I want the Beretta Shooting Grounds at Dover Furnace to be the Augusta Nationals of all clay shooting venues,” said Jeff Maiorino as we sat with Jeanne Muncey in front of a fire crackling in the lodge’s fireplace. Entrepreneurial and dedicated to preserving a shooting / hunting lifestyle and heritage, owners Jeanne and Jim Muncey have developed two elegant properties. Ten Mile River Preserve is a private unpretentious club a few miles from Dover offering wing shooting, big game hunting, clay target disciplines and rifle and pistol ranges.
The land that became Dover Furnace was acquired in 2008. Steeped in history, the property once produced iron in its massive furnace complex and, later owned by the New York City Mission Society, was home to the Mission’s Sharparoon Camp for underprivileged youth.
Bringing Beretta to the Dover Furnace property was the result of one of life’s serendipitous convergences. Peter Horn, Vice President of Beretta’s Retail Division and Director of the Beretta Gallery in New York City, was a member of Ten Mile River and had hosted a Beretta Day shooting event there. After they acquired the Dover property, Horn learned that the Munceys were receptive to an affiliation with Beretta who were attracted by the Muncey’s philosophy on what an elite clay target facility should be. Beretta envisioned Dover Furnace as the model or template for future clay target venues – it now has the honor and distinction of being the first Beretta Shooting Grounds that is also a Trident Lodge.
Jeanne and Maiorino spoke of their mission to create an ethos, a personality, for the facility that harmonizes elegance with professionalism in every facet of the shooting experience. Immediately evident is the considerable intellect that underlies their strategies and actions. Maiorino’s extensive background in the restaurant business – he speaks as knowledgeably about Bordeaux wine and Japanese Kobe beef as about the ballistics of Fiocchi loads – influences his strategies to operate the club as a hospitality facility, similar to operating an upscale hotel or restaurant.
Consistent with this business model, all the staff, from the chef to the persons cleaning the lodge rooms to the shooting instructors, provides the highest level ofcustomer service. The traps, many of which are solar powered, are meticulously maintained and placed unobtrusively at...
each station throughout the manicured grounds. The Pro Shop mirrors the themeof high quality and is stocked with Fiocchi ammunition and Beretta clothing, accessories and guns. The instructors are skilled, collegial and eager to share their expertise.
From the moment you pass the green and gold sign entering the grounds, you become part of a hunting and life-style continuumthat resonates across the centuries with the vibrancy of a well-played violin string. No entity on the planet surpasses in history or tradition Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. – officially founded on October 3, 1526, the date of a receipt acknowledging payment by the Doges of Venice to Bartolomeo Beretta of the Brescian Territory of Gardone for 186 barrels.
Recognizing that sporting clays and FITASC are the fastest growing shooting disciplines, Maiorino wants to position Dover Furnace to attract beginner to competition shooters to Dover to participate in all clay target formats. His strategies are successful. Many visitors have never fired a shotgun. Open only half a year, Dover Furnace boasts over five hundred members and a data base of six thousand shooters.
Best Shotguns
My visit to Dover Furnace came about when I was with Horn and Jonathan Sherrill, principal of the Sporting Heritage Group which manages the Beretta Trident program, at the NYC Gallery in October. I was invited to preview Orion Entertainment’s forthcoming segment in its Dangerous Game series of Horn’s breathtaking boar hunt in Hungary.
Horn and I thought shooting several high grade guns and the new DT11 at Dover would make an entertaining article. Shooting them would be a joy that could be shared with others. Plus, my daughter, Elise, who works in New York City, was invited to join me. It was an offer a Dad could not refuse.
I arrived at Dover Furnace midafternoon Friday, in time to shoot most of the 22-station sporting clays course with instructor Steven Liberta. His relationships with world-class shooters have led to well known names such as Dan Carlisle, Anthony Matarese Jr. and Will Fennell to affiliate...
with Dover Furnace. With the guidance of these top shooters, The Beretta Discovery Shooting School was created to enable serious competitors to train at the highest level.
Liberta and I shot the new DT11 target shotgun. It’s heir to the DT10, a competition gun of world acclaim and, along with the Giubileo series, is the only boxlock shotgun in Beretta’s Premium Gun Group. Because much superb commentary has been written about the DT11 (see www.beretta.com), I will note only a few key features. The gun is of mono bloc construction, has a cross-bolt locking system, a receiver 3mm wider than the DT10, a well-executed palm swell and, most notably, newly designed Steelium Pro barrels. They are cold hammer forged and undergo a vacuum distension to restore the alloy’s original characteristics. Forcing cones are eliminated and the diameters of the bores gradually decrease to muzzles mated with Optimachoke HP chokes. According to tests, Steelium Pro barrels reduce recoil and increase pattern density.
