Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters New shotgun(s) & sifting through the propaganda

I've never owned a Benelli or Beretta shotgun, so I can't comment on them, but wonder if they will still be running as flawlessly as the Remington after three plus decades of use.

I've never owned a Benelli or Beretta shotgun, so I can't comment on them, but wonder if they will still be running as flawlessly as the Remington after three plus decades of use.

Being an older guy, my interest in semi-auto shotguns are pretty much limited to the Browning A5s and Remington 1100s.

You are kidding right? Benelli and Beretta are the choice of shotgun anywhere Dove are shot in huge volume. Probably get shot more in a month then most people shoot brand x in 30 years.

He aint wrong. Browning Auto 5's & Remington 1100's get the job done with predictable regularity. Doves don't require a +/- $1500 shotgun to fall from the sky.

How are you putting an A5 in the same class as an 1100?

I've had both Benellis and Berettas in different models and prefer the former because of the characteristics you point out -- lighter, simpler, at about the same price point generally as the Beretta depending on model and purely dependable. While Berettas are excellent guns, weight is an issue with me as I may walk five or six miles in uneven country in SD with some up-and-down too.

That said the Beretta A400s are pretty darn nice guns but much more complex running a gas system at 7 lbs+ and mine got very sooty after a short season. The Benelli inertia-drivens can be stripped down to parts pretty quickly and much more thoroughly cleaned with less effort IMO.

Right now I consider the Ben Ultralight in 12 ga with a 24" tube at 6 lbs to be about the perfect uplander in a semi-auto for me though the 20 would probably be as good and even lighter. For late season, wind-driven, wild pheasants I've come to prefer the 12 though. The Ben Montefeltros are very nice guns also and almost as light too but IIRC a mag capacity of one more.

The Ultralights reduce weight in part by having a mag capacity of just two plus one in the chamber.

Re: magazine capacity, maybe it's the result of shooting double guns some but I have gotten in the habit of loading my repeaters with only two rounds, one in the chamber and one in the magazine when hunting upland and small game. It dawned on me I rarely needed the 3rd shot and rarely are they high % shots. It also makes it easy to load and as importantly unload your gun. To load, drop one in the port ( side ejection guns) and close the action, slide one in the magazine. As quick as loading a double. To unload open the action catch the shell , roll the gun on its side dumping the 2nd shell into your hand. No chucking or shucking needed. I haven't noticed my game bag being lighter though my shell bag is a bit heavier since I'm not wasting those 3rd shots.

Beretta all the way. Way softer to shoot and more reliable.
Wouldn't own a Benelli as a gift. Didn't Benelli fire Tom Knapp after he got sick with cancer. I think he went to Mossberg after that.

Beretta all the way. Way softer to shoot and more reliable.

Being an older guy, my interest in semi-auto shotguns are pretty much limited to the Browning A5s and Remington 1100s. In pump guns, to the Ithaca 37, Remington 870, and Winchester 12.

I've been shooting the same Remington 1100 20 gauge 26" skeet gun for nearly 40 years, have put at least 10K rounds through it, and have yet to have a single malfunction.

During that same period of time I've run through a dozen or so Remington 870s in 12, 16, 20, and 410. None wore out or failed to function, just bought and sold them as the commodity products that they are.

I've never owned a Benelli or Beretta shotgun, so I can't comment on them, but wonder if they will still be running as flawlessly as the Remington after three plus decades of use.

Let me throw one more wrinkle into the thread. I prefer a 24" tube, but have nothing against a 26" barrel. I realize the 28" gives the maximum sight plane, but is there any appreciable difference between a 24" barrel and 28"?

Let me throw one more wrinkle into the thread. I prefer a 24" tube, but have nothing against a 26" barrel. I realize the 28" gives the maximum sight plane, but is there any appreciable difference between a 24" barrel and 28"?

I will also add after fifty years of wing shooting the so-called "longer sight plane" of longer barrels makes some sense while in the easy chair at the typewriter (this was espoused in the sixties already), I have found longer barrels slower, heavier, and not one feather more effective than, say, a 24" tube.

At least for me. Upland shooting usually requires quickness but then I'm a "snap-shooter" not a point-and-swing guy.

That said the Beretta A400s are pretty darn nice guns but much more complex running a gas system at 7 lbs+ and mine got very sooty after a short season. The Benelli inertia-drivens can be stripped down to parts pretty quickly and much more thoroughly cleaned with less effort IMO.

George not singling you out specifically, but I hear the above statement often and I quoted yours so I didn't have to type it again.

For the below, let's assume a guy cleans his shotgun at the beginning of dove season and wants to shoot it until the end of Dec/Jan/Feb when upland/waterfowl close depending on your locale. Short of filling the thing up with mud/muck crawling or dropping it hunting waterfowl, even exceptionally avid hunters will be able to run either shotgun an entire season with little likelihood that they'll need to disassemble for any cleaning due to poor feed/function. If you go out and get rained/snowed on, you've got to pull them both apart and clean them.

Yes Benelli's bolt comes apart easy. Big deal, none of the parts in the bolt being "shooting dirty" are what cause feed/function failures.

