Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl If You Hunt In The Cold With An Inertia Shotgun

I started hunting with Benelli shotguns about 20 years or so ago. I live in Colorado and some days it can be very cold during goose season. I've hunted in as cold as 18 below zero. Anyway, on super cold days I was having problems with my Benelli. It would always fire the first round but then the bolt would slide back very slowly and would not close completely. I had other problems and almost always on cold days. I fought it for a couple of years and was convinced Benelli was just an over priced piece of crap. Before I gave up on my SBE, I made a call to Benelli. The tech there told be to quit using regular gun oil and switch to synthetic gun oil and put it on very light and wipe it almost completely away. I bought a can of Birchwood Casey Synthetic Gun Oil and applied it the way he said. Here it is 15 years or so later and I'm still using the same can of $10 dollar synthetic gun oil and have had zero problems with all my Benelli's since then. I now have two shotguns for hunting. A Benelli Montefeltro 12 ga and a Montefeltro 20 ga and they are awesome. If you are hunting with an inertia shotgun and having problems in the cold, switch to synthetic oil! Use very little and wipe most of it away. If you are having problems with any other gun, before you scrap it, call the manufacturer and ask for advice! They might be able to help you! I hope this helps even one hunter! Shoot straight!

That’s because the action spring in Benellis was overly weak, to accommodate ‘light loads’ in the mix….can’t claim ‘versatility’ otherwise. This made them highly susceptible to ‘slowing’ down/FTF when any external variables were introduced….dirt, moisture, cold/sluggish lube, etc. the remedies were always: keep lubed as dry as possible, and replace with wolf extra power springs or an SRM surecycle kit, and shoot 1-1/4oz loads or heavier. There’s some that’ll work better than others, and more that’ll sometimes work with lighter than others…..but it’s purely a balancing act on the physics for all semi auto shotguns to try to run with the broad spectrum of loads we ask of them…..center fire rifles/pistols don’t require NEARLY as much range of function vs loads. It’s also why the original Auto 5 long recoil design is still dead nuts reliable: it uses the larger, moving mass of the barrel to run things…not just a light bolt and some lighter springs. Inertia guns can be highly reliable, until they aren’t….just keeping in consideration that they’re a balancing act of function vs load vs external influences. Gas guns are only harder to clean, IF you need to clean an entire piston assembly daily. Most all newer gas guns only need that very rarely, and clean to the level of an inertia gun just as easily. The buttstock springs in inertia guns in waterfowl use will shut them down long before the pistons in decent gas guns….and I run a newer A5, as well as having owned several benellis, beginning over 30 years back. The less you ask an inertia to do, with regard to load variance, the more inherently reliable it can become.

Thank you for such a knowledgeable reponse.

Benellis need nearly zero lubricant. The drier the better. My benellis run single digits no problems.

I have hunted in zero temps before and used powdered graphite (very light) with no issues. It works well on gas gun too.

I have several Benelli's
They run wet
They run dry...

Your advice applies to most firearms. I shoot both Berettas and Benellis without problems once I quit applying too much lube.
With very little lube, you'll find your shotgun doesn't collect as much dirt either.

Too much lubricant generally brings more problems than protection.
After the season, I use Renaissance wax on all exteriors then wipe it off after it dries. On interior metal-to-metal surfaces, I Qtip it clean, add a touch of white lithium grease and Qtip if off clean again.
Before a shot significant hunt, I check for any residue I missed.
On one SD pheasant hunt during a snow storm (sleet and snow) all SA’s start hiccuping. Doubles’ extractors failed. My Benelli was the last of maybe 5 or 6 other brand guns to slow.
Inertia guns don’t need very much of any lube IMO.

Back when I started shooting in our gun clubs winter skeet league we used to see Remington 1100s slow down in the winter. It could usually be traced to WD40. Run dry they worked fine.

Many people around here quit Benelli for these reasons

I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a duckblind and someone has a gun that's not cycling well and a bottle of rem-oil comes out and 1/2 gets emptied into the open chamber.

I never say anything. Just shake my head.

My 1100 was born in the 80's magnum version the form of lubricate that was used on the action was 50 to 1 mix gas from the outboard, when the gas evaporated the left over oil was plenty, it functioned as designed until 2009 when I got a Benelli on a trade deal, the 1100 was cleaned oil put in a sleeve and had never seen the daylight since, saltwater here in the Texas marsh, my Benelli gets cleaned yearly and lubed with a dab of the Lucas oil gun lube and that's it period, cases of ammo been thru it and it has been drowned in saltwater a couple of times I can remember, I do use Rem oil but not in any moving part. Stoeger, Franchi, and Benelli all seem to have the same characteristic, they go bang bang bang I am not dealing with cleaning with anything daily.

No greater words of wisdom are known to knowledgeable shooters...mb

Oh my God you hunt with my brother in law! And don't forget to work the action HARD about twenty times to make sure it gets everywhere and compresses the dirt and crud into every nook and cranny.

When it's cold, run them dry

Easy fix. Buy an old auto 5 if you desire inertia. If you want a newer style, anything with browning gold guts in it will work, i.e. superx 2, 3 or 4, maxus, silver. If 100 percent reliability is what you desire, start shucking shells with an 870, what i did, because all my benelli shotguns turned into 1700 dollar single shots. Wet, dry, whatever, shouldn't have to baby a waterfowl gun. It's a tool. Use it.

Always liked the sleeker-versioned Remington Sportsman/11-48s.

Yeas ago, we were duck hunting in some pretty frigid temperatures. We had two Benellis, one new Auto 5, and three Berettas. Only the Berettas would cycle a 2nd shell. Coincidence maybe? Maybe not? We at least had some fun picking on the other three boys!

Those 48als and 11-48s are very nice

No issues here with Benelli's in cold weather. As everyone else stated, use the proper lube for cold weather or use very little lube for cold weather