billt

I finally got the Beretta 87 Target out to the range the other day. I've had a lot of projects going on, so I wanted to wait until I had the whole day to play. I brought with me several different types of ammo, along with 4 Beretta magazines. The 2 that came with the gun, and 2 more original Beretta magazines I purchased from Midway last week.

I didn't know how it would function with Standard Velocity, especially being new, so I brought some high velocity with me as well. The first thing I noticed when I looked the gun over after I bought it, was the magazines have no tab on the side to help you depress the follower, to help make loading easier. I thought that could be a problem, and it was. The springs on these magazines are a bit stiffer than on my Browning Buckmarks, and Ruger Mark pistols. Getting the last 3 or 4 rounds in requires putting pressure on the round, while using both fingers to help depress the follower on what little you have to push on the sides. After a few full magazines I got the hang of it.

At 50 feet the gun printed right on. I never touched the sights all day. The trigger took some getting used to because it does have quite a bit of creep and over travel. That said, I'm not very, "trigger sensitive", and got used to it rather quickly. After 100 rounds or so, the gun felt beautiful in my hand, and I was able to group the rounds really well. This gun is VERY ACCURATE.

I oiled the slide well, and I fired just 2 magazines of high velocity before switching to standard velocity stuff, and the gun functioned fine with it. So that was all I fed it from then on. I had zero operational issues with the gun all day. It digested, fired and ejected every single round perfectly. You can't ask for more than that.

I initially thought the gun would be too light at just 29.5 ounces. But after shooting it extensively the weight seemed perfect. The gun was just muzzle heavy enough for a rimfire target pistol. All total I ran around 350 rounds through it. Mostly some old CCI Green Tag I had, and the rest newer CCI Standard Velocity. It grouped off a rest better with the older Green Tag. Especially after moving back to 25 yards.

All in all I really like this gun. My biggest, and really only complaint are the magazines. I wish they had incorporated a loading tab on them. I think I'll pickup a Uplula Magazine loader in .22 for it. That should help make things easier next time out. The gun cleaned up easily after 350 rounds, and it didn't take long before it was as clean as when I took it out of the box.

As I mentioned, I purchased this gun sight unseen, without ever handling one. That made me a bit nervous because it wasn't cheap. But after getting out to the range with it, I'm glad I took the chance in buying it. It's a gun that will get shot a lot. I think I will add a set of Beretta Walnut Grips to it just to dress it up a bit.

RidgeRunner

Buying sight unseen is reason to be a bit nervous, but it seems you got a great pistol. Walnut grips would set it off. The Uplula sounds like a must have. I reckon you're gonna have alot of plinkin' ahead. Congratulations;.

Machinist

I have been looking forward to this report. It sounds like a fine pistol and now I have to talk myself out of it. There are a number of great .22 autos but I really prefer an external hammer and the target types all seem to be hammerless or internal hammers. My Walther P22 is a fun toy but not accurate enough so I rely on my K-22 S&W for that. This might be a lot of fun.

Thanks for the report.

north country gal

Great report. Thanks. That's one I've never seen, so very interesting. Not at all familiar with Beretta. Is this a rimfire version of one of their centerfire autos? If so, I can understand why it would have such a trigger. I do tend to be trigger fussy, so probably not a good choice for me. Works for you, though, and that's what counts.

billt

I'm going to say "sort of". The gun has a trigger similar to the Beretta 92FS / M-9. I'm guessing that is what they patterned it off of. I'm not sure why because it's a full blown target .22 auto. I shoot a 9 MM Model 92FS, so perhaps that's why I got used to it so quickly. Overall it's not a "bad" trigger. But it's nothing like a Smith & Wesson Model 41 which is a similar target gun in it's price and class.

gunjunkie

Congratulations on your new pistol!
I'm a sucker for hammers too.
It reminds me of a Beretta Cougar, only with a hammer and a longer barrel.

north country gal

Thanks. I love that we are building up such a variety of shooters with different guns to post about, around here. Really enjoying it. Thanks, again.