mudhen

BC is a long range steel load for sure. This past weekend, I used a Wingmaster HD 6, followed by a Win HV 3, followed by a BC 2. Sort of a stupid trick I use to stretch out the Wingmaster. The BC killed several 2nd ducks in a double and was an outstanding cripple water swatting load. One long cripple shot flipped a teal out of the water at 50 yards. All the wads I found had the petals out - so I presume they are working as intended. I will certainly use more BC once the weather turns windy and the ducks get a bit smarter

I think you misunderstood my entire post. I don't care about the barrel length speed subject. It is almost factually irrelevant. The 20-22" is just one opinion floating in a sea of many. I've read far more reports that state max vel of most factory loads is reached at 26-28". I would think that the given load power would be far more determinative than the barrel length or any preset notions. I'm also pretty sure that bore diameter would/should be included in the equation. The speed factor with the same ammo cannot be identical in the .722 Benelli as it is in the .742 Browning. Maybe close, but not identical. I think Tucker has a chart somewhere that shows some data - post up Tuck? I've owned maybe 25 shotguns over the years. All of my current guns fit me fine; M2 x 2, SBE x 2, SBE II, Gold x 2, and Silver. I will shoot them all this season. Benelli makes a 21" M2 - maybe that is a better choice?

I pay no attention to the barrel length speed debate. The few fps either way doesn't matter to me. I recall it's in the single digit fps range per inch of barrel, which is irrelevant in the real world. I have been shooting 26" bbls my entire life because they fit my style of shooting and hunting. I hunt turkeys, so I like shorter barrels in general. Easier to move the gun around in tight spaces. I hunt ducks from a tank, so the gun needs to be long enough to not slide all over the place. I don't like 24" bbls in duck tanks - they can slide below the tank frame - not good I did have a 24" bbl Nova that I could not get to pattern well, so I'm can't say for sure shorter barrels pattern well. I think a 24" bbl SBE II would be a great gun

www.manties.net also their subdivision: www.mantiesinabunch.com and their newest venture: www.twistedmanties.com

I've patterned all my factory chokes as well as many aftermarket chokes for all of my shotguns. I've found that I get much better patterns with certain aftermarket chokes. The longer aftermarket chokes offer me more even patterns with fewer open holes. I also like being able to change chokes by hand as I usually carry 2-3 different chokes on each hunt. The Primos Dead Zone chokes, decoy & pass, seem to pattern very well in my SBE II.

I was in contact with IC numerous times directly. Btw - the suck at replying to e-mails. I told them the shell I was shooting, Win XR 6's, and they selected the tube they thought was best, .650. I tried maybe 7-8 different shells through that choke, all performed poorly. I'm not going to spend $500 to find out which IC choke might work best - I'll stick with my $28 Primos for now

Too bad - they are the bomb for turkeys - the generally tight Benelli bore works well with the new small high density non-tox loads that are becoming so popular like Win XR 6's, Federal Heavyweight 7.5's, etc. I own 7-8 brands of shotguns, and the SBE II is the best performing turkey gun I own. I love Brownings for steel shot because they are overbored, but the Benelli is my turkey gun fo sho

I paid about that for mine. Winchester XR #6's 3.5" works for me.

I waited 10 months for my first Benelli in 1990-91. Paid cash in advance to boot. I ordered a new Winchester Model 70 SS Extreme Weather .270 WSM yesterday - ETA August 2008. I also ordered a Browning X-Bolt Medallion .270 WSM - ETA July 2008.

Hello Nolaboy1 As I already said, you are not a moron, far from it. You did the right thing, Benelli is just a bit behind with the new camo accessories.

I agree with Benelli CS 110%. You were given bad info by retail clerks. A call to Benelli CS would have confirmed that. Imagine that, a pimply faced, chronic masturbating, cracking voiced, little know-nothing punk giving out bad info For such a smart guy, you are pretty well disconnected to the real world. I have found this to be common amongst guys that run multi-million dollar companies (of which I am one too - big deal). As a matter of fact, I have 45-50 friends that run multi-million dollar companies. I even have a few that run billion dollar companies. As a buyer I once spent 250 million bucks in one year. Too bad none of that has any causal connection to common sense! A great businessman such as yourself should also realize that 100% customer service is almost impossible. It's too subjective. What one customer thinks is service may not fit the defintion of another customer. The simple business fact is that spare barrels are poor sellers. Yes, they are critical to the few customers that really want one, but in general, very few people want them. In order to provide 100% CS, Benelli would have to stock every barrel length ever made in every blue/matte/camo pattern ever made for every Benelli ever made. And they would have to stock enough of each to satisfy any demand. All of your problems are old school issues for Benelli. Have been for 20+ years. Obviously they are not worried about your concerns. If they were, they would have made changes 20 years ago. How Benelli runs their business is not really your call, other than you deciding to buy their products or not. Does Benelli come to your work and tell you how to make license plates? But in your defense, I think you did the exact correct thing in the first place. Buying a slug version and then a waterfowl barrel saves you the cost of the modified forearm as long as you don't mind that the slug forearm does not fit 100% perfect. You problem is that the APG is a new camo pattern. The complete guns always come first, the barrels second. I can find camo M2 barrels, but not in APG. I've eventually broken every gun I've ever bought, so naming 'other' brands is moot. I had a Remington 870 WM fall apart in my hands. I've broken 5-6 Brownings, that latest being a Silver that broke after 4-5 hunts. I even had a mighty Glock fail right out of the box. They fixed it in a week and that gun has been carried by a cop relative every day for the last 15 years. But I really want to reiterate that I think you did the exact right thing in buying the slug gun first. Benelli is just a bit behind in getting the matching camo barrels to the US market. Also, I'd shoot the 24" APG barrel in a heartbeat. I use extended chokes, and the few fps you lose with a 24" bbl is not really much of a factor. The Benelli Kool Aid hasn't kilt me over the past 20 years. You just gotta be smarter than the 18 y.o. chicken choker behind the counter at Cabela's

