Originally founded in the 16th century, Beretta is the oldest active manufacture of firearms in the world. It all began with Bartolomeo Beretta, who can be traced as far back as 1526, when he was working as a master gun barrel maker in Venice.
Since then Beretta has been owned by the same family for nearly five hundred years, passing from father to son, until brothers Carlo and Giuseppe Beretta both died childless. The company was the passed to Ugo Gussalli Beretta, who married into the family and took the Beretta surname. His children are still direct descendants of the Beretta line through their mother’s side of the family.
Possibly their most famous shotgun, the Beretta SO sidelock, first went on sale in 1935. The shallow- auctioned gun was designed to match the style of an English Boss over & under shotgun, even having double triggers. It became popular very quickly as it was suited to both field and clay shooting.
Unfortunately production of the SO shotguns was halted when World War II began. However after the war finished, production resumed and the SO series grew.
The SO2 and competition model SO3 were introduced in the 1960s, the SO4 was then released in 1968. Then only a couple years later, Trap and skeet models of the SO4 came out.
It was until nearly thirty years later until the SO5 was released, including Skeet, Trap and Sporting variants. The SO6 was a deluxe version. The SO9 came out in 1990, and this was the first of the SO series to be offered in smaller gauges, while the SO10 which was release in 2004, featured a alternative locking system contrasting to the previous SO models
Please view images of stocks for Beretta SO shotguns restocked by ourselves
