Planetcat

Keep trying. My .30-06 and .300 win mag are also 1:11 twist. Ive found that the rifle is more sensitive to bullet weight than it is to brands of ammo. Federal blue box soft points seem to be a good, relatively inexpensive round to experiment with. I dont own a rifle that doesnt shoot them well. I would try them in 165 and 180 grain. Interestingly, i have a browning BAR in ..308, and it also shoots the 180 grain Federal blue box at well better than 1" at 100 yards. It has a 1:12 twist, which you would think favored lighter bullets. Maybe its a European gun thing.

Congrats on a great rifle. I dont shoot wsm, but have the R1 with .30-06 and .300 win mag barrels. Both are very accurate using a variety of factory ammo. If you dont reload, you will want to try a few different brands and bullet weights for best accuracy. Both .30 cals prefer heavier bullets, and Hornady and Federal Fusions shoot the best for me. Unfortunately, neither shoots non-lead bullets very well.

Congrats on your R1. It is a great rifle. Yeah, this is a quiet forum. As for cleaning, after general range sessions or hunts, i just swab the barrel and maybe spray some dry lube on the action. For full cleaning, you can tear the whole rifle down and spray with your favorite cleaner. In all honesty, its been about five years since I removed the barrel and thoroughly cleaned everything. Shooting clean burning ammo helps minimize the need for a deep clean, too. Mine holds zero after removing the barrel and reinstalling it too.

Hey, congrats on a fine shooting rifle. My .30-06 R1 is a tack driver. It is scoped, but I remember that the burris speed bead used to be readily available for R1's. That might fit the bill for you. However, not sure what your intended purpose is though. That would help narrow it down.

Congrats on a great rifle. I bought mine used in 2008 I think. It was heavily used and beat up. An easy strip down and thorough cleaning, and it is by far the most accurate and reliable rifle I own. With both .300 win mag and .30-06 barrels. The crio treatment on these barrels truly makes for an accurate rifle. I may pick up a.338 barrel, before they become extinct. Also, I find 180 gr. Hornady Interbond and Federal Fusions to be the most accurate. 165's are not bad, but my short 20" .30-06 barrel does not like 150's.

Since the R1 forum has poor turnout, I thought I'd ask here. Anyone know when and why Benelli stopped the Crio treatment on the R1 barrels? I'm assuming they stopped, since it's not listed in the R1 section of the website. I've always felt that the the Crio barrel in the R1 was the best feature of that rifle. I can really heat up my .30-06 and .300 win mag R1 with no change in POI. Can't say the same for the dozen other rifles I have. Thanks.

I recently bought a new BAR short trac in .308, due to the non-existent available R1's or barrels in .308, and the fact that I "needed" an all weather rifle with a coated finish and synthetic stock. Now that I've shot the BAR a fair amount, I feel the need to compare the two. They are both dedicated deer, black bear, and hog rifles that are mostly shot in thick timber under 300 yards. I've had my R1 about 10 years, and had bought it used, so I'd say it's an early model, with walnut stock. I have a .30-06 20" barrel and .300 win mag 24" barrel. Both I think have a 1:11 twist. This is my go-to rifle, and I have shot it a lot. I replaced the gas piston (due to corrosion), and the recoil assembly (wore out, FTE's) about 2 years ago. Nikon Monarch and Leupold VX-6 sit on top for good sight pictures. In short, the R1 is a much finer rifle. As you all know, the machining and craftsmanship on all aspects of it are incredibly high quality. I've hunted for days in pouring rain and poured water out of the barrel, and it cleans up like new. Very durable blued finish and walnut stocks. Also, I don't think there is a production rifle on the market that has a barrel comparable to the excellent crio-barrel. I can shoot dozens of rounds and really heat it up, with no change in POI. It eats maybe 5-6 different factory loads in 165 or 180 grain while maintaining a 1.5" group or less at 100 yards. It does hate 150 grain bullets. I have the short recoil pad on it, and it still soaks up recoil well, even in .300 WM with a wooden stock. Gas piston and recoil assembly issues aside,the R1 is a slightly better rifle all the way around (and less expensive). The BAR is a short trac synthetic model in .308 winchester. It has a 22" barrel with a 1:12 twist, with a Steiner GS3 scope on top. It is a cool looking rifle and lighter than my R1, but the fit and finish are not even close to that of the R1. More MIM parts, a little rougher action, imperfections in the plastic stock, and stupid hinged floor plate with removable box magazine. However, it is very similar to the R1 in how it shoots. Recoil in the .308 BAR is similar to that of the .30-06 in the R1. Accuracy is the same with the R1 when the right 4-5 factory loads are found. A few 180 grain rounds and a 165 grain shot the best. In reality, I want to dispel the notion that the R1 is very finicky on ammo. My R1 in both calibers will shoot a larger variety of ammo more accurately than the BAR. The BAR really shines on quick, successive shots. I know it's not an A/R and it doesn't have the ARGO system, but it feeds, fires, and ejects spent brass quickly, reliably, consistently, and comfortably. The barrel heats up after 4-5 shots, and there's a slight degradation in accuracy with the hot barrel, but nothing to get riled over. Reliability-wise, this rifle makes me confident that it will do its job in the field under a variety of harsh conditions. It does not collect powder residue all over the action and gas system like the R1 does either. And of course, you can't tear it down like the R1 for cleaning. The front stock and trigger assembly are the only two parts that are easily removable for cleaning the BAR. In summary, I wish I could have bought a new R1 in .308 with Comfortech, but they're extinct. The R1 is a slightly less expensive and better rifle. It does seem like Benelli no longer does the crio treatment on the R1 barrels, shotguns only. However, the Browning BAR is also a fine rifle. It feels more production-like, but it shoots great and reliably, and I think is a good substitute for us Benelli R1 fanboys.

