birddog

Fez - You've been censored!! ... I bet if the ole boy woulda been 'flushing' instead of pointin' you woulda been alright ... ... no pun intended ...

Just a bit of trivia .... the X-2 is considered the "fastest" gun having a cyclic rate of 11 hundredths of a second compared to 13 hundredths for the Benelli any faster and the hammer follows or 'rides' the bolt back on the Benelli.

bulls eye - I understand that your gun is newer and you want to keep it in great condition looking as new as possible (I'm the same way I guess) -BUT- in the circles I hunt in, an SBE just isn't an SBE unless it's got some 'war wounds' or 'character'. If your gun was a ****'s Angel, the mud stains would be the club's back patch on its jacket.... If you'ld rather, a soapy fine bristled brush should do the trick. try an old tooth brush that still has some back-bone to the bristles. Good Luck

Both the M-2 and Sport are going to be good guns ... back to the age old questions: Which gun fits you better? -AND- Which one feels better? Both guns are very different in set-up and dimensions so it's going to be a 'personal' issue with-in the constraints of either gun ... who knows ... the Montefeltro, Legacy or the SBE could fill the bill as well depending on how they fit and feel as far as Benelli auto-loaders are the talk. Good Luck

Yes, they are out there and for sale. As for your area in N.Carolina ... make some phone calls and you should find someone with them.

M1014 - shhhh ... 'what momma don't know, don't hurt her.' I might have inquired a bit further but I opted for a new toy for the boat... Why do I make something like fishing so complex??? When I got my first Garmin units I thought things were getting out of hand ..

What are you shooting - slugs or shot shells? What loads and manufacturers? and at what range?...we'll need some parameters in order to give better advice. ...at least it's consistant at this point.

Here's a screen saver from Evironmetal Inc.'s (makers of Hevi-Shot) Hevi-shot web site showing an M1014 Limited Edition and another showing a Super Black Eagle in a Hevi-Shot poster that I added the link to (in PDF format): Hevi-Shot 'bird poster' in pdf showing a Benelli - Super Black Eagle I've used Remingtons Hevi-Shot waterfowl loads in my SBE , Franchi SL-12 & Veloce 20ga. using factory chokes but, have opted to hand load because it's cheaper. The main component that companies have developed (including Remington) is wad material and construction to aid in both performance and protection. Your Nova barrel will be fine. You might notice some marks to the finish but physically the barrel should be unharmed. My brother has shot a rediculous amount through his SBE's guiding waterfowl hunts with no damage to his barrels or chokes other than visual marks either. Another Hevi-Shot link... check out their 'FAQ' page - they list a bunch of after-market choke manufacturers they've tested and approved www.hevishot.com You can also order loads produced by Environmetal Inc. still - Remington has just bought into a trade marketing/sales agreement with the company. Hope this helps - Good Luck [ 03-31-2004, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: birddog ]

*Note - The U.S. Flag engraved on the reciever denotes this M-4 as a Military/L.E.O. model.

Here you go. Ran across this today while looking for other deals... http://www.therightgun.com/shotgunPages/benelliShotguns.html BEN003 $1625 New Benelli m4 Limited Edition #M1014. IN STOCK, First come. First served. BEAUTIFUL!!! Dont miss out! New in box. Manufactured for the US Marines. ONLY2500 of these are for the public. Barrel Length 18.5",Stock Synthetic, Magazine Capacity 4+1 Chokes IC, Sights Ghost-ring, Overall Length 39.8", Avg. Weight 8.4 lbs. please note this does NOT have collapsible stock, it has an adjustable stock .IN STOCK AND CALIFORNIA LEGAL WE HAVE VERY FEW 2 SHOT EXTENSION TUBES FOR THE Benelli m4 Limited Edition #M1014. IN STOCK-. ACT NOW. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. $125 SHIPPED IN STOCK , MORE ON THE WAY WE ALSO HAVE OTHER BENELLI EXTENSION TUBES AVAILABLE

Benelli's inertia design is as reliable as any gas operated system in the same market just as long as you keep it clean like you have to with any other gun - even simple break action doubles need to be clean in order to cycle efficiently. Consider fit to be your top priority!! No matter what advice you take and from whom - don't sway from this at all!! As far as stepping on the toes of the 1100.. my opinion is that there are a few that fill the bill quite well - don't take that the wrong way I own a few 1100's but they've been shelved for various reasons. Benelli: Sport II, Legacy, & Montefeltro models are better suited for the range by design... all three offer totally different dimensions (fit and feel) out of the box. Beretta: 391 Urika, Urika Gold Sporting, & Teknys offerings are excellent choices. I'd look at the 'competition' models of both too. Berettas would be my choice if was mine to make but, a few of the 'competition' models are a bit too heavy for my liking @ 9lbs. There are obviously other choices out there but remember to make sure you keep your mind on how well the gun 'fits' you and how it feels. If you've got the resources available find a recomended shop that can aid you with fitting. Hope this helps - Good Luck

Feel your pain-the reason it's called hunting and not shooting ... makes for a bit of frustration tho. A few years ago I headed out for spring gobblers and set up in a 'gimmie' spot only to have the birds (around 30+) on the nieghboring 40 acre parcel just off the edge of my land. the woods opened up too much and came down a hill to the field where they were so that day was a scratch .. had a good time seeing the birds tho .. next time!

