cdogg44

There may be no "break in period", but I do know that the day I bought by SBEII I also bought a box of 3.5", 3", and 2.75" shells. It shot the 3.5's and 3's just fine, but would stovepipe the 2.75's. So for this entire duck season (I got the gun in November) I'm shooting 3.5" #2's of various brands for my break in period. After shooting at least 75 shells over various hunts, my gun now cycles the exact same 2.75" shells without any problem at all. If you buy the gun for hunting, just use some 3.5's or 3's for awhile, and then you shouldn't have any problems. Maddie- I'm no expert on this by any means, but I would think that if your gun shoots light loads right out of the box then you've got nothing to worry about. Just shoot it, and then throw some 3.5's in when hunting season rolls around.

No, I mean Hevi Shot. Thanks though. I think it was more of a barrel damage type of thing, kinda like using steel in older guns. So am I cool to shoot Hevi Shot through a two month old SBEII with a Hevi Shot/Steel Shot approved choke? Another question. Anyone have any experience with a Terror choke? Worth $80 over the factory crio chokes? The thing is, some of the birds come in and land over the decoys, while the next group might just pass by overhead. I've been shooting the factory Modified choke, but am just curious as to how much better and aftermarket one might be. Thanks

I heard that Benelli didn't recommend shooting Hevi Shot through their guns. Anyone know any more info on this? I wouldn't exactly call my source reliable. Thanks

How much more recoil reduction do you need? Target shells are hardly felt in my SBEII with the comfortech stock. The stock pad feels pretty good to me, IMHO. Good luck, though. That SSII is a good looking gun!

I'd sure take her up on that. Seems like everyone swears by Hevishot, but $#*%, it's $2 a shell! Whereabouts in Arkansas were you hunting?

I took my new SBEII out to shoot some clays today. It was my first time, and I did pretty good. The thrower was a cheap one from Wal-Mart, but it did fine to get the clays in the air, which was all we wanted. Anyway, I shot two boxes of cheap Federal 1 1/8 oz, 2 3/4 shells (100 for $15 at Wal-Mart) and the gun never missed a beat. No jams on the light stuff or anything. I'm convinced that this has got to be the perfect clays, ducks, geese, and anything else gun there is.

So what's the deal with Rem Oil? I'm curious, because I thought it was good stuff.

Good info. Although I will also be waiting until the end of the season, I just don't want to risk losing it in the mail or something and having to use my old shotgun as the backup (it doesn't really compare to a SBEII, if you know what I mean). Besides, my safety doesn't seem too bad at all, especially now that it's been used quite a bit.

Ditto

When I bought my SBEII 26" several dealers told me the barrel length was a matter of personal preference, it didn't affect the shooting aspect of the gun itself. With that in mind, I bought a 26" because the 28" seemed waaaaaay too long for me. Also, I couldn't tell a difference between "sighting" the 24" and 26", and would have preferred the 24", but when you buy a LH gun you take what you can get. I've been very happy with my 26" and personally think it's a good compromise between sighting and total gun lenght (and I HATE long guns).

You make a very good point on the fatigue life of steel vs. aluminum. However, I personally prefer the aluminum on my SBEII due to the lighter weight and the fact that it won't rust.

Why is steel so much better than aluminum? I can't see why steel vs. aluminum reciever would scare you away from a gun. Could you please tell me why you favor steel over aluminum? Not saying you're wrong or right, I just want to know your reasons.

I thought of that, putting electrical tape or something around the swivel itself. Probably what I'll end up doing, unless anyone else has a better idea.

So you guys with slings and a camo guns. Is the swivel on the endcap thing eating up your gun's finish? I stuck my dad's rifle sling on my gun tonight to see what it would look like, and that top swivel just looked like it was about to eat up the endcap. Is this how all shotguns are? Any other solutions besides just dealing with it? Thanks

Well I guess I found my problem, lol! When I went to clean the bolt I started on the pictures of the bolt itself and went from there, not thinking to look back to the very first step in the stripping procedure. See, I knew it was something minor. Thanks again guys.

Jmel- I have not removed the bolt handle. How do I go about doing this? threeshot- The "bolt locking head" will slide in and out of the bolt about half an inch, but will not come out. I guess my problem lies in not removing the bolt handle (which I never saw anything about in the manual). If someone could let me know how to remove the bolt handle I'll give it a try and see if the "bolt locking head" comes out. I'm sort of puzzled though, because I have done exactly what is listed in the manual (and exactly the steps posted by threeshot) and it still slided back and forth but doesn't come out. I'm really not too worried about it, I just sprayed some oil down in there and reassembled it. I just want to be sure the next time I go to clean the gun I can clean the bolt 100%. Thanks

