Just cosmetic.

The internals for the 680 series receivers are pretty much the same.

Yes, they are true workhorses that need minimal maintience to last a long time.

ss

 

Also, the Gold E is a .732 bore w/ Optima tubes. The X and Gold use mobiil choke tubes. Whether you'd even notice the difference between the two in you scores is questionable.

 

You are correct about these models all being the same gun mechanically. I shoot a pair of 682X trap models and have gotten very good service from them. I think they are a very good value on the used gun market.

The only frailty that I am aware of is the inertia reset spring which tends to break after about 15K rounds and only when you are in the middle of pounding out a killer doubles score. When the spring does break, your gun will continue to work but only as a single shot. Replacement of that spring is reasonably easy and cheap or you could consider a mechanical conversion.

 

Beretta 68X Series receivers are mechanically/internally pretty much the same. The differences are largely cosmetic (engraving, sculptured, etc). Later 682 Gold R does have an adjustable trigger, which older 682s do not have, and the 686 and 687 receivers do not either. However, the adjustable trigger is available as a part, and can be used in most, if not all the 68X series. Do note that Beretta had several different barrel types however. The older 682 and 682X use Mobil Chokes and have slightly heavier barrels than the newer 682 Gold E guns. These later guns also use Beretta Optima Chokes as they are overbore barrels, which are slightly slimmer and lighter in weight. Beretta also has barrels which use an Optima Plus Choke, so you need to be aware of which type of barrels you have in order to get chokes for them, as they are not interchangeable. You can also get Beretta "Hybrids" from Joel Etchen Guns, for instance. This hybrid uses the 687 Silver Pigeon II receiver mated to 682 Gold E barrels.

Jim R

 

All of the 68x barrels will inter change with little or no fitting. The different types of chokes (Mobil,Optima,OptimaPlus) will not.

I think that the Optima-Choke Plus barrel is only used field semi-autos.

Jason

 

Wolfram, tell us more about the trigger business. How is the intertia system adjusted for charge intensity. I have heard that 682s can be adjusted for .410 without giving up the inertia feature. How is that done? How do we get our guns converted to mechanical if that is an alternative? Thanks for your advice.

 

As stated above all Beretta 680, 682, 686 and 687 have the same basic actions.

The 680, 682 and 687EELL are full-featured target guns. All wear parts are easily and inexpensively replaceable. The barrels have replaceable barrel shoulders, which the 686 and 687's do not have.

The 680 was the initial target version. They have the wide and heavy receiver. They do not have the adjustable length of pull triggers and the barrel side ribs are not ventilated.

The 682 replaced the 680 and added the adjustable length of pull trigger and ventilated barrel side ribs. The early versions have the wide and heavy receiver. The earliest guns were marked S682, all I have measured have wide receivers. In later guns the only way to identify the wide or narrow versions is to measure the receiver width. A barrel made for a wide receiver will fit a narrow receiver, but the barrel shoulders will hang over. A narrow barrel will fit a wide receiver, but the barrel shoulders will be a bit inside the receiver edges. There were polished silver and black versions of the receiver. The black version were usually usually 682X Trap guns or Super Sports. Early 682's have fore ends that do not have finger groves. Later fore ends have finger grooves, which I detest. Sporting versions usually have Schnabel fore ends which I also detest. There were Super Sport versions with a ugly stock that had replaceable combs and rock hard recoil pads.

The 682 Gold replace the 682 and I believe are all the narrow receiver. The receiver finish changed to a nice gold/bronze/olive color

All the barrels to this point are generally bored .721-.722" and use Mobil chokes.

The 682 Gold E is the latest version. Receiver finish changed to an updated busy design, not to my taste. They have generally lighter weight barrels that are bored to .735" and use the Optima choke system.

A 687EELL is basically a 680/682 with false side-plates. Early versions do not have the adjustable length of pull triggers and have the wide and heavy receivers. Later versions have the adjustable trigger, and at some point swapped over to the narrow receiver.

The usual way to convert the triggers to work, with the small gauges, is to polish the bearing surfaces of the inertia block sear surfaces. It is not uncommon to see skeet guns that have so much material removed as to render the inertia system inoperable. Which is not usually a problem as long as the gun is held with a firm grip. Kolar does an very nice fully-mechanical conversion, but they get $325 and will only do the conversion on a gun they have tubed. The Kolar conversation requires the shooter to fully release the trigger which some find disconcerting.

I prefer the older wide receiver guns. If you want a quicker handling gun then you probably want one of the newer guns.

There seems to be some confusion between the Optima and Optima Plus chokes. The Optima is used in the 682 Gold E ,newer 687's and newer auto-loaders. The Optima Plus was an over-bored version of the Mobile choke system and was used on 3 1/2" 391 auto-loaders and is not compatible with the Optima system.

Michael Goines