Not all SBE’s that were made in Italy were marked H&K. They were originally imported by H&K (and were marked H&K) but later on in the 90’s Benelli started importing the SBE’s themselves and…even though they were still made in Italy…they were not marked H&K; they were marked Benelli.
Not all SBE’s that were made in Italy were marked H&K. They were originally imported by H&K (and were marked H&K) but later on in the 90’s Benelli started importing the SBE’s themselves and…even though they were still made in Italy…they were not marked H&K; they were marked Benelli.
Not disagreeing with you but there is much more to this question. H&K was the importer from the time of the introduction (1991 ish) until about 1998 if I recall correctly. They lost the contract in 1998 when Beretta holding took over and Benelli USA began bringing them in, but they were still made in Italy. The SBE 1 continued on until the introduction of the SBE2 in roughly 2003. One of my close friends and waterfowling partners bought one of the first mat/synthetics in 1996. It was H&K marked and will float a fourth. I bought the one below in 1999. It had the new style safety and raised rib and will not float a fourth. It has somewhere in excess of 50,000 rounds through it and has traveled more air miles than I care to think about. My understanding is that those changes - safety, rib, no 4th float - occurred in ‘98 when H&K stopped importing them. Perhaps there are some out there from that transition time frame that are not marked H&K that will float a fourth. upload images
There are most definitely original SBE’s that were completely made in Italy by Benelli before any of the changes you mentioned were implemented, that were not imported by H&K; they were imported by Benelli.