Well, I bought a SBE II LH 26" in Advantage Timber about three weeks ago for $1250 plus tax. I called every dealer in my state, and ended up driving 2.5 hours because there were only 3 guns like this available (the LH is very hard to find). Also, the other two dealers wanted $100-$150 more. Bargain (and this seems to depend on who you know and where you live, because people brag on other forums about paying $1000-$1200 for one, which I find somewhat hard to believe, but...you never know) I'd think $1200. Fair $1250-$1375. A friend of mine bought one locally the same day I bought mine (his is a RH gun though, otherwise it's identical) for $1300 plus tax. Most places a LH gun seems to cost $20-$50 more. Camo also seems to add $100, regardless of LH or RH. Also, I found that at most dealers a regular SBE was only $100 or so cheaper than a new SBEII. After holding both, I found the II to feel much better and the additional recoil reduction doesn't hurt either. Not confirmed, but one dealer did tell me they were going to continue to make the SBE RH, but discontinue the SBE LH. Again, not confirmed or anything. Other than some basic questions needing to be answered about the gun (I'm new to semi autos) I have been very pleased. I shot over a box of 3.5"s within 4 hours Saturday morning, and my shoulder never hurt. The after hunt "cleaning session" was really easy too, aside from the bolt not coming out (I think this is something minor), which goes a long way for someone new to all of this like me. If you shoot left handed I would definately shoot a left handed gun. Like I said, I have been very pleased with mine, and plan on hunting with it for quite a while. Good luck finding one. Hope this helps.

......kinda what I thought. It refuses to budge.

Already removed it. The bolt locking head still wouldn't come out. Do I have to turn it a special way or something?

Quick questions. When cleaning the bolt assembly on my LH SBEII, I easily got to the final step of removing the "bolt locking head" and found it to be stuck in place. It will slide back and forth, but won't come out completely like the book shows it. What's the trick? I read elsewhere on these boards not to disassemble the trigger assembly according to the manual. I haven't messed with it yet, but what is the reason behind this? Anyone have instructions for a different way? Has anyone else even heard about this? Thanks guys. I shot over 35 3.5"s this weekend hunting (I suck, but it was my first time out, and the ducks were everywhere) and my shoulder isn't even sore. I love this gun. It performed flawless and occasionally would connect with a bird. Although this is more my problem than the gun's! [ 11-22-2004, 06:47 PM: Message edited by: cdogg44 ]

My SBEII in Advantage Timber had some slight, and I mean slight, flaws in it the day I bought it, but really not much at all. Really though, all my guns have cosmetic flaws...that just comes with hunting. Sure, I try the best I can to keep them all nice and perfect (and they all do still look nice), but it's inevitable that someday you're just going to drop it or something's going to happen to it. It'll still shoot the same though. I bought a camo gun because I thought it looked cool and would hold up better than a black gun. Well, it looks badass, and after the first big hunt of the season this weekend, the camo fared a lot better against the limbs and grass of the duck blinds than the guys with the black gun. Something's going to scratch it. I say buy the camo, hunt with it and enjoy it, don't worry about it looking perfect forever, because it won't.

Cool. I'm also curious about what choke you were using. Also, what shot size? I went this weekend, saw a lot of ducks, shot a lot of shells, and occasionally I guess I got lucky and a duck would actually fall. This was my first time actually duck hunting and my new SBEII, also the first time I've really used it, did absolutely perfect. I just need to work on my aim, lol. Still fun though. I did shoot two boxes of 3.5's over the whole weekend, and have basically got no shoulder pain. However, a guy hunting with us was getting real tired of his 870 because it started to hurt so much.

You've gotta admit that working for Ferrari would be pretty cool, though.

How cool is it to work for Ferrari? Or is it Lamborghini? That's about all I can think of coming from Italy into the US involving a water pump.

After assembling my new SBEII LH Friday I took it out and shot it some. I had a box of 2.75", 3", and 3.5" all Federal, all No. 2 shot, and the 2.75 being 1(1/8) oz (the minimum recommended). Anyway, the 3 and 3.5's shot fine (and honestly the 3's felt like they kicked just as much as the 3.5's, whereas the 2.75's were nothing). After shooting around 5 of the larger shells, I loaded up three 2.75's, just to see if I would run into any cycling problems. Well, I did...the second round didn't cycle into the barrel correctly (although the 2nd to 3rd cycle did work). I guess I'm off to buy some turkey loads and abuse my shoulder. Here are my main questions. I took it out again to shoot today, and started off with some 3 inchers. The first shot didn't cycle correctly and left the shot casing hung between the barrel and the bolt trying to close on it. I removed it, and shot the remaining two shells. After the last shell was shot, as always, the bolt remains to the rear, which it did in this case. However, upon tipping the gun down to carry it, it sounded like something was loose inside. I looked it all over and it seemed to be fine. Then I tried to load two more 3 inchers (and as far as I can tell I am loading them correctly, by making sure the gun is cocked, and then with the bolt forward, pushing two shells in from the bottom of the gun into the magazine, and then pulling the bolt back by hand while simultaneously sticking the third shot in the chamber.) Thing is, it was extremely difficult to load the shells in the bottom of the gun. The angle they were coming in at made it hard to load them. They would load, but it took a lot of force that it didn't need to take, something's gotta be up with it. So I brought it home, took the barrel off, and removed the bolt. This is where I found my noise. If I tilt the bolt up and down, it sounds like something is sliding up and down inside of it (I haven't taken it apart, but going by the disassembly in the Benelly manual, it is probably the "bolt recoil spring. I suspect this because when I push in the "locking head", the noise disappears.). I don't remember the gun making this noise Friday, but I just might not have heard it. Is this normal? What about the tough loading situation? Any ideas? It seems as if the lever thing on the bottom just isn't tucking itself up into the gun far enough to allow for a better angle to load the shells. 2.75's load easier than the 3's and 3.5's. Thanks to all, and I apologize for writing a book on the subject, but feel that the more information I give you will result in a better answer.