mudhen

Mine shoots too high even with the C, so I shaved down the A and added it to the C to make it shoot even lower. It now shoots like the D shim in my SBE I's. I only do this for waterfowl. For turkey, the B shim is perfect for how I shoot. mudhen - CA

Donnie says 'rotating bolt'.... Donnie also says 'gas guns like Browning Golds and Xtremas can do it too'.... though on the Gold it's more a case of the bolt not closing all the way....

It looks like that bird had been shot at already. Maybe with Dead Coyote at 173 yards?

This may work better Scroll down to Crio Plus: http://www.carlsonschokes.com/benelli.html

I've been shooting 2.75" light loads in my SBEs and SBE IIs since 1991 with no problems. But all of my guns have been broken in with 3.5" loads - usually turkey loads.

How did you miss such a huge defect before taking the gun home? On the car, no, I'd hopefully notice any problems before driving home. On camo guns, yes, every camo gun I have ever bought has had at least several cosmetic defects right out of the box. And they get more defects as the years go by. I've got several chips on my SBE II Max 4 that have not rusted yet. I recall several small bubbles went away over time. Donnie says 'it's just plastic film'.... Contact Benelli CS. These forums are not a conduit to Benelli CS..... mudhen - CA

I think for $1500, someone from Italy should come to my house and hand deliver the gun. I think a $50,000 Lexus should never wear out, drive itself, and come with a Flux Capacitor that runs on household garbage. The camo is a plastic film. Nothing more, nothing less. It scratches, chips, fades, bubbles, gets shiny, and absolutely dissolves if DEET is applied. I have heard it is installed by Tarjac http://www.tarjac.com/services.jsp here in the U.S. I think Benelli just adds the price of the process to a black gun. MSRP is only $120 higher for the camo, which I think is a pretty good price. I think Tarjac is close to $200 retail for the process. But if the film is really crappy NIB, I have heard Benelli will have it redipped under warranty.

Not pure Merriams for sure, but I had a great time! First bird was shot at 10 yards. He worked right in to the call. 18 #'s with two beards, 3" and 9". Second bird was shot at 25 yards, also working in to the call. 23.5 #'s with a 9" beard. Second verse same as the first - SBE II - Primos Jellyhead - Win XR #6's.

Fan looks just fine to me. If you PM me with a mailing address, I'll send you a few extra calls I have laying around if you want. I've got some good slates and box calls that I don't use. I think if you try calling them in, you'll get hooked

You thought that was getting hammered? If so, I've seen thicker skin on a bowl of pudding (no, not the bowl you are currently plowing through. Btw - fat guys can kid other fat guys ) I do tend to worship the game I slaughter. Makes me feel better about blowing the brains out of a harmless critter. But I do not like to see animals suffer, so I try to use the best equipment I can and make the brains-blowing-out process as swift as possible. I cannot endorse your methods because, as you admitted, the animal did not die swiftly. I can only hope that, on my death bed, some intern doesn't have to step on my head to finish me off! No matter though. Your bird was a clean 'Montana' kill. Nothing wrong with that. I might have to come up there and try to 'Montana' my own bird someday!

I don't recall the SBE I having a cast shim for LH and/or RH cast issues like the SBE II/M2 comes with. None of mine did, and I bought 5-6 of them before I started buying SBE II's. I think it started with the SBE II/M2 series. I'll check my old SBE I manuals when I get back from bird watching to see if my recollection is correct....

Nothing too specific. The bolt rails make me nervous. I've seen a few broken ones in the last year. I'm just deep into my Benelli phase these days. I'm in my buddy's shop 3-4 days a week these days (have been for several years now) and I'm seeing what really goes on as opposed to what the Internet wizards dream up....

Nice bird. Dead Coyote for turks Thank god most states have shot restrictions! I think DC can penetrate skin at 300 yards! I guess they call it Big Sky country for a reason

We are talking 20's son, pay attention Porting on 20's doesn't bother me nearly as much as 12's, plus I rarely sit in a duck blind three feet from another hunter to shoot dove! I'm off the Xtrema II. I'm off all Beretta products right now. Too many issues. I'm thinking of buying a Cordoba 20 for upland and another SBE II for this year. I've found a local gunsmith that says can fit any gun to any shoot with a little work. I might just let him work on a new SBE II to get the fit I need. Maybe an SBE II black and get it dipped in MO Brush?

