gowanie

Well, it's been 4 days straight for which I have contacted Benelli and I have yet to talk to anyone. I keep getting "due to unusal call volume" and they ask me to leave a message (that's never returned). Slowly but surely getting very disappointed with Benelli.

Both of my SBE's were purchased new in 1997 and yes the barrel that just broke was the orginal (I hadn't used the replacement barrel I received from Benelli with the first broken weld). Additionally, I think you may be on to something with the mag cap as it seems that I was continuously resnugging it. Thanks for the insight on the history of this. I have also been a big advocate of Benelli, but admittingly this was making me a bit nervous.

I own two Benelli SBE's...one is used for waterfowling and the other deer hunting (for which I purchased the Benelli slug barrel). Two years ago when shooting at a pair of ducks, my barrel came flying off and fell into the water. What happened was the barrel ring weld (the only weld) that holds the barrel on broke. I immediately contacted Benelli for which they replaced the barrel no questions asked. From here I put the new barrel aside and used the orginal one that came with SBE that I'm now using for deer hunting. Well, this past weekend we were layout shooting in 20' of water on Lake Huron and as I shot at a flock of Redheads...splash, there goes my barrel. Now, there's no retrieving this barrel as it sits 20' down in 40 degree water. I'm calling Benelli today but am concerned since I have no barrel to send them that they may not help me (altough I have the barrel ring). Additionally, I lost my IC Choke and my new Tom Knapp sight. Now I wondering is this a known flaw or what? Not only is this a inconvience but also a safety issue. I searched the web and apparently I'm not the only one who has probelms with this. I will post my results with Benelli Customer Service....