joe117

I don't get plastic in the barrel of my SBEII or my UltraLight. But the cryo chokes of both guns get plastic buildup. I use a bronze bore brush in an electric drill to clean the chokes. I use nothing more than a bore snake to clean the barrels. The chambers do build up a little crud around the forcing cone area. I do give that some hand action with one of those Hoppes Tornado brushes.

Take a 12ga bronze bore brush and put it in an electric drill. Hold the choke in your hand and stick the brush inside. That's the only good way I've found to clean plastic out of the choke. I know you say it's metal plating that's coming off but at least try this method. I was fooled by the plastic. I thought it was plating coming off. At least give it a try.

Does anyone know what the thread chaser/cleaner tool is for. I got the tool with one of my Benelli guns. Is it something you would want to use all the time to clean the threads? I wonder if it for chasing damaged threads? I really don't know. Anyone know what Benelli says?

I've had mine for months. I must have gotten one of the first. I really like it. Everyone who sees it really likes it. I'ts going to be my dove gun from now on.

You will like it. I've had mine for two months. Bought it from a big gunstore in Virginia, Greentop near Richmond. I ordered it and bought sight unseen. I've used it for trap and backyard clays. The recoil is nothing with target loads. I shot a few pheasant loads and it does kick a little more with those. No big deal though. It's a nice small, slim, light weight gun. My 13 year old nephew liked it so much that I didn't get to shoot clays with it at all during the week he was here visiting on spring break. You will like the Ultra Light.

"I can usually get within 30 feet of most deer" What do you do, sneak up on them? Where I live, you need to keep real still and hope that a deer walks by. A scope isn't required, but have one on my 1100 and I wouldn't hunt without it.

I've got an UltraLight. I've had it a month now. I really like it. I've shot about 200 rounds of cheap WasMart "Sport Loads" at clays, and a handfull of field loads that I would hunt with just to see waht they felt like. With the clay loads there is no recoil that anyone would notice. The field loads give you some recoil but no more than my Franchi Alcione Titanium O/U. I'm thinking that your Ruger Gold SXS will feel about the same as the UL in recoil. And by the way, I really want to get a Ruger Gold SXS. It is a very cool shotgun. I don't think this is going to be the gun for 3" magnums. But who needs that for upland birds? The recoil pad is made of some kind of soft translucent plastic. It isn't the same material as my SBEII but it is molded the same way, for a right hand shooter. On a bad note... The lower tip of my butt pad broke off. Benelli CS says thay will replace it. The gun is so new that they don't have any spares. They said they would pull one off a new gun. I said I would contact them again in a month or so when they did have spares. It's not a big deal, I can use the gun just fine. There is a picture I posted of the pad on another thread. If you like a light shotgun, you will like this one. The short barrel makes it quick to point. It handles and looks like a slim 20ga auto. Go buy one.

With the same sort of loading, the SBEII will kick harder than a 10ga gas operated gun. If you start adding weight such as one of those mercury recoil reducers, you will reduce recoil. I wouldn't do that. If the recoil is a big deal to you, get one of those pads to go on your shoulder. And keep in mind, most hunters wear heavy jackets and such. And the really heavy loads don't get used for very many shots anyway. The SBEII with heavy loads is never going to be a light recoil gun. The gun is light and the action system doesn't do much to reduce recoil.

Mine is not drilled either. But if it were drilled, the holes would be centered.

I have a feeling that they will be able to send me a replacement when they do get some in stock. I'm not in a hurry, there's no need for them to pull one off another gun just to replace mine right away. She also mentioned that there were aftermarket pads available for the Ultra Light. I don't see how that can be true. The gun just came out. I didn't even know that there were replacement pads for the SBEII. I have dealt with Benelli CS one other time. The pad on my SBEII was falling off. It wouldn't stay in place. I was afraid it would come off and get lost. They did send me a new one that solved the problem. The soft plastic pad on the SBEII isn't the same kind of material as the soft pad on the Ultra Light.

