Does anyone have a sense as to the availability of extra barrels for Beretta S2s? I am looking at a very appealing 1950s Beretta S2 12 ga. but the barrels too long for what I need. The Beretta Gallery in Dallas told me that Beretta stopped making barrels for S2s (not surprisingly) and I have not been able to reach anyone at Coles to get their input. Thanks, Doverham

If you found an S2 with barrels too long, you are the first in years to suffer that indignity. How long are the barrels on the gun you have found?

There are quite a few of those guns around. S2's and S3's both. It would likely be much easier (and cheaper) to just find one like you want rather than try to make one up. There were a couple of them going begging over on trapshooters.com a few weeks ago.

WtS

How long are your S2 barrels?

Thanks,

Mike

29.5" xfull/mod. I am looking for 28".

Thanks. There do seem to be a few S2s in the market right now in the mid-$4k range and up, but this one is priced very attractively. I am trying to figure out if there is enough of a discount to justify buying an additional set of barrels. Coles sells 680s series barrels for around $1500 installed, but I suspect that finding and fitting S2 barrels will be much more expensive.

I couldn't find anything on Trapshooters.com - maybe I wasn't searching properly.

Here's your issue:

1) If you find any barrels for sale, they will be over $1K and closer to $2.5K from a dealer
2) The S0-series guns are not machined made and the new barrels will require fitting from someone who knows what they are doing. Expect to $250 to $500 for this
3) If you trade your barrels, some people will wonder why your gun barrels don't match the serial number on the receiver. Expect to get less when you want to resale.

Why do you need to go through this expense for 1.5" of barrels? The beretta barrels are usually marked on the left side with their weight in Kg. This weight can very. 30" barrels are not out of favor. So is it weight or barrel length?

Since you are in MA, you may want to visit and talk with Rich Cole in ME.

You have a very good barrel length by today's standards and the cost to change may be more than the gun is worth.

As some said, 29.5" barrels are right in the middle of current popularity. I'd suggest keeping them, just stand 1.5" back on each station.

Not sure about S2 model. I did have a great SO4 model that had ASE 90 barrels fitted to it as they were the same design.

Agree that Cole's will be your best source of info, Rich has done a lot of work on the older model Beretta's

H&H

Thanks all. I was thinking about weight and to a lesser extent handling. These barrels are 1465g, making them ~100g heavier than other S2 barrels. I was planning to use the gun for upland game - obviously, this will not be a grouse gun but I want to make sure it would be workable for pheasants and chukars.

I have a call in Cole's and will pass on what they say. The gun in every other way is a beauty and well priced. I have short arms so maybe the 1.5" will come in handy!

Doverham, a 29.5 S2 is a rare bird in today's market. You will find 20 shorter barrelled S2s for every 29 or 30 inch gun. Short barrel S2s are a dime a dozen. The S2s on the trapshooter.com website, if they are there, would probably be on the For Sale forum which is below the discussion forum. Just scroll down.

I'd pay extra for the longer barrels, even on a grouse gun.
If anyone out there has a set of Beretta BL 20ga barrels that are just too frikkin long...like a pesky 30" or so--and wants to trade for a lithe, light and nimble set of 26" tubes I'm your man.

The word from Cole's:

New barrels - (laughter) $10k and 1yr+ wait

Old Barrels - even if you can find them, generally not wise to fit anything other than new barrels on the gun. The barrels were hand-fitted to their original action, so there is no guarantee that they can be safely fit onto another action. Even if the fit looks okay, it still may not be safe.

Take-away: don't buy an older S2/S3 if you can't live with the barrel configuration.

Laughter is right...For $10K you can find a very good S3EELL with the 28" barrels. Also at $10K, 3.5 oz (~.100 Kg) is pretty expensive.

1.465kg barrels are not heavy. That action is way more porky than a 12ga action needs to be cuz it was not designed to be primarily a field gun. I admit that 30" barrels can "feel" long if you're used to short barrels, but if you can actually feel 100gm spread over 30"s of over/under barrels you prolly don't want a S series of any kind Beretta.

JMO of course

Dr. WtS

Interesting. I found this description on the following website

http://www.berettaweb.com/S04/SO2.htm

"Mod. S 0 2 « Super Caccia » over and under preferred for hard field use. Action made from nickel chrome alloy steel, handsomely hand engraved, casehardened, with beautiful white super finish. Barrels made from « Boehler Antinit Steel » with ventilated rib, chambered for all 2 314" shells. Automatic ejectors, concealed extension held down by sliding bolt. Free safety on the strap. Silver pigeon inlaid into the top lever. Ali interior parts chrome plated for frictionless action and durability. Selected walnut stock and forearm custom finished with hand checkering. Equipped with swivels and plastic butt plate. Straight or pistol grip. 12 gauge only."

All this for 3.5 oz? Drill out the stock. Change the butt pad. Have the forend reshaped.

Pete

Unless you're shooting planted chukar, a 30" S2 12g (or any other S series 12g for that matter) is a big heavy gun to be luggin up and down steep hills that wild chukar reside on. 3.5 oz won't matter much. You need to shave lbs. A 6lb gun feels like 30 at the end of a chukar day.

I have no idea what "porky action" means. The S-series actions are not tall and the barrels don't contain any side type lumps for locking.

Doverman,

I have SO2, SO3 & SO4. All have 28" barrels. Boo Hoo. I'd like to find some 30" or 32" barrels for all of them and I'd prefer to keep the factory barrels.

Does anyone think that a company or smith is making SO barrels for their current production gun? Wouldn't it be great if we could find production barrels that fit the SO frame(mind you with a little fitting up)?

Phil

Maybe you could talk Cole's into making new barrels that could be used on older S2-4s. I think you would have to gather a healthy number of pre-production orders to convince to take that on, tbough.

Doverman: PM sent.