Howdy all,

Long time lurker of the OB and could use some help getting some info. I managed to get my hands on my Grandpa's dove blaster and being a shotgun noob could use some help understanding what some of the numbers found under the barrels mean. I assume it's related to the choke but I have no idea what this means in practical teams:

https://i.imgur.com/8CiqYN0.jpg


Some other pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/xIi0AIa.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0VJuT2n.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XJJWrxh.jpg

Overall the shotgun seems to be in pretty good shape and I plan on keeping it and passing it down to my kids one day. Would love some info on what some of these numbers mean so I can shoot the thing safely.

I've got one of these also and did some investigation on mine a while back.

Basically you've got several pieces of information available to you from the markings.

Date Code: The XVI means the gun was manufactured in 1960. Beretta began stamping date codes in 1954 with a Roman numeral X. The VI behind it just means to add six years to 1954.

Serial Number: The numbering beginning with C is your serial number. It's the same on both the receiver and the barrels, indicating that you have the matching pair from the factory.

Choke: The number of stars indicate the choke on each barrel. Looks like you've got Improved Modified and Modified.



I believe most of the other stamps are either proofmarks or quality control testing results.

Thanks for the info Todd, appreciate it. This is the exact type of info I was looking for and will give me a starting point for some further research (regarding the chokes and such).

Definitely going to take it out to the family land at some point to put some shells though it.

Be sure to not run steel shoot through it. Have fun!