DT11 31in Sporter – no stranger to the podium

I was lent a new Beretta DT11 31in Sporter by GMK. It arrived at my local gunshop, J F Neville in Alfreton, where I popped up to collect it for the three-day trial. Neville’s is my favourite gunshop; it always has a huge choice of guns, which is good for me as I can stop by and borrow something when I have run out of ideas for gun reviews. Plus, I always get a cup of tea.

On receiving the gun, I unboxed it at home. The DT11 31in comes in an airline-approved, three-lock, silver ABS case. Inside the box, the barrels are in a gun sock, as are the stock and action. There are two snap caps, if it’s your preference to pop these into your gun barrels for storage purposes. There is also a set of chokes – five Optima HP, to be precise: cylinder, Skeet, improved cylinder, 1/2 and ¾, all steel shot proofed – with a little bottle of Beretta gun oil and the choke key. In addition, it has a box with some spares in it, including a range of different beads, two spare firing pins (must be put in by a gunsmith), a small Allen key for adjusting the stock, plastic washers to use on the adjustable stock, and some stock weights, should you wish to balance the gun to your liking. The gun itself is a standard DT11, not the posher DT11L or EELL. This one has the rather nice plain action, sort of matt silver, with a polished rim, a matt trigger-guard and the single navy blue DT11 name and line around the action. Under the action, it has the Beretta logo in blue, and DT11. The barrels also have a matt finish, with Sport 31 on the bottom barrel.

Barrels

The barrels are Beretta’s Steelium Pro barrels, which as the name suggests are steel shot proofed. The barrel weight on the 31in is 3lb 7oz (1.56kg) exactly. The barrel with the fore-end weighed in at 4lb 2.7oz. The stock weighed 4lb 6.4oz, with the total weight coming out at 8lb 9.1oz – not too heavy, but not too light either. I’m never really sure whether my readers like to know all about the specification and weights, but I know plenty of shooters who prefer either a heavier barrel or a lighter barrel, so it’s good to get a little information.

The walnut on the Beretta DT11 31in is of excellent quality. I’m not too sure of the grade; to be honest, I don’t know enough about the grading of walnut – I go purely on the ‘wow factor’ and what the grain is like. So, the wow factor on my demo gun, once I applied a bit of stock oil, was a reasonable 8.5/10; a few more coats of oil and I reckon it would be a good 9/10 to 9.5/10, as the walnut had some really nice dark grain in it. (Read our guide to the best gun oil. )

The butt-pad was a Beretta one, tapering out to 10mm in thickness at the toe. Length of pull was 14½in, a good length for me. For the taller folk, there are various other Beretta pads of different thickness you can put on to extend the length of pull. To top this gun off, the tapered top rib of 10mm to 8mm had a nice small white bead on it.

The barrels also have the normal Sporting vented mid rib and top rib too.

Putting the DT11 31in together after putting a little grease on the pivot points and other places – with it being a new toy, I wanted to look after it – it shut with a satisfying thud. However, if I’m nitpicking, it was extremely tight to close. Perhaps it was just me feeling a bit weak and feeble while I was recovering from Covid, or because it was new.

The balance felt good on this gun. Beretta says the centre mass of the gun is designed to be low with the bottom barrel, giving this gun unmatched stability and greatly reducing muzzle flip. This gun was born and bred to keep the serious competition shooter on target, with a chance of the podium, but to me, any shooter can pick up a used DT11 and have in their hands a quality shotgun, whether they wish to shoot competitions or just have fun with their friends.

Before Beretta released the DT11, it consulted with and worked alongside some of the top clay shooters from around the world to create a shotgun that will stand above others out there. The older version is the DT10 (by the way, DT stands for ‘Detachable Trigger’). Beretta morphed the DT10 action into the DT11 action, and it is now 3mm wider, the walls of the action being thicker, so that the gun will be more durable, more stable and more balanced for the shooter. And I am a big fan of the DT10, my hubby having owned one for many years.

The gun felt well-balanced, with its low centre mass giving superb stability and reducing muzzle flip

To the clay ground

Taking the Beretta out for a proper test on the FITASC layout at Cockett Farm, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, would be a true indicator of how this gun actually handled. The first thing I noticed was that the Trap-style fore-end felt bulky in my left hand, yet the stock felt good; the chequering was fine, there was only a slight palm swell and I could easily get my hand where I wanted it, reaching the trigger without issue. I hadn’t shot an over-and-under for some months, meaning the DT11 felt big and heavy, so I wasn’t going to be looking at my scores until the end.

Peg one on the FITASC layout was a tower target, but low tower, off the high Skeet layout, so a steady bird. Smash! A first-barrel kill and what a good kill too. But, by gosh, this thing is tight – it needs a few more rounds down it to loosen up the action. Second target: smash! Third target: a long clay right-to-left off the high tower – miss! Pretty sure this was 100% me rather than the gun. The DT11 was giving me a good sight picture of the clay, so clearly I wasn’t reading the target very well. (Read more on Skeet shooting here.)

On to second hoop. I had a nightmare here, but it was nothing to do with the gun; well, it was, but it was me having not shot it before, not ‘feeling’ the speed of the barrels and not trusting myself to pull the trigger when I should be.

Round one done. On to round 2, this time changing hold points to adjust to how this 31in DT11 handled. Handling wise, I’d say it moves smoothly, but quite quickly. If I trusted what lead I saw and pulled the crisp trigger at that point, the target broke. Talking of trigger-pulls, they were crisp and light, around 31/2lb. If I dithered on a target and ‘tracked it’, then I would end up in front. Round two went better – more kills, and I smashed the sim pair at the end.

By the third round, I was really starting to like this gun. At this point, I did feel the ‘toe’ of the stock was digging into my chest; being a standard off-the-shelf gun, it does have plenty of toe, and for us ladies, we need the toe removing – it’s a simple job. It didn’t really affect the way I was shooting, but after shooting a semi-auto for three months, with the kick-off pad on it, I could really feel the toe on my dainty skin. Opening and shutting the gun was becoming slightly easier, and the kills were getting better.

And you really do get good kills out of these Steelium barrels with their long 480mm forcing cones, which keep the shot pattern consistently accurate while minimising recoil.

After shooting a few rounds, opening and closing the gun became slightly easier

Conclusion

The DT11 31in is a nice compromise in length between the 30in and the 32in; it has a 3in chamber, it’s steel shot proofed, has nice walnut and is an absolute pleasure to shoot. A second-hand Beretta DT11 can be picked up for around £4,500, while a new one will set you back around £7,925. Thanks to Michelle at GMK for letting me try out this gun. I am tempted.

Tech specs

• Model Beretta DT11 31in Sporter
• Bore 12
• Action Cross bolt
• Barrel length 31in
• Chamber 3in
• Chokes Multichoke, extended Optima HP
• Rib Tapered sporting rib, vented
• Fore-end Trap
• Weight 8lb 9.1oz
• Price £7,925