I feel that the cryo treatment of the R1 barrels is one of, if not the best feature of these rifles. I've shot a lot of different large bore rifles, and none of them can be shot multiple times in succession without at least some loss in accuracy due to barrel heat. Except the R1 of course. I see that there are now companies that will cryo treat rifle barrels for customers. I might get a couple bolt actions treated to see if there's a difference.

I got lucky and found a nib .30-06 barrel for my R1 .300 WM on gunbroker about 3 years ago. They are almost impossible to find both used and new. When I bought my R1 back in '07, I was duped by the stupid marketing Benelli did with the interchangeable barrel idea. The concept, from the beginning, was prohibitive for most of us either due to cost, lack of availability, or ridiculously long wait times for orders. Not to mention you need to buy another scope or remount the scope from the other barrel onto the new one. Love the rifle, though.

If you are in the market for new ammo, in my .30-06, I would say the Hornady Interlock shoot the best in 165 grain. For some reason, the polymer tipped SST's and similar aren't as accurate in my rifle. For hunting, I shoot fusions. They are also very accurate and probably the best priced ammo for the quality on the market. I prefer a good, tough bonded bullet for deer and hogs as opposed to some of the newer designed bullets with polymer tips. All shots tend to be within 200 yards, most within 100 yards.

I believe the crappy new website is accurate. Only 3 calibers now, all long action. It seemed that rifle in .308 was very popular, but they still discontinued it, along with the short mag version. It's been this way for a while.

I don't know if the set screw has any functionality or not, but I think mine was turned out a little bit where the one in the picture looks like it's turned in all the way. I didn't remove it, just left everything the way it came. At a minimum, I would set it the same as the one in your old collector is set. It might have acted as an alignment pin, but I really can't remember. I really didn't do a lot of tinkering - I just removed the old parts and installed the new ones. Also, your concerns about stripping the torx screws is valid. They do come out, but not easily. You might want to consider soaking them in some pb blaster or other screw removal solution to help.

I don't have a chrono, so not sure if I lost any velocity; however, I did cut my barrel down a couple of inches with the brake, so my comparative numbers wouldn't be valuable anyways. If you call/email Ryan Pierce at Piercision Rifles, he is very knowledgeable and experienced custom rifle maker, so he will answer your question for you. I would not expect a significant loss of velocity on a .300 win mag, and even if you lost 50-100 fps, the gain in accuracy and reduced recoil would be well worth it.

I just installed this kit a couple of months ago on my 10 year old R1. The piston assembly comes off by removing the c-clip and unscrewing the big silver set screw under the front of the receiver. The 8 torx screws on the collector are a pain to get off, but with a good quality torx driver (get a ratcheting one or socket wrench style if you can), and a vise or someone strong to hold onto the barrel, they will come off. You can put the new on and use some red locktite on the screws. Make sure both the collector and barrel are clean where they meet, because there appear to be some gas holes under the collector. The old gas collector did not fit onto the new piston assembly, so it's an all or none deal with that kit. On a positive note, the parts appear to be hardened and chromed/polished, and supposed to resist corrosion unlike the old style one. The kit worked like a new rifle after installation.

