What do the marks on beretta chokes mean?

Answer 1

First of all, congratulations on picking such a good piece of kit.

Choke markings do vary a bit but the basics are as follows:-

SK/IIIII = SKEET for close range targets, out to around 25/30 yards if the clay is face on or side on if closer.

IC/IIII = IMPROVED CYLINDER OR 1/4 CHOKE for targets out to about 40ish yds. face on or side on (flat) to 30ish yds.

M/III = MODIFIED OR HALF CHOKE, for targets out to about 50/60 yds face on or 40/50ish yds side on,(flat).

IM/II = IMPROVED MODIFIED OR 3/4 CHOKE, for targets out to around 60/70ish yds face on or 50/60ish side on(flat).

F/I = FULL CHOKE. For targets out to 70/80ish yds face on or 60/65ish yds side on, (flat). but will kill out a lot further in the hands of a good shot.

I`v seen rising teal clays shot at 110 yds and nice clean breaks.

These distances are not that accurate as guns vary slightly as do cartridges. Plastic wads tend to keep the shot pattern together a while longer, so you don`t need quite so much choke. In general if you use a 1/2 choke to kill a bird cleanly with felt wads, then with plastic wads you can roughly, kill the same bird with a 1/4 choke.

Put the most open choke into the bottom barrel, that's one dot on your barrel selector. Then put the tightest choke in the top barrel, that's two dots on the selector.

If you have a close bird/clay to shoot first put the selector on bottom barrel/one dot.

If you have a side on or distance target first, then use the top barrel/two dots. This will help you out of a lot of difficult situations.