My project

[MY]

     For several years I have been wanting to swap to a 20 ga for all hunting and have done so except for turkey hunting.  After reading about tss on this forum for a while I contacted Hal to see if he would be willing to help me with loading a shell that would give me the confidence to put down the 12 ga for good.  I'm pretty sure that he succeded in helpin me force my extrema into retirment.  I purchased a Beretta 390, camo dipped it myself, and reloaded 9 tss.  Here are my results.  (All shots are at a taped 40 yds)





     Only thing I need to do now is put a sight on it.  Any suggestions?

[ccleroy]

Very Sporty!

[drenalinld]

Nice job! Thanks for sharing.

[vaturkey]

  Fine lookin patterns & a fine lookin camo dip !  Good Luck !   

[MY]

Thanks on the camo dip but I will say that may be my first and last. It wasn't hard to do, but took more patience than I have. I saved a good bit of money if you don't figure in the time it took.

[WyoHunter]

Beautiful camo dipping job!

[hookedspur]

Both the dip job and your reloads look fantastic , how hard was it to do your own dip ?

[MY]

  The camo dip wasn't hard it just took time. I had to start by disassembling the gun, degrease, lightly sand, prime, base coat, dip, then clear coat. It takes a while to dry, from what I can tell if you can smell the clear coat it still isn't dry. Probably about two week to dry fully, but you can handle it after a few hours. I got impatient and assembled the gun after a few days and put a few scratches on the barrel with the forearm. The load is all Hal, I can take no credit for that. It's his 1 7/16 load using the chokes he recomended. I've got to say that he was dead on in everything that he told me. The Indian Creek was the most impressive by far, but the Carlson would be more forgiving for a youth or someone that needs a little larger pattern for error in aiming. Either choke would be a definite killer at 40 yds, and that's good enough. I'm going to use the Indian Creek for myself just in case I need the extra range. What who you guys recomended doing for mounting a fastfire on my gun?  Also, thanks for the positive comments.

[savduck]

Man, I love a beretta 390. Getting harder and harder to find the 20 ga ones. Very nice patterns. Great looking rig you got.

[gophert]

Looks awesome! How easy was it to dip your gun yourself, and what kit did you use?

Inquiring minds want to know!  I so want to do this, but am a little scared I will make it look like crap and waste my $100 i spent on the kit. 

[CB on the run]

I would mount the Fastfire with the Marlin 336 mount.  It has a low profile and looks sharp.   Only thing is, you have to drill and tap the recevier. 

+ 1 --CB

BTW Very impressive.  Makes me want to buy another 20 ga.

[kyhareraiser]

seems  that the gobblers are in trouble this spring.............good luck

[surehuntsalot]

one fine looking shotgun and some patterns......good luck

[MY]

     So I think I'm about done with my gun.  Burris doesn't make a speedbead mount for the 390 20ga so I bought one for a 3901 and did a little filing.  Wasn't sure it would work but got lucky.  I also don't like how the sling mounts on a Beretta so I drilled and tapped the magazine cap and screwed in a swivel studd.

    There are youtube videos of guys doing the camodip.  I think I got mine from mycamodip but from what I can tell the kits are all about the same.  The pattern is timbers edge.  It takes time but I like to do things myself when I can.  If you have patience and want the satisfaction of saying I did that myself then I would say try it.  If your just wanting a gun camoed, by the time its all over it would be worth it to send it off.  You can find places that are running sales on certian patterns and will dip your gun for only a little more than what you'll pay for the kit.  If anyone decides to try let me know and I'll post some of the things that you'll need to pay attention to.    

[MY]

   I also shot a nitro 4,5,7 just for comparison.  It's in no way tss but would work for a backup.  40 yds- Nitro H276c in 4,5,7- Indian Creek .555- Beretta 390 20ga- 167 in 10"