I've been wanting to tame the recoil of my R1 .300 win mag some, so I could maintain my sight picture while shooting successive shots. I hunt big pigs and black bear in thick cover, so I wanted to turn my R1 into a brush gun for that purpose. I sent the barrel to Ryan Pierce of Piercisions Rifles in Iowa. He cut the 24" barrel down a couple of inches and installed one of his muzzle brakes for me, called the mini-mag muscle brake. He has several different ones, but given the narrow diameter of the barrel, this was the only one that he could fit properly. He did a great job, very clean and precise. The finished barrel length is 22" which works well for me now. I would have preferred about 20" like my .30-06 R1 barrel, but his equipment couldn't cut it that short and thread the end. Range report: I shot three different loads: Federal Fusions 180 gr., Hornady Interlok 165 gr., and Remington “Managed Recoil” 150 grain core-lokt. I would have to say that on average, the recoil was reduced by about 50% from the standard 24” .300 win mag R1. The Federal fusions and Hornady’s shot like my .30-06 R1, and the low recoil core-lokts shot like my kids 7mm-08. Half inch groups at 50 yards shooting off-hand, too. This is on an original R1 with walnut stock and shortest recoil pad. The muzzle brake is designed to cancel out blast and noise, and it shot very well with no more noise/blast as on a standard barrel. All in all, this is about all I could ask of a muzzle brake and it was a pleasure to shoot. Here are some pictures: [ATTACH=CONFIG]2376[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2377[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2378[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2379[/ATTACH]

I guess I'm too late for your hunt. Hopefully you got yourself a nice whitetail and will post some pics when you get back. I've found in both my R1 .300 wm and .30-06 that it likes 165 gr. bullets the best. The hornady's are all good. Fusions are fantastic (my go-to round for hunting), Federal Premium and Core-lokts. The blue box federals, several Winchester premium loads and white box, plus any eastern block ammo shoot like poo. Barnes copper TTSX shoot Ok. It also likes 180 gr. better than the 150's in the good stuff. My .300 wm barrel is very consistent with the .30-06 barrel in terms of ammo. I'm having the .300 barrel cut down to 20" and a muzzle brake put on it for a brush canon for hogs. We'll see how well it shoots when I get it back.

I've got a .30-06 barrel for my .300 win mag R1. Probably an 8-9 year old rifle, wooden stock version. I find that they both shoot around 2" groups at 100 yards for me, but I can only do so much with sand bags and a bench. Both are the same when it comes to ammo. They both shoot Federal Fusion, Hornady Interbond, core-lokts, and any of the Federal Premium bonded bullets the best. Cheaper Federal, winchester, or remington soft points and any Barnes copper shoot Ok, and all of the eastern block ammo shoot terribly. I find the crio barrel allows us to shoot multiple rounds through it where the it gets hot, but does not affect accuracy. As compared to other hunting rifles I've had, when the barrel really heats up, the accuracy suffers greatly. Doesn't seem to be the case with the crio barrel. Also, I used to re-sight in after every cleaning and removal of the barrel assembly, but after a few wasted range visits, I realized that it would still be on zero after removing and reinstalling the barrel. With the exception of feeling like I need to clean it frequently, it's been a reliable and fun to shoot rifle. I carry it on all my rifle hunts now. Additional info: most of the bullets I shoot are 165 gr. I find the 180's to not shoot as accurately as the 165's or the 150's (which I don't shoot very often). Same results for both calibers.

I'm usually on the R1 forum, since that's the only Benelli firearm I own; however, I have to say that I really don't care for the new website design. As an IT guy myself, I try to give the benefit of the doubt to the designers, but I can't find anything on this new version that's an improvement over the previous version. In fact, they removed some nice real life photos and replaced them with cheesy sketches and sterile color schemes. I realize it's in the eye of the beholder, but I find this new website disappointing and not reflective of the Italian artistic beauty that's in Benelli firearms. Like everything on the internet, just my opinion. In fact, I'll post a poll on it to see what people's opinions are.

I would check around if I were you. On gunbroker, you can get an R1 new for $999 any day of the week and less for the wooden stock versions. Shops across the country are selling them at prices much less than they were several years ago. I have a .30-06 and .300WM barrel for my R1 and like the setup a lot. It shoots .30-06 like a dream. A little finicky on commercial ammo though, but nothing to worry about. If you load your own, even better.

I don't think the rifle has been discontinued. Benelli is notorious for taking months and months to fill orders for guns, parts, etc. My local gun shop would just tell me that Benelli sends them whatever Benelli feels like and whenever they want. They would have shipments arrive many months late without any notification whatsoever containing whatever Benelli felt like putting in the order. You could call the Benelli USA help line which I think is listed somewhere on this site and talk to a real person, but they may not be able to expedite it or even give you a status. That's your only hope. After 7 months and for that amount of money, I'd cancel the order and get a BAR. I love my R1, but not that much.

