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I appreciate all the advice. It's always great to have someone give such good info on something you are researching. My dad has always used his SBE and never changed his gun setup, and I wanted to get one just like him because of how reliable his has been. Thank you again for all the timeless info! -Hunter Colbert

Todd over FFT has released a much desired follower that recreates the 2 piece Np3 and red empty magazine indicator over on his website, search for vintage follower and its in the drop down menu freedomfightertactical.com for $82.

@HunterColbert Glad to hear you found what you were after and I was able to help. You will love the inertia Benelli. That didn't really take that long. I saw that one go across the auction. Those Ducks Unlimited ones usually go for a little bit more than the regular model. Honestly, I am not sure why but they do nonetheless. You may have bought it just for this feature, many do but yours should be capable of "Ghost load" or "floating a shell" on the lifter. If you aren't familiar with it or how to do it, there are videos out there, but it is super easy. You load the magazine up, you put on directly in the chamber with the bolt manually held partially back. Then, you put a round on the lift gate/carrier then close the bolt. On early guns, this was an anti-jam feature in case an additional shell got past the magazine stop but people figured out how to do this. It is perfectly legal to use except when hunting seasons with a limited shell capacity to 3 rounds which is migratory birds (ducks, geese, dove, etc.), and there are probably many others, some possibly at the state level as well. Game wardens are very familiar with this trick so stay legal. Outside of those seasons though, you can effectively have a +1 capacity without the unsightly magazine extension and weight further forward. I remember playing around with this when I first discovered the capability of it functioning with a shell on the carrier. I know t his can be done with 3" shells I know. I don't remember about 3.5" shells. No idea on your experience with them, or with shotguns in particular but here's a few tips to keep it running for many years. One, NEVER use wet oil in the magazine tube. If you use lubrication there, use only dry spray. When you grab shells out of your pocket, or if you drop one on the ground and pick it up and insert it into the magazine, the wet oil will grab on to it and it will gum it up in short order. I have bought quite a few of these from fellow hunters that were "jam-o-matics" according to their owners. Took them apart to check them out and in all but once case the magazine was caked full. The only example that was maintenance related was the spring in the butt stock was very rusted. I found out later that he had fell over duck hunting. He caught himself, but the lower half of the receiver and butt stock were submerged for a bit while he got up with his waders full of water. He didn't realize there were moving parts below the tail on the bolt. Second, if you haven't heard of the of the "Benelli click", look it up. Though it has been GREATLY exaggerated, it has, does, and will happen. Once you see how and why it happens on this era of gun, you'll quickly understand when to check it. For me, that is anytime I set down the gun on its recoil pad hard with a loaded chamber. It seems to happen worse with longer shells which makes sense. It can also happen by snagging on clothing or brush. When it happens, it really isn't visible. I bought my original SBE in the mid-90's and I don't think it has happened to me 10 times. In fact, that original gun I bought new, about the only other thing it has ever done that wasn't perfect is if I shoot light loads such as 7/8 oz dram eq loads and occasionally 1 oz loads, it will fire, eject, then close on an empty chamber because the bolt doesn't come back far enough to hit the magazine release. I found that every 1 1/8 oz loads, even the el-cheapo Wal-Mart ones will work 100% of the time so that is what I used since then for skeet shooting. They are the same price anyway. If yours has much of an issue with Benelli Click, a lot of users found that a Wolf +25% spring takes care of it, or at least greatly diminishes it. Personally though, I wouldn't change to it unless you need it. Lastly, you may have heard of Garand thumb, there's also such thing as Benelli thumb. If you try to load these fast, the curve of the loading gate on these can really grab your thumb and bruise and even cut your thumb. The edge of the loading well can be sharp. If I were shooting competition, I might have that loading well rounded off, and the curve of the loading gate welded up or replace the carrier (not sure one is available for SBE, but it is for shorter length receivers). But, even fast field loading hasn't proven to be a big issue after going slow and seeing what causes the issue and then not doing that. I lightly bruise my thumb every decade or so just enough to remind myself not to stick my thumb in so far. I have said for probably 25 years that if I could only have 1 gun, it would be a SBE. I've already got a slug barrel and scope, and if needed a person could buy a spare barrel and cut it down to minimum legal length (18" I think) and make it into a home defense gun. It wouldn't conceal carry very well (LOL), but it would do about everything else a person would need, albeit not the best as having dedicated ones for each role, but if a person could only have one...