Beretta Jubilee

This month we are directing our attention to a rather splendid Beretta Jubilee. A 20 bore game gun with fixed chokes (quarter and half). Our test gun, moreover, has 28" tubes and a narrow 6mm game type rib. The gun looks something like a EELL but has hand engraving and finishing to a higher standard (and is built in the SO factory where other prestige Beretta models are put together). I generally like plainer guns, but must admit that I have fallen for a EELL myself recently and this Jubilee is even smarter. The engraving on my 28 bore EELL is not hand done, but on this Jubilee it appears to be. And that - a few details apart - is the big difference between the two models (oh, and a modest matter of 5k or so). In fairness, though, I should also say that the Jubilee is a hand-finished gun and one made in the prestigious SO factory rather than the main Beretta plant.

Game or Scroll?

The engraving is a game scene (there is a most elegant scroll model as well - at least as far as 12 bore version is concerned - and you may still be able to get one if you hurry for similar money). Game or scroll, machine or hand applied, one expects first class work from Italy these days. Readers may be interested to know - although in all probability it does not directly relate to the test gun - that so-called machine engraving has come along in leaps and bounds in recent years with the routine use of lasers and other new technologies. Frankly, from my perspective - and I look at a lot of guns - it is getting harder and harder to tell what is done by machine and what is done by traditional craft methods… Nor does it much matter at the end of the day if the finished product looks good. This gun looks (and feels) excellent, but then so does the cheaper EELL (one of the best value ‘better’ guns on the market in my opinion). ‘You pays yer’ money…’, as they say.

On the Test Bench

The general specification of the Jubilee presents few real surprises. Indeed, it is reassuringly familiar. The gun comes to the shoulder well too, and hits the scales just over 6lbs (about perfect for a fast handling 20 bore game gun). I have always liked the fixed choke 28" game models in the Beretta range (and I am also fond of the 30" multi-choke 20 and 28 bores). For my clay shooting I stick to long guns, but for game shooting, excessively long barrels are a distinct disadvantage because - they will hinder your swing and slow you down when you want to get into action fast.

Many so-called game guns have barrels that are far too heavy to perform their designated task well (though heavy tubes may suit clay shooting disciplines such as NSSA skeet and DTL). Old English guns achieved their excellent reputation, partly because the barrels were relatively thin and therefore fast handling and light. Game shooting is a faster business than much clay shooting and requires a different sort of gun. For this reason, I have become a particular fan of the 20 and 28 models within the Beretta range - one can achieve similar handling characteristics by the simple means of reducing bore size. In other words a Beretta 20 bore has handling qualities not unlike a best London 12 costing 20 times as much.

Anyway, I digress. Workmanship on the Jubilee leaves little to be desired. The wood is good. The wood to metal fit excellent, and the blacking competent (though not highly polished beneath the durable surface finish as is my impractical preference of a deluxe gun). The barrels are made of Beretta chrome moly steel. They are Monobloc, of course, and bear Italian proof marks for 70 and 76mm (2 3/4 and 3") shells. Joining ribs are solid, the 6mm sighting rib is ventilated and has a traditional metal bead at the muzzles. The forcing cones in front of the chambers are mid-length. The bores are chromed inside and very well presented. The joint between tubes and monobloc is impeccable, and, reassuringly, the barrels are straight too (as they usually are on Berettas - the firm, unlike some, seems to have discovered the secret of putting barrels together without significant heat distortion).

The barrels on the test gun are 28" long. My preference on a 12 is usually 28” for game and 30" for clays, and 32" for clay shots who have the skill to use them. I don’t usually advise 32" tubes for game - even high birds - because I think they can check the swing). If you are going to use one gun for game and clays, I would make your decision depending on which sort of shooting you are going to do the most. If game shooting is your primary interest, stick to the shorter tubes. Now things change a bit with small bores, here I favour 28” over and under 20 bores for walking up or less than challenging driven situations, for all other situations my preference is 30” in a 28 or 20 bore.

Now, let’s look at the action. Decoration apart, it is very familiar. It is the thoroughly well proven low-profile Beretta design. Bifurcated lumps, conical locking lugs, it is one of the best known designs in the business - very clever and tough as hell. The trigger is inertia operated and there is the usual barrel selector on the safety (my only criticism of this otherwise excellent Beretta design is that the barrel selector is a little fiddly when one has cold or gloved fingers). The trigger blade on the Jubilee is classically shaped, and left bright steel. Pulls are good too, without much creep, breaking at about three pounds.

The stock on the Jubilee has the usual Beretta pistol grip which is neither full pistol nor semi. It is a little like the famous Prince of Wales grip as most frequently seen on Woodward guns, but fuller. Drop dimensions were 1 3/8 and 2 ¼” - close to my ideal. Length of pull with a wooden butt plate (my preference would have been for black plastic, or, better, a traditional plugged butt) was 14 5/8”. The figure on the wood of both stock and forend was stupendous - as good as I have recently seen. But, the grain is not quite as straight through the hand as I would have liked to have seen and the stock looked as if it could have taken a bit more oil. Chequering is crisp and I would guess (by one or two just perceptible over-runs) hand cut. I liked the field forend of what is now called the ‘American’ pattern which looks like a schnabel with the lip at the front removed - as good a design as you will find for an over and under game gun.

Shooting Impressions

Good. This is a well made, fast-handling, gun. It is, decoration and finish apart, a typical Beretta 20 bore and I know of few game shots that do not think them excellent. The gun will appeal to a certain market - those who are willing to pay for extra embellishment and the cache of owning a Jubilee model. I am not going to knock it, if you’ve got it this is a pretty good way to flaunt it without being excessively flash. Moreover, you get the benefits of a hand finished gun with the mechanical reliability of a 68 series Beretta. I have to say that it does look a bit expensive when compared with the visually similar EELL. Design wise it’s difficult to criticise though, and I might add, that I know several very rich men who have stuck to their side-plated guns continuing to use guns like this in preference to London's best. Upmarket Berettas like this are not only stylish but also totally reliable. Money no object? I might well buy one or a pair and let the heirlooms rest. I know one reigning monarch who does just that.

My thanks to Lyalvale (Express) who supplied the cartridges for the test and to GMK (not least Emma Covington-Cross who you will see in the pictures!)

PRICE (RRP): £9,250