3 shotguns under £5k

Beretta 695 - starting from £4,125 RRP

Kicking off our ‘Premier picks' is a Beretta. The 695 sits at the very top of the top of Beretta's boxlock (non-sideplated) range of guns. Built on the extremely successful 690 series platform, the gun offers exceptional balance and handling with the stalwart Beretta reliability that we all know and love at a hugely competitive price. 

The 695 features a coin finished action with deep cut acanthus style scrollwork. The Steelium Plus barrels combine an excellent mix of comfort and performance thanks to the over bored barrels and Optima HP (High Performance) choke tubes.

The game guns have a 6 x 6 parallel rib and the sporting guns (which we would wholeheartedly recommend for tall birds and heavier loads) have a wider tapered rib. Barrels are CIP steel shot proofed. The 695 shares the same wood grade as the ubiquitous 687 EELL series of guns. This means highly figured European walnut with a silver oval and nicely finished off with a wooden butt plate.

The 695 is available in both 12g (28 and 30” barrels) and 20 gauge (28, 30 and 32” barrels) and is supplied in a deluxe leather trimmed ABS case. All guns come with a 3 year warranty as standard. Both calibres are available in left hand orientation and pairs are also offered.

Browning 525 Crown - starting from £4,650

This superb limited edition game gun comes from the pioneer of the over and under shotgun - Browning. Built on the supremely durable and highly regarded Japanese built 525 action, this gun features a similar engraving to the 325/425 grade 6 of the 1980’s/90’s. This has deep cut hand finished scroll work depicting flighting gamebirds picked out in silver rather than gold.

This new gun features nominal bored (18.4mm) barrels meaning enhanced performance with fibre wad cartridges. An unusual feature that Browning have incorporated in the Crown is fixed choke barrels (both half) and a very nice solid game rib. This makes for a very nice handling gun and one that will lend itself to many game shooting applications.

Hand selected European walnut furniture with a rounded forend and a deluxe leather case complete a very affordable prestige Browning. Only a few hundred of these guns were produced by Browning in a mixture of 12 and 20 gauge in barrel lengths 30 and 32”. All guns are neutral cast and can suit both left and right handed shooters.

Beretta 486 Parallelo - starting from £4,575 RRP

One of our favourite guns available on the market today. The Beretta 486 Parallelo offers the modern over and under game shooter a simple transition to a more traditional side by side game gun. The round body of the gun makes for very pleasing aesthetics and the fine scroll accompanies the action shape well.

There is the option to have a traditional ‘English’ straight hand stock with a slim forend or a pistol grip model with much wider ’beavertail’ forend. The latter being favoured by shooters that usually use an O/U. A lovely handling gun that is well suited to most styles of game shooting in the 28” variant with a 30” barrelled version also available. Both fixed and multichoke versions are available and single trigger is a standard specification.

This gun offers nearly 500 years of Beretta heritage with a slightly modern twist that shooters of all kinds of guns will appreciate.

Premium Guns Beretta VIP Experience

Premier Guns carry a range of all three of these shotguns in stock and as Beretta Premium Dealers and a Browning Partner Dealer, much of the woodwork is hand selected and they can offer preferential prices on a vast number of guns.

For something very special they can offer the unique opportunity to visit the Beretta factory for custom fitted Berettas.

The Beretta VIP Experience takes you to the heart of Italian gunmaking where you will enjoy the best in hospitality from the Premier Guns team whilst having the chance to tour the Beretta factory, engraving studios and even the private collection of the Beretta family. Highly respected game shooting coach and clay shooting double world champion David Beardsmore will ensure that every aspect of your custom fitted stock is pure perfection.

Frank from GunsOnPegs joined Premier Guns on a Beretta VIP Experience and this is what he had to say about it.

See a selection online, contact Premier Guns or visit them this weekend at the Game Fair at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire. They will be on stand M1303 exhibiting over 450 new and used guns including the new limited edition Browning 525 Exquisite.