tucker301

See your other post.

if you have the time, go ahead and take the gun apart and clean it thoroughly. It takes about 15 minutes for a first timer. But to directly answer your question - no, it's not necessary. What is recommended is that you shoot at least two boxes of heavy field or high velocity loads through it. You should also keep the manufacturer's minimum recommended load in mind when purchasing your dove shells.

Did you get the matte finish pen?

The Benelli coating isn't a true Parkerized finish. It lacks the depth and texture of Parkerizing. And it's not bare white metal that shows beneath the scratches. At least on mine, it isn't. It appears to be some kind of a base coat.

Mine has several such places on it. Not a big deal. CLP will keep it from rusting. The black Benelli finish is not very durable. When mine gets bad enough I'm sending it off to be either Gunkoted or camo dipped.

Neither was wearing a life jacket, but I'm not sure it would have mattered anyway.

I spoke with a friend who hunts that area. He said that where the accident occurred the water is only about 3 feet deep. Most likely, they were injured or killed from the impact either with the boat or the hard bottom.

Several minutes is a nanosecond to Benelli CS. Expect to be on hold for up to a half hour before getting through. Speakerphones are best.

It's a boghog longtail, but we've made a number of improvements and modifications to the original. It's not fast by any means, but it will get you there, and more importantly, get you back.

Hydrilla around here chokes them down and kills them.

Birchwood Casey matte black touch up pen. Where to buy

Is the original finish black oxide, blued, or camo?

So, which is better? To call and get someone who doesn't know #%^* right off the bat, or to hold and be patient for someone who can actually help you?

The Dave Smith website seems to be kaput. Only the main page loads, and that has a bunch of broken images. Maybe old Dave Smith needs a new webmaster. Maybe he wants to trade for some decoys? Consider this my application.

Some of the early models (which yours may be) had some problems with the recoil pads popping out. Call Benelli CS and give them your serial number. They'll more than likely replace it free of charge with the improved pad. Tip: If you'd like a shorter LOP, you want to request that the replacement pad be the 14" or 13.5" version. It worked for me

Speakerphone. Multi-task.

Kents are great for water swatting. I hammered three ringnecks with a single #3 last week and killed two outright. Messed up the third one's GPS and all he could do was swim in little circles.

Use the Google

Generally not a good idea to display serial numbers online.

My brother just e-mailed me back that Whorley was a long-time principal of Brookville High School near Lynchburg, VA. More on him from the Lynchburg newspaper

http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14613

Benelli CS can tell you how many were produced. I checked on another DU gun recently and it was 250.

Finally saw a few details published today. Published: December 28, 2008 Two men were killed Saturday after the boat they were in hit some debris in the Dan River in Mecklenburg County, authorities said. Officials identified the men as Terrell J. Reid, 61, of Lynchburg and James R. Whorley, 60 of Forest.The men had gone duck hunting early in the morning, and authorities believe the boat struck the partially submerged debris about 5 a.m., while it was still dark. The capsized boat was spotted about 10 a.m., and authorities found the bodies floating in the water. A hunting dog that had been on the boat survived and was found on the shore, authorities said.

I haven't heard much in the way of details, but apparently two duck hunters were drowned this morning near Clarksville, VA. The story I got was that their boat was spotted with their gear and guns in it, but no hunters were to be found. A search yielded two bodies

The inherent accuracy depriving features have little to do with the barrel lengths. About all an extra 2 inches of barrel is going to do for you is to boost muzzle velocities.