Shooting SO Guns
Peter Horn arrived Saturday morning with his cargo of soulchurning SO shotguns – an SO5 Sporting, an SO9, which is nolonger in production, and a jewellike twenty gauge SO10.
The SO series, introduced in the early 1930s, quickly becamethe benchmark against which all high-grade over/under guns were measured. Elegant curved bolsters at the breach of the action flowed fluidly under Beretta’s trademark trapezoidal shoulders with replaceable sections on the barrel that fit into cuts on the receiver. The barrels were originally made with Boehler Antinit Anticorro steel that were welded into a steel monobloc chamber. Now other steel alloys are used.
The SO5 is Beretta’s highest quality 12-gauge competition target model. The SO5 and the SO6 are built on the Holland-style sidelocks but feature solid bridles machined from the steel lockplate on the inside surface. The design allows the perfect alignment of the three pins holding the sear, hammer and safety sear and eliminates screws that could loosen – resulting in a more efficient and stronger locking system.
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In its unending quest to craft the finest expressions of the gun maker’s art, Beretta created the SO10, radically different from prior SO shotguns. Franco Beretta once said that the first requirement was developing a new aesthetic design that evolved from, yet was faithful to the SO’s provenance – to embody a “nuovo estetica nel rispetto della tradizione Beretta”, meaning a new aesthetic with respect for the Beretta tradition. He added, “We must continue to work to be original in the aesthetics and the mechanical solutions. We are Beretta. We don’t copy other shapes. The SO10 was introduced in 20 gauge because, from an aesthetic point of view, the true hunter prefers the 20 gauge for its superb weight and balance. Everything is a matter of proportion.”
The SO10 has demibloc barrels target model. The SO5 and the SO6 are built on the Holland-style sidelocks but feature solid bridles machined from the steel lockplate on the inside surface. The design allows the perfect alignment of the three pins holding the sear, hammer and safety sear and eliminates screws that could loosen – resulting in a more efficient and stronger locking system.
In its unending quest to craft the finest expressions of the gun maker’s art, Beretta created the SO10, radically different from prior SO shotguns. Franco Beretta once said that the first requirement was developing a new aesthetic design that evolved from, yet was faithful to the SO’s provenance – to embody a “nuovo estetica nel rispetto della tradizione Beretta”, meaning a new aesthetic with respect for the Beretta tradition. He added, “We must continue to work to be original in the aesthetics and the mechanical solutions. We are Beretta. We don’t copy other shapes. The SO10 was introduced in 20 gauge because, from an aesthetic point of view, the true hunter prefers the 20 gauge for its superb weight and balance. Everything is a matter of proportion.”
The SO10 has demibloc barrels rather than the traditional monobloc design and benefits from a technological solution that enables construction of cold hammer forged demibloc barrels in one operation. As a...
consequence of the slimmer receiver, a longitudinal bolting system was selected instead of the traditional transverse system. A variant of the SO9 system, bolts protrude onto steps cut between and on the outer sides of the barrels. Boss-style radiused bites on the breech end of the barrelsmate into corresponding cuts on the inside of each side of the receiver. The bolting system is so strong the gun will never need future adjustment to keep it on face. The action closes as smoothly as pearls sliding on silk.
Sunday, I shot most of the sporting course with Horn and my daughter. Elise displayed a noted preference for the SO10 and, while Horn shot admirably, his clay targets did traverse the sky with greater safety than pheasant! The sporting course has a fairytale enchanted forest atmosphere, with rivulets bubbling through rock and moss, dark stands of oak, maple, pines and birch and the massive haunting aged structures of the furnace. (In my mind’s eye I sawsteam engines snarling and hissing on the old rail line delivering ore and carrying iron away.)
Meandering through the course, we passed the 5-Stand, FITASC and skeet and trap fields. Most exciting, in my opinion, a simulated driven bird format is being constructed on a ridge that will throw targets sixty yards high. I urged Liberta to lobby for also building a butt at the ridge’s base for simulated grouse shooting.
Preserving the Heritage
Bringing Beretta to Dover Furnace unites profound and distinct historical themes; unity of elegance of the facilities with Beretta shotguns and products; excellent shooting grounds harmonized with highest customer service. All factors advance a five hundred year heritage of respect and enjoyment of hunting and conservation lifestyle and ethics. The overarching achievement of the Beretta-Dover Furnace union is the resulting greater cumulative force that will keep these arts and values alive and thriving. For additional information on the Beretta Shooting Grounds at Dover Furnace, including directions and methods of travel, visit: www.doverfurnace.com.