stock I'm looking right down the rib. With the Pigeon I would be rooching up the stock to get my eye up. And because it fits better than the Pigeon its even easier on my shoulder. I wish I could say my scores improved significantly, but I can't. I'm also very happy with the appearance, the wood and finish on the gun. The bad news is I've had to send it back for service. I had three failure to fires incidents where the trigger locked after the first shot. On the third incident the gun discharged as I was bringing it off my shoulder. That was scary for me and the group I was shooting with. Benelli customer service made it easy to return the gun directly, which I decided to do since the dealer was so far away. And they promised to expedite the repair since the gun was new. I expect it will be a couple of weeks before I get it back.

[20ga48]

20ga48,

Earlier this week I found a well stocked Benelli dealer about 50 miles from home that had both L and SL models in 20 ga. I really liked the handing of the SL but I was wary of the aluminum receiver and the gun being too light for skeet so I bought the L. The good news is, after a 150 rounds, I really like the gun. The straighter stock fits me better than the Beretta Pigeon. When I put the gun to my shoulder and cheek on the stock I'm looking right down the rib. With the Pigeon I would be rooching up the stock to get my eye up. And because it fits better than the Pigeon its even easier on my shoulder. I wish I could say my scores improved significantly, but I can't. I'm also very happy with the appearance, the wood and finish on the gun. The bad news is I've had to send it back for service. I had three failure to fires incidents where the trigger locked after the first shot. On the third incident the gun discharged as I was bringing it off my shoulder. That was scary for me and the group I was shooting with. Benelli customer service made it easy to return the gun directly, which I decided to do since the dealer was so far away. And they promised to expedite the repair since the gun was new. I expect it will be a couple of weeks before I get it back.

That's rough and it's good you sent it back to them for a check up. When you get it back, there's two things you'll want to watch out for with this gun in relation to the problem you're having.

a. The barrel selector is a bit sticky. You need to be sure you get it all the way over to the left or right before you take the safety off or else it will stick in limbo giving you some understandably wierd results on your first and/or second shots. Never seen a delayed fire, but I could imagine one if things were jamed up in the trigger assembly.

b. You need to be really sure you get the trigger returned all the way forward before you pull it the second time. I had trouble with the second barrel firing the first time I shot this gun and last week at the sporting clays range after I got tired from walking 2 miles in 95 degrees and fireing 150+ rounds I had the same problem. Nonetheless, I'm sure that both of these incidents are atributed to not returning the trigger.

Not sure if this was your problem but if they fix it and you apply these rules you should be fine. I have a few thousand rounds through without any firearm generated problems except the sticky barrel selector which I think I've seen before on more expensive guns. Anyways, good choice on the L for it's super light anyways, especially if you shoot more than you hunt.

[BillD]

Good points. I'll have to pay more attention to the barrel selector and trigger action. I bought some snap caps that I intend to use when I get the gun back to better understand the interaction of the two.

I assume the triggers are mechanical, not inertia, because both actions can be dry fired.

[ivoryhunter]

I have both an Instinct L in 12 gauge and an SL in 20 gauge I am very pleased with the handling of both guns but favor the feel of the lighter SL model. There was a good write up in Sporting Classics Magazine about the Instinct models and I believe it was chosen new shotgun of the year, Franchi does advertise in the magazine but so do all the other manufactures including the high end ones so I felt this was a highly credible endorsement.

At this time I just shoot informally over my one step trap at a public range but do get out just about each weekend and no doubt have a thousand or so rounds through each shotgun. I have not had any problems with the SL model, shortly after getting the L model I had some scoring in the hinge area so sent it back, Franchi had a new gun out to me in less than two weeks so I am pleased with their service and have not had any trouble with the replacement.

With a seven year warranty and a good service program I feel these guns are a solid value.

Tony

[BillD]

I got my gun back from Franchi service in less than a week! They 'repaired and adjusted the trigger'. I was initially skeptical about the repair, because the trigger would hang on the second pull about half the time during dry firing (using snap caps to protect the firing pins), but the trigger worked fine when I put 20 test rounds through it. Hopefully, it will continue to work well. Apparently the trigger action does rely on recoil to function properly, suggesting it is an inertia trigger.

So at this point I must say I'm happy with Franchi service, and agree with ivoryhunter that the gun is a solid value.

Bill