16ga.com ~ View topic

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=43934211

Very nice......but a surprise to me.....the Silverhawk had a non-selective single trigger?

Just took a look at the old adds on the Silver Hawk. The single trigger was " automatically armed after the first barrel is fired live. Non-selective." The other option being the double triggers. List price was only $215.75. I doubt that would even be close to the reserve price on Gun Broker. I did have a double trigger model 409PB some time ago. It was a great field gun. The store I traded it to had it listed for $1650.00 and it was gone with in the week.
Good shooting,
Ron

Member Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 1522 Location: NH

Nice gun, but I like my 2 triggers. Very Happy

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

Looks like a particularly nice old Silver Hawk. They were essentially a 409, tweaked for the American market--beavertail and pistol grip. Came with either double triggers or single nonselective.

Seller said it is 95% and the reserve is $1600.

Wow...I thought the seller's reserve price was a little high on this one, but it is currently at 1500.00. I should think this would be about all the market would bear for what is essentially a 25 year old plus field gun. For a bit more there are quite similar new guns to be had with warranties.What gives?

Well, since i've just blown my gun money on an AyA 16 ga. SxS of similar ilk, I've got no dogs in this fight but I'd say this is a fine gun at a reasonable price. If i'd have seen it sooner, I'd be in the fray. The gun is quoted at 95% and that counts for something. Besides, the new gun warranty won't do you much good if the gun is not made anymore and hasn't been for years. Try and find one. They are rarer than chicken lips.

Ok, we can wait and see if Berretta makes a 16 gauge in the next year or so and pay about the 3K+ it will cost for a new one. Then we must hope the quality will match the old one. Most new guns today won't. Berretta quality has a long and good track record, but the new ones aren't quite as good according to all the trap folks i know who dote on them. This gun appears to have been made at the zenith of Beretta's days. I say if you want it, you'd better get it while the getting is good or stare at the mirror and repeat "woulda, coulda, shoulda....ad infinatum. Wink

16GG.

PS; the last time I said that much to an "Ole Southern Lawyer", I was left out in front of the courthouse in my skivvies. Please take no offense sir. I also agree about taxes and government. TJ would now be stumping for term limits (and maybe a few judicious hangings too.) Wink

It is sooooo hard to accept a going price on a Beretta 2 to 3 times the blue book 100% rating. Now with the obvious said lets talk market prices. I keep looking and waiting for an inexpensive Beretta SxS and for the last 10 years the prices have only gone upward. The 12g have gone to $1300-$1500.00 and the 20g at the lowest level is $1800. to $2000.00. Now we look at the 16g and really get a shock. I bid on one a month ago that went for $3700. The normal does seem to be $1600 to $2000. When I have been tempted I usually gather all the information and talk to or question the seller. The times I hesitate more than a week they are sold. Life is getting shorter and the supply was never great to start with so if a Beretta SxS tickles your fancy get off your wallet and go for it. In this auction it will get crazy at closing so go big if you are serious because some one will be very serious. No I have no interest in the auction. I have just seen it happen to often.
Best of luck,
Ron

forget the blue book in today's market. The blue book was written to enable gunshop owners to make a decent living off used guns. Trying to buy any decent one even 20 years ago at the listed price was about as likely as hitting the lottery. Sure, there were and are a few uninformed or desperate dealers out there, but go try and find one when you need one for the gun you want at a time when you've got the money. As an example, when was the last time you saw a clean used 16 ga.Citori go for under 1k. the blue book lists a 95% gun at 700 or less. Good luck with that one. You won't get any of mine my friends.

The Euro has blown the lid off the old price guideline for Italian guns of any decent quality. Berettas are the Brownings of the European market, solid quality at decent prices. Well kiss the cheap prices good bye. European companies are no longer kissing the dollar's fanny.

On top of that, the internet market have blown away the old price guidleines all to hell. People can now buy direct and negotiate their own deals so easily. We either accept it, or cry in our beer while the gun we've been looking for goes to he who can pay and has the desire. So long bargain 16 ga SxS guns. They are long gone. Its a seller's market, it has been for some time, and will be for any decent used SxS of known good, dependable quality. Woulda, coulda, shoulda...wah!

