A Pair Of 28-Bore Beretta EELLs

Michael Yardley, admitting a preference for 28-bores, says this well-engraved and finished pair are great fun to shoot but need to be controlled more than bigger guns

THIS pair of 30 in-barrelled, 28-bore Beretta EELLs was borrowed from the gunroom of long-established dealers Victor & Neville Chapman near Colchester. To find new factory pairs of 28-bore EELLs is not common (although there are two more at the Beretta Gallery in London). This pair, priced at just over £15,000 (RRP is £16,050), are stocked in dark and richly figured wood, which makes them all the more desirable. They have game scene-engraved, side-plated actions, 6mm ventilated ribs, multichokes, auto safeties and selective single triggers. They are consecutively numbered 1 and 2 in gold and weigh in at a quite light 6lb 4oz.

First impressions are good; they are appealing guns. Their stocks, which are particularly attractive, give them the wow factor. The engraving – Beretta’s standard game scene mechanically applied – is fine, the birds, pheasants and woodcock, are well done, though my own preference would be for scroll, which is also an option in this model. The basic form of the guns is good as well. It would be hard to imagine anything