Beretta Silver Mallard opinion

[-hanko]

DallasCMT, welcome to calguns.

I moved from Flower Mound to Idaho about 15 or so years ago. I used to shoot 3-4 rounds of skeet at the Quail Creek range every Sunday morning.

I'm not sure if it still exists, but it was at the dead end of FM1171 just after it crossed I35W.

You STOLE a beautiful shotgun.

-hanko Ex-TX.

[DallasCMT]

Thanks for the reply hanko, I'll have to check that place out. I haven't been there but they tell me it's nice. Seems it does still exist, their website is up.

I appreciate all the welcoming comments, and you guys putting up with my bragging. I'm just excited about the new gun - always wanted to own a 3xx series Beretta and the AL390 is a great one. This is a clean specimen.

So I bought a new stock set for the gun on Midwest Gun Works (MGW). Since it was only $249 for the set, I was not expecting much in wood quality. When I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised.

It seems the NRA has their "Friends of NRA" promotions and dinners, and apparently made a series of Beretta shotguns with the NRA logo stamped below the grip. Even though MGW sold the stock as a "Beretta deluxe oil finished" stock, I was amazed to see what appears to be a plus grade wood in a semi-gloss finish. It has the NRA logo, and the wood fits and looks great. I don't mind the NRA logo, it's well done and not prominent.

My guess is that Beretta had some left-over stocks from of their runs and sent them to MGW to be sold. Or, maybe they shipped me this one in error.

Here's a link to a pair of matching 12 & 20 ga 3901's that sold in 2006 for over $19,000. On ShotgunWorld, I read a post from an ex-NRA chairman who said there were 200 pairs made and they sold for $4,000 a pair. My guess is the wood I received was for a series like that, or who knows, maybe I'm just clueless and these are everywhere to be found.

You can see the same logo below the grip in one of these photos, it matches the one on my new stock.

I put the new stock on last night and took some picks of the final gun, tonight. Along with the new wood I added a Beretta Micro-Core recoil pad to keep it "all Beretta". The AL390 now has a 14-5/8" LOP I wanted (I may extend it) and look forward to shooting it this weekend. I also picked up a few Beretta flush Mobilchokes for it in CYL, IC, and MOD. It came with the Briley CYL choke you see below.

The gun was made in 1998 and is in great shape. Total out of pocket, about $550. I hope someone doesn't bust my bubble and tell me it's fake Xtra-Grain wood! If so, MGW screwed up selling it to me. I think it's real wood.

[DallasCMT]

Just more picks of the AL390 Silver Mallard 20 ga -

[XVIga_Rob]

Nice Gun!!

[DallasCMT]

The gun is complete, except that I may add a spacer between the stock and recoil pad to increase LOP to 14-3/4".

A friend supplied the Beretta Micro Core recoil pad off his new 686, it fit perfectly.

Shot spring clays today with it, got 88/100 using a 1oz @ 1145 load. It's a soft shooter and I'm quite happy with it.

[crackerman]

Nice wood, oh and you suck

That is a steal and I I am now thinking I should gussy up my 3901 with one of those nice wood sets on the MGW site.

[Newshooter]

Why can't deals like that EVER fall in my lap?

Nice gun and great deal!

[DallasCMT]

Thanks guys, I really am pleased with it. I'll take the punishment!

All in all I have about $650 in it, so it wasn't a total steal. I had to buy three choke tubes and a shim for the stock drop. But damn, I love it.

[DallasCMT]

BTW, a guy on Shotgunworld said he bought the same stock I did, it too had an NRA logo, but was not as nice as this one. I guess they do vary.