I just talked to a very nice lady from Benelli CS on the phone. I asked about the butt pad on my new Ultra Light 12ga. The bottom corner broke off. She said that they might be able to send me a new pad. But the gun was so new that they might not have a new pad. She will check on that and call me back tomorrow. She said if they don't have one in stock, then I will have to send the gun back. They will then take the pad off another gun and send it back to me. I said, why not just send me the pad from another gun if you don't have the pads in stock. She said that if they need to pull a pad off another gun, they need to have my gun first. And it will take about three weeks. See? That makes sense doesn't it? I hope they have a pad in stock so I don't have to send them my brand new gun for a major pad replacement.

I just got off the phone with Benelli CS asking about my center bead offset. The nice lady said that it is supposed to be centered. She said I could send the barrel back. I told her that it wasn't that big a deal and that I wouldn't be sending it back. I just wanted to know if it was offset as some kind of adjustment. Again, she said no, it is supposed to be centered. So then I asked about the butt pad on my new Ultra Light 12ga. The bottom corner broke off. She said that they might be able to send me a new pad. But the gun was so new that they might not have a new pad. She will check on that and call me back tomorrow. She said if they don't have one in stock, then I will have to send the gun back. They will then take the pad off another gun and send it back to me. I said, why not just send me the pad from another gun if you don't have the pads in stock. She said that if they need to pull a pad off another gun, they need to have my gun first. And it will take about three weeks. See? That makes sense doesn't it? I hope they have a pad in stock so I don't have to send them my brand new gun for a major pad replacement.

How's that cool aid?

I am being honest about it not being a big deal. I really don't plan to send the barrel back, even if CS says I can do it. It's not a big deal.....Really. This whole flap started not because I had a question about the bead or that it was a big deal to me. I posted this question about the bead thinking that someone would say that it was a factory adjustment of some kind. I wasn't looking for an answer from CS through this forum. I emailed them before I brought it up here. But the first thing I got was a bunch of nonsense about me being a "nitpicker". The SBEII was the first Benelli for me, I just bought another, the Ultra Light 12ga. I bought the Ultra Light sight unseen. I never held one till I went to pick it up. I like Benelli. I own a Franchi Titanium and a Beretta AL391 in 20ga too. I like these guns. I'm a good customer. Asking a question about something like this bead shouldn't receive the load of nonsense that I received from some on here.

"How did I ever kill anything with that big ol' Raybar orange blob on my Ithaca 37's How 'bout that marsh-malo thing that comes on most Brownings It is a frickin' mirackle I ever kilt anything before joe117 rode in to save the day!" What are you talking about Mudhen? What has me pointing out that the mid bead is off center on my gun got to do with "marsh-malo" things? "Save the day"? That doesn't even make sense. You really think that what I posted about the mid bead being off center should not have been said? I wouldn't care if the gun came without a mid bead. I don't know why it has one. But since they decided to put one on there, I would have thought that it would be centered close enough so that people wouldn't look at it and ask why it's off to the right. I'll tell you what, if you think that I'm being unreasonable to point this out, you have been drinking the cool aid.

Here's what I said. Take a look at what was said and see if this isn't a fair report of what folks on this site told me *************** So I went to the Benelli site, got on their forum asking about my off center mid bead. I had five or six guys tell me that I was "nitpicking". No one over there seems to think that the bead being off center is any problem at all. Know how the B guns get beat up on this site? Someone's always got something bad to say? Well, over on the Benelli site it looks like they all drank the cool aid. One guy photoshopped some equal length lines on the picture I posted showing a close up of the bead. It's easy to see from those lines that the bead is offset by half the width of the bead. Not just a couple of thou, it's obviously offset and anyone can see it. And those guys all seem to think that's just fine. What's in that cool aid anyway?