for all practical purposes 3 Dram Equivilent | 1 - 1-1/8oz. loads should work fine ... From Benelli's Troubleshooting page: Problem: What is the lightest load that my gun will shoot? 1. That varies depending on the type of gun. Generally, the following standards apply: The Sport will shoot down to a 3dr 7/8oz load; the M1-90 and Montefeltro 12-ga. will shoot a 2 3/4dr 1oz load; the Super Black Eagle will shoot a 3dr 11/8oz load; and the Montefeltro 20-ga. will shoot a 2 1/2dr 7/8oz load. NOTE: Due to the fact that Benelli uses an inertia recoil operating system, modifications such as backboring, porting, and lengthening the forcing cone have a detrimental effect on cycling. My brothers SBE is able to cycle the previously mentioned 7/8oz. Winchester Super-Speed loads and mine hasn't doesn't bother me a bit. [ 03-26-2004, 09:29 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]

Good advice above. Personally I'd go with the 28" barrel for wingshooting situations... having the extra 2" of barrel as bwnr stated gives you a point further in your sight plane and - in my opinion - the 2" of extra length from 26" to 28" is not going to be the cause of you 'hanging up' in the prickers or fumbling in a blind {insert hunter coordination and muzzle awareness here}. One thing to note: Taking this from the shooting sports - most target guns are adorned with 28"-32" barrels (.. most commonly 30"). So on a wingshooting basis the 'professionals' who these guns are modeled for are calling for longer barreled shotguns for a reason. I've found that my shooting is much better when I've got the right gun in my hands and that the barrel is 28" or 30" .... but, that's me. I'm sure others feel differently.. expect to get varied opinions on this one. one other thing - Benelli's front beads are set back an inch or so from where other manufacturers place their beads on the barrel rib ...

what powder and shot are you using and what are you using the load for? Sporting Clays 1-1/8oz. loads: BPI's 12ga. 2-3/4" Multi-Hull 12/2A Alliant Green Dot Powder G/BP Piston Skeet Wads Magnum lead (size-8) This is what I've settled on and am most happy with so far. [ 03-22-2004, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: birddog ]

If your looking at auto-loaders take another look at the SBE.. The M-1 is complete but, why have margarine when you can have real butter with the SBE. I don't mean to add more confusion but take a look at the Beretta 391 Urika and Extrema if you haven't already done so. Remember to put 'fit' as your #1 concern. Good Luck

You're killin' me Fez!!!!

you could be short cycling the gun too .. not pulling/bringing the slide all the way to the stop position so the empty hull hits the ejector firmly and completely opening up the chamber for a clean ejection. or you could have a worn out ejector too just a thought ..

thow 'em up !

Cocking levers just don't bend ... what did you do to it? Is the fore arm split because of rough treatment?? sounds like the two go hand in hand [ 02-18-2004, 10:47 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]

chamber 1 of those 3.5's - slide in another 3.5 into the mag. then run a high reving 2.75 into the mag so your shot string is: 3.5, 2.75, 3.5 ....then make the call.

Glad to here you went and picked them up and swung each. The monte is exactly that .. more fancy, a gun that's suited more for wingshooting and occasional trips to the clays range rather than setting up for gobblers and whitetails. The mid-bead is installed for shot alignment purposes. Aiding the gunner in shot placement. A good 'tool' to have and is very inexpensive to have installed to a barrel rib but, this is more for the wingshooter/upland hunter and generaly not the turkey and deer hunter. give a thought to a few different sighting systems too: - Fiber-optic iron sights will give you the most practical sighting system for both turkey and deer with quicker target acusition than the following two. - 30-50mm red dot sights are becoming more popular as time goes by giving the shooter a larger field of view than shotgun scopes and a more acute point of aim than iron sights. My opinion is that this is the 'best of both worlds' (w/o magnification) and is more flexable than a shotgun scope. - Shotgun scopes are the generally the simplest scopes out there yeilding slight magnifications since your slug guns effective ranges are limited plenty of deer hunters use these on there slug guns, usualy acompanied by a rifled barrel. This combination promotes the best accuracy 'system' for deer hunters. A shotgun scope is not needed at all for turkeys. With the majority of shots under 50yrds and using #4(or smaller) size shot this is not a practical system for gobblers at all. hope this helps and remember to keep it practical and simple! Good luck

From what I know about Cronic Wasting Disease in the cervids here in the states it posses no real threat to humans. The only real documented cases that I've read about or heard about having been lethal to humans was in Colorado or Wyoming where two back woods types ate nothing but venison for meat for a number of years.... Here in Wisconsin they've designated certain areas now as eradication zones... Is this just chance or am I on to something here ... It just so happens that the first zone chosen for this had the highest deer/car accident #'s in the state... and NOT the highest populations .. Are our high dollar insurance companies at the head of this .. ?? This seems to be too much of a coincidence.. any thoughts?? also, any other states out there with eradication zones?? [ 02-13-2004, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: birddog ]

I have yet to see any numbers on the new SBE-II. Would be interesting to see what price difference there is if any. I don't think the guns have been realeased yet publicly.. so you may have to wait a while until they reach retailers to get any sort of feed back.

Have you picked up each gun yet?? They both 'feel' very different from the other both in the hand and when swung. The M-1 is your best bet in my opinion. you'll have less of a headache finding hunting accessories for it as well. It's made to take more abuse in my opinion - especially with the synthetic stock set-up they sell them with.. You can buy wood for the M-1 but you can't buy synthetic for the Monte. ... if this tells you anything I like the 'feel' of the M-1 better too.. the fore is thicker than the Monte which i like cause I've got some rather large paws. ...unless your eyes are closed to it already, don't rule the SBE out quite yet .. it may be a couple hundred bucks more but it's a gun few can bad mouth and will fill the bill with all practical hunting loads.