Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Benelli Vinci vs Beretta A391 Xtrema

Just got back from gun store. They told me the Shot guns with "Inline Inertia Driven" actions kick harder then gas auto loaders ? I was looking at the Benelli Vinci and the Beretta A 391 Xtrema. Why would some one want one over the other ? salesmen said the Beretta's recoil is smooth and the Benelli will pound you.

Never owned a Beretta, but it is a gas gun and will kick equivalently to any other gas gun of the same weight, firing the same load. I traded for a Benelli M2 last fall, used it for waterfowl and did quite a bit of patterning with it shooting 12 gauge 3" MAG loads. My only comparison is with my Browning BPS (pump gun) shooting 3" MAG 2 oz. turkey loads through XF chokes. My impression was that the Benelli was a very light recoiler compared to the BPS (not apples to apples). Overall I would say my shoulder is not discerning enough to tell the difference between the same 12 gauge, 3" MAG load shot in a gas operated semi vs. an inertia operated semi - I think gun fit would factor in much greater as to how it feels.

391= smooth less recoil but have to clean

Benelli= more recoil and muzzle jump, hard to not make it cycle and never have to clean it.

PS The only waterfowl load that kicked as hard as a turkey load was the Remington Hyper Velocity stuff. My duck hunting pardner gave me a few to pattern, they hit my shoulder hard. He hunts with a Beretta Extrema II and said they kicked the crap out of him, but they worked good enough to put up with the additional recoil. I patterned them - worse of any similar load I patterned in the Benelli M2.

The comfortech stock on the Benelli works for me. I have an M2, which seems to recoil lightly for its low weight (6.75 pounds). Have shot a Vinci and it was the same. For hunting, I like the Benelli, but for target (sporting clays), I prefer the 391, which has a little more weight in target versions.

I shoot a M1 for ducks and sporting clays. I personally don't shoot heavy loads for any game or reason. I don't believe a heavy load is giving the hunter/shooter an upper hand. When I see 3-1/2" 12ga I just laugh. The Benelli M1 just plain works.

The store gave you an easy answer to a complicated question.

I think the softest shooting 12g semi is the Beretta Xplor now. For the weight of the gun, its is soft shooting, no matter what load you cycle. It's the 3 1/2" chamber model, original. It has a recoil system in the stock from the factory, gas operated action, and the forcing cone is less restricted.

Beretta's get internally grimmy, they are a gas operated recoil gun. Benelli is a recoil operated system, shoot it forever and just worry about inside the barrel.

The equation is gun fit to shooter, weight of the gun, and ammunition (load) plus all the techie stuff, recoil system and forcing cone restriction. The key is fit to the shooter. Bad fitting gun, more felt recoil, no matter what gun. Most of the US market guns are made for the average size right hand shooter.

All the above, a Stoeger M2000 synthetic with a few ounces of lead in the buttstock and a limbsaver recoil pad swapped in, shoots with about the same felt recoil of the Beretta Xplor using heavy dove loads and target loads.

Start with what fits you best, LOP, sight alignment, and cheek mount. If your walking around a half day or full day with the shotgun weight will matter after the first day. Sitting in a duck blind, weight is less of a factor.

Gun fit goes without saying. Seeing that the Benelli and Beretta are next to the same size wise standard fit is pretty much a wash. I find it funny that people actually fall for the guns are made to fit the average size right hand shooter. What is the average size of an American man (is this white man? of what decent?)? What is the average sleeve lenght? What is the average chest size? what is the average neck lenght? way to many veriables to say average. Everyone that really wants to shoot a shotgun well should be fitted by a good fitter.

No my answer would be from years of field and tournament experiance. You can over complicate it all you want. The bottomline is the 391 has less felt recoil and muzzle jump then the Benelli. The Beretta 391 needs to be cleaned regularly, the benelli does not need to be cleaned.

I'm 6'-4" and left-handed and was able to fit a Benelli Ultralight perfectly using the shim kit that came with the shotgun.

I think the difference in recoil between gas and recoil operated is negligible and mostly caused by the weight difference - recoil operated is always lighter. The lightweight of the Benelli is the attraction for me, and the simplicity is a welcome bonus. The shotgun can be taken down to parts in less than a minute.

The Vinci fits me great but I hate the safety in front of the trigger guard, they made the trigger guard extra big for glove shooters and my short stubby index finger doesn't comfortable get to the safety, if the safety was in the back of the trigger guard I would own one. On the vinci because of the pistol grip the trigger guard also really smacks your trigger hand, but they redesigned that on the new super vinci.