It does look like a mouse chew doesn't it? Actually, the piece that is missing was hanging by a thin piece. I pulled it off leaving what is in the picture. It just looked to me like there was a fault line in the molding process. I will call them tomorrow. [ 03-19-2006, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: joe117 ]

First, I seem to have two of these threads going at one time. I couldn't find the first one when I looked for it, so I did it again. The recoil isn't really anything to speak of. At least with field loads like one would use on doves, quail or pheasants. I was shooting cheap WallMart Gun Club #8 at clays today. The recoil was really nothing. I have fired a handfull of field hunting loads just to see what they do. They kick a little of course, but no big deal. I don't use 3" for upland. I believe a heavy 3" load would not be the choice for this gun. The gun is so light that it feels like the gun case is empty! I really like it and so does everyone who sees it. I've had it almost a month.

This is a picture of the butt pad on my new Benelli Ultra Light. I have no idea how this piece of the soft plastic butt pad could have broken off. I'm the only one who has handled the gun and I only shot it one time before today. I do like the six pound 12ga very much. I'm sure they will send me a replacement.

I bought one of the new Benelli Ultra Light shotguns. I've had it almost a month. I took it out to shoot a few clays today. This is the second time I've used it. The butt pad is made of a translucent soft plastic. I noticed today, before I started shooting, that the bottom point of the pad was split and hanging by a little strip of the plastic. The gun has been sitting in my cabinet for almost a month. I have no idea how this little 1/2" piece came to be broken off. I don't look at it as a big deal and I expect them to send me a replacement. They did send me a replacement pad for mu SBEII. The first one wouldn't stay in place. Anyway, I do like this new six pound 12ga. All my pals want one now.

I sent them an email asking about it. I hope to get an answer back saying that the mid bead is mounted in order to line up with the bore. That would be nice, wouldn't it? And as of today I have another thing to talk to them about. I'll post that thread right now.

"I wonder if it’s possible that the manufacturer tests each gun individually, and the bead placement on your shotgun is on the right place even if it looks off the center? " Actually, I was wondering about that myself. In fact that's why I came on this site asking about the bead being off center. "two beads are too close to each other to rely on their accuracy. Maybe it’s easier to aim this way, but further distance between two points provides more accuracy." The closer the beads are together, the more error will be caused by the offset, should someone line up the two beads in aiming the gun. The only reason for having two beads would be to make it easier to line up the gun on a fixed target like a deer or a turkey. The SBEII is a fairly expensive gun and I'm a little surprised that you folks consider this obvious fault to be nothing worth talking about. Let me ask you this, Are you proud of your SBEII? If you show it to your buddy and he notices the center bead is off center, will you tell him that it doesn't matter? What will you say when he asks if this is an example of Benelli attention to detail? It's a sight on the gun.... A sight...And it's mounted off center. Anyone who looks close will notice it. And you all say that this is just fine with you? And pointing it out is nitpicking?

tucker301, I said, "I don't use the center bead or pay much attention to the front bead when I'm shooting. I just wondered why the mid bead is not centered." And, "I don't have any plans to send mine back and, like I said, I don't use the center bead at all when wing shooting." I don't understand why you say I'm "nitpicking". The bead is obviously off center. I don't shoot deer or turkeys with the gun, so as I said, it doesn't bother me and I have no plans to send it back. But if you think that the bead being off center is not going to be important to some shooters, you just don't know what you are talking about. Can you figure out how far off POA the POI would be if I were to shoot a slug at 40 yards using the center and front bead to line up the gun? I'll figure it out for you if you cant. It's not a cosmetic problem. Your attitude seems strange to me. Why would you minimize the obvious fault and give me two posts accusing me of nitpicking? I suspect that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Here's a picture of my off center mid bead. Top of picture is right side of gun.

I think you might just be, shall we say, pulling my bolt handle. I don't have any plans to send mine back and, like I said, I don't use the center bead at all when wing shooting. But it is odd that the bead wouldn't be centered. I'm thinking that the hole isn't drilled by some guy with a hand drill. How could it be off center? There must be dozens of other holes in the gun that need to be exactly where they are supposed to be. I'm sure they are right or the gun wouldn't work.