sprigsss

Did you clean the gun before you shot it? I was told that the gun comes with a protective coating and if you shoot it before you clean it this coating will harden and become very sticky. The guy that sold me my gun told me he would clean my gun for me for $20 right out of the box, but if I shot a box of shells through it without cleaning it first he would charge me $100. I cleaned my gun first with gun scrubber and sprayed it down with remoil. I let it dry over night before assembling it. I broke it in duck hunting for several weekends in a row using mostly 3 1/2" shells. After cycling 5-6 boxes of 3 1/2" steel shot I began using 1 1/8 oz. dove loads and haven't had a hang up yet. The only hang ups I've had were some dud shells left over from last year and the BB's only rolled out the barrel on the opener of Teal season. I finished with 3 Teal and couldn't have easily had a limit had those shells fired. Clean it before you shoot it and shoot several boxes of 3" or 3 1/2" before shooting 2 3/4".

The store I bought my SBE from told me the camo finish was gauranteed for life. He said if it ever starts to peel off to wait until after the season (it will still shoot) and drop it off at the store and they will get it re-dipped. I thought this was a Benelli gaurantee, is it just a store backing up their product?

I know of no other gun that patterns buckshot so horribly. The steel shot patterns fine for duck hunting, but the buckshot is awful. I wonder why Benelli guns have this problem. Every other Winchester, Remington, Mossberg, and browning I've ever seen always through a decent pattern with several different buckshot loads. I can't find 1 buckshot load that will pattern decently with my Benelli. I guess I'll have to keep using my Remington for deer hunting.

I don't want to purchase another barrel for my shotgun to shoot slugs through once or twice a year. I've always hunted with buckshot in the past and have had great success. I bought a SBE two years ago and have yet to find a good choke/load combination with buckshot. I even purchased the pattern master and bought every box of buckshot I could find in 2 3/4", 3", and 3 1/2" and shot almost every possible choke/load combination. I notice that when I shoot at a paper plate, my pellets will scatter and form a circle completely around the paper plate, but none will actually hit the paper plate. Has anyone else ever had these problems with their SBE and buckshot. So far the 3" #1's pattern the best with the pattern master, but the pattern is high and to the left and is only tight enough to aim at a deer's head if he's within 20 yards. I've shot deer up to 40 yards with 2 3/4" buckshot in my Remington because in almost every load I have 3 pellets that always hit where I'm aiming and the rest spread out around the central 3 pellets. With my benelli I don't have any pellets that fly straight, they all scatter. Anyone have any good or bad results with SBE and buckshot? I would love to get some feedback so I can find the appropriate choke/load combo. I shot a bobcat two weekends ago that was only 15 yards away. I shot the first time and it ran a little ways, turned around and stared at me and I shot again. This cat was only 15 yards away, and I hit it with only 2 or 3 pellets (which is good since I want to get it mounted). [ 11-04-2004, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: sprigsss ]