Yes. A wad tumbling through the pattern can alter the pattern. You can read up about this theory on many websites. Pure Gold's website has a pretty good photos, so does Pattern Master. The info is out there for those willing to look for it....

This post is worthless without photos Any issues at all - good or bad? This is my next gun, so I'm all ears

Sounds good. Put it under the saw. Or you could grow up and maybe contact Benelli CS? Most of the gunsmiths I know are not well trained on repairing Benellis. If a smith cannot fix it the first time, why keep going to him for two years? I have referred many smiths to Brownells for parts. Most don't have the right tools to fix Benellis and or the desire/intelligence to fix a Benelli. A spent cartridge staying in the chamber is likely an ejector issue. Maybe a gummed up spring? Broken spring? Could also be an extractor issue. Bad spring? Broken spring? Either way, I bet this is a minor issue that Benelli can easily fix. I'd send it back soon - call Benelli for a return authorization. Good luck!

I think this is generally incorrect. Different choke manufacturers make different claims. I did read that pure Gold claims their ports strip wads. Primos claims their ports vent gas to keep the gas from blowing a pattern and to reduce muzzle jump and felt recoil. Pattern Master uses internal studs to grab the wad. They also port their tubes, presumably to vent off gas for whatever reason. Most of the choke makers I have heard of claim to use porting to vent gas in order to reduce muzzle jump and reduce felt recoil. Pure Gold is the only one I have read about that claims their porting strips wads. I don't doubt them one bit, it's just that most others do not make that claim.

I can't even see 74 yards

They most likely went back because they did not know what they were doing. HS and it's clones are superior in every way to lead. More expensive for sure, but vastly superior in every ballistic category. .670 is the preferred constriction for HS. Anything tighter can lead to blown patterns. .660 is the preferred constriction for lead and XR. XR is pretty hard, but it likes the .660. Primos says there is no issue with HS or clones in it's chokes. Pure Golds are wad-strippers. Any tighter and the stripping feature will not work as designed. I see no safety warning on PG's website. Jellyheads are constriction chokes and can handle all types of shots. Sounds like you need to do some of your own homework. You appear to be somewhat lost...

The SBE II has drop and cast shims. They can help a bit for some folks (like me). You should read your owner's manual.

It might make some difference, but I don't think you break 90-95 even at 13.5 x 8. If you look at the photos, each show that I used the 13.5 x 8.5, which is approximately 70% the area of a 10" circle. The vertical target makes sense for me because it includes the vitals of a turkey's head and neck, which a circle does not. Those hits at the base of the neck are most deadly and desirable. I did not add in any hits that might have been doubles. I know there are many of those, but without gel blocks, I can't be certain, so I don't include them. Try as you might to improve them on paper, I think your patterns are pretty poor. They look pretty spread out and more like a waterfowl pattern than a turkey pattern. We don't know what the lead #6's did at 40 because you didn't post any results. I looked at some of my XR #5 patterns and at worst, I'm getting 100-120 pellets in the 10" circle at 40 yards. At worst. I'd try a .660 or hold out for very close shots...

I hunt open areas too. I really need a 40 yard gun. I love close shots, but I don't always get what I want. This is what I get at 40 yards, and I don't really think it's that great. I've got plans to try to improve for 2008.

As to Hevi Shot, I don't generally place a price tag on the best equipment, so I don't know how to reply to that. For turkeys, I might shoot 10-20 shells per season, so price is really not a consideration for me. I might shoot a 10 gauge next season with custom Nitro 10 gauge loads that run $100+ per 10 For waterfowl, where I might shoot 2000 shells in a good season, price is certainly more of a consideration. I've had no problem with .660 up close, but what do I know If all my shots were guaranteed to be at 20 yards, I wouldn't buy a turkey choke, I'd shoot the factory full or maybe even modified.

Doesn't sound that good to me. Probably good enough for close shots though. There are 450+- #6's in that load, so you are at around 50% at 30 yards. I'd expect 60-70%+ at 30 yards. There are 340+- #5's in that load, so 66 pellets is only 19%. I wouldn't take a 19% gun in the field, it's asking for a miss or cripple. I do not hear of many Benelli shooters using .670 with lead. .660 is peferred. .670 can be good with Hevi Shot though.