Yes the Berettas get dirty under the forearm. The piston, it's chamber, and the stem that the piston runs on get dirty, but again, from just shooting them normally, none of that sooty fouling makes any difference, it's not going to detract appreciably from feed/function.

Here's a breakdown of the field-stripped Benelli parts in roughly the order they come out:

1. bbl nut, 2. bbl, 3. forearm, 4. frame, 5. bolt handle, 6. firing pin retainer, 7. locking head pin, 8. firing pin, 9. bolt head, 10. inertia spring, 11. bolt body, 12. trigger group retainer pin, 13. trigger group. You need to remember how to re-assemble 13 parts. One can argue that on the split-top/bottom guns like SBE/Vinci that the trigger group can remain in the frame but on the S-90 and Monte, the've got to come out to get the bolt's tail seated properly.

Beretta field stripped parts list:

1. bbl nut, 2. bbl, 3. forearm, 4. gas piston, 5. operating rod, 6. bolt handle, 7/8. bolt (2 pieces once out), 9. frame, 10. trigger group, 11. trigger group retainer pin.

So, give or take, you've got the same number of parts that need to come out/in for a field-stripping/cleaning. Here's the thing, if either a Benelli or a Beretta is having function issues, it's unlikely that any of the above parts/pieces are the main culprit. The main culprit is almost ALWAYS the recoil return spring in the butt-stock. Cleaning that is essentially the same for both shotguns. Pull the pad, pull the butt-stock, put a little heat on the threaded recoil return spring/butt-stock retainer and unscrew. Take care near the end of the threads or you'll shoot the spring and bolt-tail seat across the room and under some piece of furniture or appliance that hasn't been moved since Nixon was president. Then you'll have to deal with 3' dust bunnies that United Airlines couldn't kill.

Here's where the shotguns differ appreciably IMO. Rarely is a shotgun so dirty that there is a failure to eject. Typically failure to Feed/Function happens on the forward stroke. The Recoil Return Spring (RRS) in the stocks of both are truly the heart of both actions. Slow either of them down due to cleanliness or neglect and you can clean the dozen or so action parts listed above for each all you want, the SOB still won't cycle properly. The Benelli RRS is significantly "softer" or of less tension than the Beretta. Take a new example of each, pull the bolt back and let it slam forward and it's pretty obvious which spring is stiffer. The Benelli spring HAS TO BE softer in order to allow it to cycle "everything" because it's relying on only recoil. The Beretta can be a lot stiffer because it's using the gas in conjunction with recoil to cycle. That softer RRS in the Benelli NEEDS attention more often to ensure proper Feed/Function. The stiffer spring in the Beretta also contributes to longer overall life IMO. The softer spring in the Benelli allows it to beat itself to death with prolonged use of heavy loads whereas the Beretta bolt hits the open end of it's stroke much softer due to compressing a much stiffer RRS spring.

Yes I am a "Beretta Guy" but I believe I came by it honest via an awful lot of field and target shooting Beretta, Benelli, Rem 1100's/11-87's, Browning gold/Win SX's, original A-5's/Franchi 48's, and even a couple of S&W 1000's. 5yrs in a busy gunshop (3k guns/yr give or take) during college also gave me a glimpse of what needed to be fixed and what didn't.

The Beretta has to be a lot stiffer
The reciprocating mass (wt) of the Beretta bolt/carrier is significantly greater, requiring more lbs of force to overcome the inertia. Its slamming shut doesn't really mean it closes better.

the spring lbs of force between the two is about the same if viewed as unit of weight bolt/lbs of force of spring

When the weather gets cold, the Berettas cycle better and it's due to the stiffer RRS. The Benellis just plain get too slow to cycle. I was catching my stride with a shotgun as CRP was in its infancy in my native ND and I've never left. I've seen nearly every manner of shotgun fail. Beretta fails less.

I'd have to agree with horse1 on this topic, even though I choose to run a Benelli every time. The Benelli will get slowed down by cold weather before a Beretta will, given equal maintenance.

What I've done is to forget about the weak spring in the Benelli so that it can run light loads, as all my hunting loads are 1 1/8 ounce or heavier at high velocities whether lead or steel. As such, it is simple to put in a Wolff extra power spring in the buttstock and get more spring power for closing without beating the gun up on the back end.

Equipped that way, I'll take the inertia action every time, as I have found them far more tolerant of dry dust than a Beretta or Browning. Dry dust from field goose hunting is what I've seen shut down more autos than anything wet or cold. Always on the return stroke, not closing all the way.

I think the bottom line is as is evident here, there are some very good semi-auto's and it often comes down to one's experience and preferences. And those can change too as experience grows and different models appear.

I'll admit to biases against most American made shotguns for several reasons, with a few exceptions, including the semi-autos -- there is no close competition here for the Big Two from Italy IMO but that's what makes a horse race.

Good luck with your choice.

If WD-40 works for you, fine, but I've found that it is not a great gun lubricant......the carrier dries up and it leaves a gummy residue behind. I'll use it in an emergency but not as regular gun maintenance. Some of the newer synthetic gun lubes work better, and I've had good luck with plain old silicone lube.

hoping the Benelli Ultra Light fits.

The Franchi Affinity is the same quality produced at the same factory as a Benelli. But at a much lower price point. If going inertia, it is the one to get.