Beretta 486 Parallelo 10th Anniversary review

Be it a shotgun or rifle, for years I could never afford to buy a brand-new gun. I was always perusing the various used gun websites like ssaagunsales.com or the second-hand shelves of gun dealers when I was in the market for another gun.

My first shotgun was an old beater Franchi 12-gauge field gun, choked ¼ and full, which I used on everything from trap and skeet through to field shooting ducks, foxes and rabbits. When mandatory steel shot was brought in, I scrounged a set of second-hand Franchi barrels choked ¾ and ¾ and got my local gunsmith to fit them. I was set for everything!

Fast forward to 2024. After many years of owning various guns in all gauges and calibres, making all the mistakes and learning from them, my 40th birthday was fast approaching. My wife and kids asked me what I wanted. Well, of course there are always a million things I want but reality and dreams are two different things.

I had been wanting another side-by-side shotgun for a long time. When I turned 18, I got an old Greener side-by-side for shooting ducks. So, I figured, a new side-by-side shotgun would be the ideal treat for this milestone. It had to be of heirloom quality, that would outlast me.

As luck would have it Beretta Australia sent out an email that same day with eight of their Beretta 486 Parallelo 10th Anniversary shotguns in the country. I sent an online enquiry and Edward from Beretta Premium promptly contacted me. He explained the process of purchasing one, and all I had to do was pick one of the eight guns from their website. Beretta would then send the chosen gun up to my local gunshop (Venture Outdoors) and they would take out the PTA for me.

Simple right? Well, not really. The hardest part for me was deciding on a traditional straight hand stock or the pistol grip style stock. I’d used a straight hand style stock before, and it came up nicely – done, straight it was then. Next there were four guns with the straight hand stock in varying styles of timber. I selected a gun that had a tight grain and almost tiger striped look to it.

I got back to Edward the next day and before I knew it the gun was being shipped from Melbourne to Brisbane. Staff from Venture Outdoors called me the next day to confirm a few crucial details for the PTA and then the waiting game began.

Fast forward a few weeks and I picked the gun up and was ready to give it the once over on the SSAA sporting clays range.

The action is a traditional Anson and Deeley boxlock with a round body style, featuring profuse deep scroll engraving. As this is Beretta’s 10-year anniversary edition, there is a pheasant engraved on the bottom of the receiver along with 1/486 – the total number made.

All models are single triggers, with an automatic safety catch. I appreciate the trigger break on this shotgun, being incredibly crisp and responsive – even on the second barrel.

The barrels come in two options of 28“ or 30“. I picked the 28“ as I felt the balance would be better. The 30“ barrels feel too ‘slow’ for me. It really comes down to personal preference.

As previously mentioned, there are two stock options: the straight hand or pistol grip stock. The straight hand style stock comes with a thin English splinter style fore-end. The pistol grip comes with a beaver tail style fore-end. I will admit the splinter style fore-end initially took a bit of getting used to, but once I settled into my rhythm, I never noticed it again.

The 486 comes with a set of five removable chokes from skeet through to full. I generally just leave ½ and ¾ chokes in my gun for all my shooting. With today’s modern cartridges and chokes, the patterns are exceptional out to moderate shotgun ranges. Beretta spends a lot of time on research and development on their barrels and it shows.

These guns are all proof tested to be used with modern high performance steel shotgun loads. So, if you are in one of the lucky states with a duck season or duck mitigation, this gun can handle those newer heavy steel loads.

Probably the last item to mention is the gun case, which is bright orange on the outside, meaning you’ll never lose it. The orange cloth covered case goes well with the beige suede interior lining. The interior is partitioned with a storage area for chokes etc and the barrels and stock.

At the point of writing this I have only shot this gun at sporting clays a couple of times. Say 500+ clays. Within the first few shots, I felt the gun came came up naturally. I was initially hesitant, after not using a side-by-side for several years, but after the first stand I was back smacking them in the centre and sending pieces of clay flying. I started my first few stands with skeet and ½ chokes but later progressed to ½ and ¾ chokes, which is where I will leave them for now in this shotgun. I feel that these chokes are adequate for 90 per cent of field or sporting clays situations, especially with how good the patterns are with this Beretta gun.

One thing to note is that the stock is around 14.5“ long with a timber butt plate, which is a bit short for me but I’m sure when chasing a few winter bunnies over the border I’ll have extra layers on, so it won’t be an issue. Generally, field guns have a shorter length of pull so they can be mounted quickly, without any fuss.

I am extremely happy with the quality of this gun, and I am sure it will last my lifetime and beyond. Priced at $12,999, it was the ultimate 40th present to myself and worth every cent!