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

Ron, I know where there's a Silverhawk 20ga magnum, very nice shape, can be bought for $1500. If it were a 16, I might own it already. Looking at the information I have on the old Silverhawks, I expected the 20 magnum to be a heavier gun. Guess this one is heavier than the featherweight 20's, but it's not that bad.

From what I've seen, the Bernardellis have not inflated as much as have the Berettas, and in many respects, I like the Bernies better. But you don't find them in 16 all that often.

Ron and Larry, most post-1960, 16 ga used SxS and O/U guns of decent quality are almost always in excellent mechanical conditon. They might have a few dings or a little blue wear, but internally, they are as clean as a hounds tooth. They haven't generally been used for target shooting other that one or two rounds of skeet or a few hand thrown targets in the back 40 just before hunting season. Most have only been used for bluebird days of upland hunting. I have found more lightly used better quality 16 ga guns than any other ga except .410. My AyA Matador is a perfect example of this. Its got quite a few small dings on the wood and the varnish is flaking off, but the metal surfaces are clean and internally, it looks like brand spanking new. I'm betting the ayA 116 I'm waiting on will be much the same internally.

12s and 20s often are sold because the owner knows he's shot the hell out of the gun at the local target range. Its clean to the eye, but the internal parts are suspect. This applies less to SxS 12 ga guns. But I've seen a lot of O/U 12s and 20s and a fair share of 20 ga SxS guns shot for 3 to 4 rounds of informal skeet, week in and week out for years. That is why I think so highly of the SKB line of SxS guns. I've seen more than a few face this level of use without any more maintainance than a normal cleanng after the shooting. I also know of a few 20 gauge sxS Berettas that have been shot for thousands of rounds without any mechanical maintainance other than the firing pins being reconed and reused after having the noses smoothed up. I've never seen any 16 face that amount of shooting except for my own 16 Citori which has probably fired at least 5K or more rounds over the last 4 years or so.

To me solid quality post WWII 16 ga guns are almost always a sure bet for getting a decent upland gun in excellent, dependable mkechanical condition. I wish I could say the same for some of the 20 ga guns I've gotten stuck with over the years. Live and learn. 16GG.

Fellow 16 ga loving Gentlemen...

You indeed raise some very good points about gun prices and perhaps my thinking on reasonable price is on the low side for this one.

Perhaps, too, I am as not motivated to buy it as I may have been in an earlier year. Among others, I have in the safe all in 16 gauge: a nice Rizzini O/U, a browning superlight feather O/U, and a BSA SXS. So, I'm not quite as "gun crazy" as in previous days. Coupled with the 20's and 12's I have, I guess I'm kinda lucky to have several decent choices of gun for bird hunting or clay shooting. Don't get me wrong...I do not have some million dollar collection of high grades...I buy comfortable decent quality shooters and just have fun with them.

But at this point, I don't think I want that Beretta enough to bid more for it than has already been put up by others. If one of you board members is high bidder, I hope you will enjoy many happy and safe years of hunting and shooting with it! And...if we ever get a chance to hunt together...will you let me put a couple rounds through it so I can fall in love with it and kick myself in the rear?

BTW, 16 GG, sorry to hear about your southern lawyer experience...hope the one instance will not result in your avoiding coming down to visit, shoot, hunt and enjoy some authentic "southern hospitality"!

OSL

OSL, I lived in, hunted around, and travelled all over Dixie for well over a decade of my life. I enjoyed nearly every minute of it too. I've got friends and family in the Blue Ridge. Being an inveterate shotgunning, pocket knife toting, guitar picker, I got on with most folks like it was "Ole Home Week." I moved back North in the early 90's to help my parents through their last years and fell in love with New England again...all except the occasional deep winter we abide through.

Perhaps some fine September morn, I'll turn up to share a fine day of pass shooting doves over a seed field and ease back with you at day's end with a smooth shot of Virginia Gentleman bourbon or better yet, some good old bead holding, gin clear, headbusting mountain dew in our choice of mixer. Serve up the PJ... I'm home. Wink

23feb06

Nice gun.

My take on all this is that Beretta should take notice of a perfect survey of the potential demand for a new Silverhawk 16ga.

16ga.