Indian Creek .650 patterned like crap in my SBE II. Too tight - pattern just blew out. The choke is just collecting dust in my garage. I will probably send back to IC as I don't need it. I don't think anyone at the NWTF did well with a Benelli and a .650 Indian Creek. I'll stick with my Primos Jellyhead in .660

The SBE is a good gun - the M2000 is crap

Can't really compare pricing because of all the Xtrema II versions. Beretta reduced their prices for 2007. Benelli raised again. Also, don't confuse MSRP with MAP with in-store pricing. I can get a black Xtrema II w/o Kick-Off for $949 almost anywhere. I can get an SBE II non-CT for $1199 almost anywhere. I can get a black Xtrema II with Kick-Off for $1299 almost anywhere. I can get a black SBE II with CT for $1399 almost anywhere. Camo Xtrema II's with KO run around $1399. Camo SBE II's with CT run around $1449. When you get to the guns that most folks want, they are very similar in price. I really like the Xtrema II, but I've seen so many broken transfer bars that I simply can't risk owning one The Franchi 912 also has the breaking transfer bar problem. Guess who makes that part for Beretta But to be fair, the guys that break these guns shoot mostly 3.5" steel. Some go through 8-10 cases a season.

Looks like a stuck wad or barrel obstruction. I've seen a few of these where the shell got wet, but still partially fired. Wad sticks at the choke and with the next shot - KaBOOM. I've also seen steel shot get wet and form a slug of rusted pellets that damages the barrel when fired. No KaBOOMS there, just bulged chokes. He should be contacting Remington as well. I'd contact Remington first. Everyone says "I just shot at a duck" or "I just checked the barrel for obstructions" This is pure ambulance-chaser speak. How often do you check the barrel for an obstruction? After every shot? I don't ever check for obstructions Tons of experts that can tell exactly what happened - should be no problem for someone to figure out what really happened.

My newest SBE II is dialed in for turkeys. It took me so long to work up the combination of Jellyhead + Win XR, that I just want to leave that gun the way it is. I spend way more on turks than I do ducks, so a dedicated turkey SBE II makes sense for me. The Browning Silver is my refuge and rice gun. The Dura Touch started peeling after a few hunts, so I don't care what the gun looks like. In a few weeks when the ducks pick up, I'll probably be shooting the M2 20 more.

We have lots of places for the ducks to hang out. In the Sacramento Valley, it's not uncommon to have 600,000+ acres of rice fields flooded Oct - Feb. Add in our many state and federal wildlife areas, and the birds have it pretty good. Of course, all these areas are not hunted, so sometimes the birds can just rest and avoid being shot. It can be a real Catch-22 sometimes. It's been a good year so far, but we do get plenty of slow days too. I just go 2-4 times a week and see what happens

No........

I get it. I've bought a few guns without handling. I needed more drop on my SBE II to fit my style of shooting. I ended up using the C shim with a ground-down A to get more drop like my other SBE's. Maybe mess with the shims and get the shorter pad? Good luck

Pretty scarce these days. They use to pop up on E-Bay, but no so much anymore. These guys have some camo slug barrels: http://www.e-gunparts.com/products.asp?chrMasterModel=4150zSUPER%20BLACK%20EAGLE&MC= The slug barrel for the SBE and SBE II are the same. Don't know if the II forearm fits the I barrel though. Many elect to buy the slug gun and then buy the regular barrel as regular barrels are much easier to find. Btw - the slug forearm works fine on the regular barrel (just a tad loose), so starting with a slug gun saves a bit of $$$. I think you can grind out the regular forearm to fit the slug barrel.

No........

Took me 6 seconds to find it: Item # 984700: http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=978740&chrSuperSKU=&MC= I'd call them to see if they really have it in stock. How did the SBE II fit you when you bought it? No, that dealer is incorrect. The pad does come in left hand. Not much of a dealer in my opinion. Yes, both the right hand and left hand pads fit all SBE II's. It's the shape of the pad that makes it right or left. Sounds like the dealers in your area know little about the firearms they sell. Nice.....

This past weekend: Too bad California is such a bad state....

Hockey stick ejector plate or new flat sheet metal ejector plate? That would be my only question....

The 17 year old SBE still gets it done Four ups for seven birds....