Easy to clean, sounds like your looking for an inertia operated gun. Benelli Legacy, Montefeltro or M2
Can one of you shotgun nerds tell me the difference between these 3? Travis
I don't consider myself a "shotgun nerd" but here goes. All the modern Benelli autoloaders use the same recoil inertia driven lockup system for their bolts, but a major difference between the 3 models you mentioned is the 2-piece receiver on the Legacy. There's a link to a good explanation on the Shotgunworld.com website (
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=940247&highlight=#940247 ) which I copied & pasted below:
There are basically two frame styles. The first is the heavier sprung four shot models. This would include the SBE, SBE II, M1, M2. The second is the lighter sprung five shot models. These would be the Montefeltro, Legacy, Cordoba, Ultra Light, Sport, Sport II, Super Sport, Executive.
The four shot group have shorter and wider forearms, don't cycle as light of loads, can take magazine extensions to hold more rounds, have pistol grip stocks as an option, come in turkey models, have rifled barrel options, have mid height ribs, and come in W/B, B/S, and Camo finishes.
The five shot group have longer and thinner forearms, cycle lighter loads better, can't take a magazine extension to hold more, have both low and mid height ribs, only one model comes in B/S or camo, one in synthetic, and the rest in W/B.
They have two receiver designs. A more normal one peice of the M2,M1,Montefeltro,Sport. And the two peice of the SBE,SBE II,Cordoba,Legacy,Sport II,Super Sport, Executive.
The SBE and SBE II has the top part of the receiver that is a barrel extension. The other two peice models have a tube that slides over the barrel extension which makes the top part of the receiver.
On the pre 05' models there were two different trigger groups. The two peice receivers shared the same ones and the one peice receiver models shared theirs. With the 05' and newer models there are now three trigger groups. The SBE II has it's own, the other two peice receiver shares one, and the one piece receiver shares theirs.
The lesser known and older Benelli SL (same as the Beretta ES100/Pintail) is a combination of the SBE receiver (3") and trigger group with every thing else like the five shot group. It also had a bottom locking lug instead of the rotary bolt face Benelli now uses on all of it's semi auto shotguns.
The Cordoba and SS are the same except for their finishes. They differ from the SBE II more than their chamber lengths. The SBE II has the full barrel extension for the upper receiver, different trigger group, non ported barrels, sprung heavier, and has a four shot magazine tube.