I just heard that Tom Knapp, world record exhibition shooter and hunting advocate passed away a few days ago. I watched many hours of his clips on Shooting USA, Benelli's show, new Mossberg shows, etc. Seemed like a great guy and advocate of the shooting sports. Prayers to his family and close friends. A true loss to the shooting and hunting community. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23147524/tom-knapp-international-trick-shooter-from-elk-river?source=rss

I just want to report back. I finally got a chance to take apart the R1. I received my new recoil spring assembly and firing pin spring; however, as you guys predicted, the misfire had to be because of a dirty gas piston. I've only got maybe 100 rounds since I last cleaned it, but it was absolutely caked with powder residue. So much that I had to spray the piston with solvent to get it off. I've never seen it so stuck on there in the 8 years I've had the rifle. Stripped it all down and scrubbed everything really good, so it's all nice and clean now. I installed the RSA and firing pin spring while I was in there. I typically only shoot Fusions, Hornady's, or Core-lokts, but I guess the powder has to go somewhere. Anyways, I'll test fire it in the next few weeks, but I'm pretty sure this fixed the random FTF's. Thanks again for the advice. A potential hunting problem averted, and I learned a new lesson. Follow-up Report: Went to the range last week. The R1 fed rounds and shot like a dream using the usual fusions, core-lokt, and hornady ammo. I think I shot some Federal blue box soft points as well. Also, I am continually amazed at how the rifle goes back to zero after taking the barrel off and cleaning it. I always sight in after taking off the barrel and cleaning, but in the 6-7 years I've had it, it's always been back to zero on the first shot after the cleaning. Gonna kill some hogs with it in May.

Thanks Steve and Saw. I always clean my rifle after a range trip or hunt (if I shoot something); however, I haven't done a thorough scrubbing on the gas piston in a while. Also, I noticed on a recent hog hunt, that when I went to load a round from the magazine, the bolt did not lock all the way into battery (as mentioned above-good call). I've had the rifle for about 6 years, so I noticed this right away and just pushed in the bolt and continued my hunt. I didn't shoot anything, so I don't know how it would have worked. I ended up buying a new recoil spring and a new firing pin spring, just in case, but will give it a good cleaning when I remove the barrel for the new springs. I will report back with the results. Anyone have any feedback on storing the rifle with the bolt open/back or closed forward?

If you get the Warne permanent mount rings, you'll need the high rings. With my medium ones, the 44 mm objective almost touches the barrel. I have a Zeiss Conquest on my .300 Win Mag R1 barrel and it's got 44 mm objective which also almost touches the barrel. I like to shoot 165 gr. pretty much as a rule. They seem to shoot the best in both my .30-06 and .300 WM. 150's shoot Ok, and 180's for me aren't as accurate. I can get nice 1-1.5" groups with Federal Fusions. A great bonded bullet for the price. My rifle also really like the Hornady interbond and interlock. Sometimes I hunt hogs in a no-lead zone, so I'll shoot the Barnes copper. They shoot Ok, but not as good as the other two. Same for core-lokts - just ok. I almost always shoot the Fusions now. They are relatively inexpensive and shoot great. I hunt hogs, blacktail deer, and bear for the most part. The ammo that my rifle doesn't shoot well is Winchester eTip, any Eastern block surplus ammo (Golden Bear, Selier & Belot, etc), and federal blue box soft points.

I have probably 300-400 rounds through my .30-06 barrel that I found in sporting goods store in VT about 2 years ago. I suspect that it had been sitting in the shop for a few years prior, but it was new, fit great on my .300 WM and is a dream to shoot with the 20" barrel. At the range the other day, I was shooting a new box of 165 gr. core-lokts and had a couple fail to fires. This would happen on the second shot after manually loading a round (i.e. jack one in, it fires, ejects, and puts in round #2, hear a click, no fire). There were no striker marks on the round. It did this maybe three times, and those rounds fired when chambered manually, so I know they weren't duds. I then proceeded to shoot an entire box of Federal Fusions without any problems and about another 10 core lokts. Any ideas? I want to throw another thing out there, maybe related to this issue. I was always told to store semi-auto rifles and shotguns with the chamber open and locked back. Something about keeping the springs compressed. I do this with my R1. How do you guys store your R1 - bolt open or closed? Any comments on storing it like this? Thanks in advance.