To me The Extrema 2 is to barrel heavy and just didn't fit me right, but it is a great quality gun if it fits you, with the kick off system you can shoot anything and recoil is managable.

Gas guns can be tough in cold weather, but not if they are clean and dry.

You must be 6'4" with allagator arms then because the shims don't do much in lenght of pull. Or you think that the gun fits you, but in reality it doesn't. I am all of 6'4" and have about a 2" spacer between the stock and pad. Not to mention having to raise the comb height too. I won't even get into cast! Anyways if it works for you that is great.

Beretta 391 looks like the one for me. Don't need to shoot 3 1/2 shells.

Nobody needs to shoot 3-1/2 12ga shells. Why anyone would even want to is beyond me.

M2..

The M1 and M2 are 3" guns the SBE is the 3-1/2" gun

Personally, I don't think you can compare a 6 something pound inertia gun to a 8 pound autoloader accuratly. As far as I am concerned, they have different uses for me. I own a vinci, and like said above, when I first bought it, the safety location bothered me. All that had to do with is because every other shotgun I owned had it behind the trigger and my Moss. 410 has it on top, of course. I just wasn't use to it, and now I am and it feels as natural as any of the others. I have full intentions of buying an extrema 2 as soon as I can justify spending 1000 dollars on a shotgun again. They have different uses for me. As far as the duck hunting I do, well, lets just say I took my uncle out for a day last year, and he is also an avid duck hunter. That night he called my mom and told her that her son is "extreme." I put on a lot of miles in my waders, if ducks aren't where I am, I go find them. This means I am lugging my shotgun around, and the last thing I would want to do is lug around a 8 pound Berretta, but my vinci is absolutly irreplacable for this. It is the PERFECT duck gun, for ME. Now I goose hunt in fields, and I want a 3.5 inch autoloader that has some weight behind it. It just makes sense, I am not lugging that shotgun around all day. I am in one place shooting 3.5in shells, so the heavy beretta autoloader works in that scenerio and is PERFECT for ME. The felt recoil of the new A400 exploror is going to be more than the Xtrema, not from my experience, but it has to. It is lighter, and wieght makes a heck of a lot more difference than the difference between two gas-autoloading actions. This is long, but it just shows how the two shotguns you asked about have different uses and whichever fits your hunting style, use it. They are both quality shotguns, and they both have their pluses and negatives. My benelli kicks, it really does. I use the remington hypersonic loads, and they kick, but they also flat whack ducks. I went from using black cloud to that stuff, and crimples went way down. So to answer your original question, yes, the benelli will kick more, because of the inertia system and the low weight. The beretta will kick less because it is heavier and it is a gas-autoloader. Buy the one that fits your style, or more importantly, fits you,

i am a really big fan of my Vinci 12! i sold an 1187 and a 1300 to get it and i am hammering doves,pheasants,turkey,ducks and geese unlike i have ever done before! it cycles the lightest to the heaviest and i love it!
it brought my shotgunning back to life and my 2 labs don't have to come home and tell my wife that all they did was watch me miss them again.they are getting their exercize and eating up all their food.

I see alot more extrema 2 ejector repairs, and with the new xplor400 it also has the same bs system. I havnt seen many vinci shotguns. I have had to reassemble a couple Bc customer couldn't get back together properly. I'm not really a fan yet. I'm still having fun with my SBE 2. I have always told my customers the xtrema is a rice blind gun, The benelli is a Workin mans gun.
The benelli being lighter and has a more slender ergo. Than the xtrema. Making it easier to tote all day. The extrema has less felt recoil bt also feels like Ur shooting an old A 5 with the kickoff system, the xplor400 seams to be hot on the market. I have no attachment to this gun at all. It is an extrema with a lighter smaller(more vulnerable) piston and piston ring. Also they have cut away any so say extra metal, to make this lightweight 3.5 inch gun. Needless to say it kicks more. The weight alone makes this true. Also with the failure to redesign the largest flaw the xtrema has, the 400 is bound to be found this season on the rack w broken ejector stop pins, which are junk roll pins that break. And every parts supplier will be out of during the season. FAIL.

I like them both. I bought an A390 16 years ago and absolutely love the shotgun. Dad recently picked up the Benelli M2 and although id differs in recoil, I wouldnt say it is any better or worse. I prefer my beretta because I am used to it. I can use the M2 back to back with no issue. dont think there is any wrong answer here. Dad went with the benelli mainly because it came in a left-handed version.