Top Selling Guns | November 2023

This month's GunBroker.com Top Selling Report, presented by GunGenius.com, is out, and firearms sales remain strong. One reason for these solid sales is the growing interest in shotgun sports among kids. Groups like the Scholastic Clay Target Program organize events where student athletes from around the nation put their shotgun skills to the test, competing for tens of thousands of dollars in college scholarships and prizes. Perhaps most importantly, at last year’s SCTP youth championship in Marengo, Ohio over one million rounds were fired in competition without a single injury. Organizations like SCTP foster friendly competition while teaching safe firearms handling.

Many of the thousands of student athletes that compete in SCTP events each year use Beretta firearms, and they join the millions of other hunters and shooters that have relied on Beretta guns over the centuries. Despite being the oldest firearms manufacturer in the world, Beretta’s shotguns are still best-sellers. The company’s A300 occupies the top sales position for semiauto shotguns in November (a position that gun held last month, too), and the 1301 ranks fifth among in new semiauto shotgun sales in November. Their ubiquitous 680-series shotguns rank third in new over/under sales this month, proving that, even after 500 years, Beretta is still at the top of the shotgun game.

497 Years and Counting

It’s hard for the average person to fathom what it means for a company to be closing in on five centuries in business. Consider that when Beretta was founded in Val Trompia near Brescia (in Italy’s aptly named valley of the Gun) England had still not broken away from the Catholic church and America was still a largely unexplored wilderness where wolves and bison roamed on lands that would later become Saint Louis and Cincinnati. Leonardo da Vinci had died a few years prior to Beretta’s founding in 1526 and William Shakespeare wouldn’t be born for almost forty years. When Rembrandt was painting his famed Self portrait in 1652 Beretta had been making guns for almost 150 years.

The hills along Val Trompia in northern Italy are rich in iron ore, and the Beretta melted and forged this iron into the finest barrels of the time. In the mid-nineteenth century Beretta began to build their first complete firearms, and in 1915 the company built its first autoloading pistol for use in World War I. In 1935 the company released their first over/under shotgun, the elegant sidelock Sovraposti, and that helped solidify Beretta’s reputation as a premier shotgun manufacturer. In the 1950s the company introduced the S55 and S56 shotguns, and in 1979 the 680-series over/under shotgun came to pass.

Since that time the 680 has remained one of the top boxlock over/under shotguns on the market, suitable for everything from upland hunting to competition. It speaks to the 686’s reputation for quality that these guns rank third on the current list of best-selling shotguns despite stiff competition from less expensive over/unders.

Beretta’s semiauto shotguns enjoy the same enviable reputation as their over/unders. When you travel to Argentina to shoot high-volume doves there are only a handful of semiauto shotgun models in rotation at the world’s best lodges. Many of those lodges choose Beretta.

Beretta’s first semiauto shotgun, the Model 60, appeared in 1955, and the first Model 300 gas-operated semiauto arrived in 1965. While these guns have evolved over the years the current A300 remains a popular and versatile option for hunters and shooters, offering simple maintenance and a reliable gas-operated system that helps reduce felt recoil. In addition, modern A300 shotguns offer Beretta’s new Kick-Off recoil reduction system and enlarged controls, making them more appealing than ever before. There are A300 shotgun models for upland hunting and clay target games as well as several new variants designed for turkey hunting and the A300 Ultima Patrol which has quickly gained a following in the LE community.

We cannot forget, of course, that the A300, 1301, and 680-series are just a few of the Beretta models that have been hugely successful over the years. The company’s DT11 sporting shotgun is widely considered one of the best competition shotguns ever designed, and the company’s M9 served as the sidearm for United States service members for decades, replacing the venerable 1911. And Beretta continues to lead the way in performance with new guns like their outstanding Ultraleggero (Italian for Ultralight), a 680-series over/under that weighs less than other over/unders because it utilizes a skeletonized steel receiver with interchangeable polymer receiver plates that can be custom 3-D printed. I spent last season hunting with the Ultraleggero and found it to be everything you’d expect from the ultimate field 680-series shotgun. It’s light, smooth-swinging, and beautiful—as close to the perfect upland over/under as I’ve found.

Will Beretta be around 500 years from now? It’s difficult to say, but based on the company’s continued commitment to excellence it wouldn’t surprise me if shooters ten or twelve generations from now are still discussing the latest Beretta offerings. That may seem far-fetched to you, but I wouldn’t bet against a brand that’s been in business for almost five centuries. 

Top Selling Guns Sold in November 2023

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

Editor's note: In the report, guns are rated from one to five within each category, with the number one gun being the most popular that month. The numbers are color-coded to show any changes in the ranks from the previous report.

Black = Steady
Green = Up
Red = Down

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

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