Lonato, Italy--Today, Beretta introduced two new shotguns to the European press. New shotguns designed to meet today's "challenging" market conditions.

According to Beretta International Marketing Director Giuseppi Boni, those challenges include three that have always faced manufacturers in challenging economic conditions: reducing costs, opening up a larger potential market, and still innovating - affordable. With a five-hundred-year old company, Boni continued, there is another challenge "never sacrificing the Beretta tradition of quality."

Officials feel their two new shotgun offerings meet those criteria.

The first is the A400 Xplor Light, an expansion of last year's new A400 Xplor 12 and 20 gauges guns in Beretta's new Unico line. Like the other A400/Unico models, the new Xplor lightweight has the ability to digest a full range of 12 gauge shells, from light trap loads through heavy hunting loads in a significantly lighter and more compact package.

Introduced in 12 gauge, the A400 Xplor Light features a shortened receiver, reduced weight and the same KickOff recoil system officials say produces up to a sixty percent reduction in felt recoil.

Additionally, Beretta product manager Paolo Buffoli added, this new shotgun isn't designed to only be lighter for long days afield, it's designed to mount faster and fire at a blistering four rounds per second.

Cosmetically, the Xplor Light also sports the stylized Beretta logo checkered on the forearm, and the same distinctive light blue metal coloration as the Xplor.

Beretta's SV10 Perennia I gets admiring glances from international media as it made its world debut this morning in Lonato, Italy. Jim Shepherd photo.
It's not hand-engraving, but the quality of the work on Beretta's newest over/under might get some admiring glances from friends. Jim Shepherd photo
Officials say limited quantities of the new Xplor Light will be available in the United States sometime in September, with widespread distribution dependent on delivery to the United States.

The second new gun is designed as another "price-sensitive" shotgun - and expansion of the SV10 line of over/unders -the Perennia I series.

The new SV10 Perennia I is an attractively furnished 12 gauge that features the option of choosing selector or extractor mode for shell removal, a setting for dry fire practice, the KickOff recoil system and detailed engraving. No official word on the pricing in the United States, but the European MSRP was approximately $2299 Euros.

Both new shotguns feature Beretta's proprietary-process steel (steelium) and are designed to shoot both steel and regular shot.

In softgoods, apparel manager Luisa Achino showed three varieties of new clothing designed to keep hunters comfortable in anything from warm weather to a downpour. All feature GORE Optifade, a camouflage that achieves large and small geometric shapes which, when combined, Achino said, " help conceal a hunter better than traditional trees and shrub camouflage."

For fall/winter 2010, Beretta will have a total of 470 garment and 460 accessory options to offer consumers.

Closing the presentations, Beretta's European Manager Carlo Ferlite told journalists that the coming year would see the company breaking new ground in technologies designed to connect - and motivate- today's technically savvy consumer.

Samples included new extensions of Beretta's technical and consumer information via the QR-based visual computer code used in today's smart phones to "augmented reality" -using a consumer's camera-equipped computer to allow them to participate in two and three-dimensional information presentations.

Beretta claims a sizzling four rounds per second out of the fast-cycling Xplor Light. Fast enough to enable photographs with two shells -one fired; one cycling-in the same frame.
- Photo2 by Jim Shepherd