I have been very dissatisfied and disappointed with my Benelli left hand SB3 I bought it December 2020, my gun shop had just received it in. I had ordered it special being left handed, I took it out the following day that I bought it and was missing ducks left and right. I was very frustrated and thought it was my shooting. My buddy who had a old Rem 870 had almost limited out asked to swap guns with me for his last duck of his 7 duck limit. Mind you I had not killed a duck yet. As far as hunting goes, It was awesome day of late season Idaho duck hunting on the snake River with lots of birds working the river. We didn’t have to wait long for more birds to come in. On next flock of ducks that sailed right into our spread wings cupped like they had been all morning, I ended up with a double with the 870 and my did the missing with 3 shot out of my Benelli. Our dog had just retrieved my two birds and we barely had time to reload our guns when another small flock of mallards came diving into our spread. Same results, I had two ducks down in the water and my buddy, missed again with all three shots. He asked for his 870 back and we didn’t have to wait long and he killed his last duck, and I missed again with all three shots. At that point we both knew it wasn’t our shooting that was the problem but the gun. I then decided to shoot at a small piece of ice floating by about the size of a clay pigeon 20 yards out to see where the heck the gun was shooting. To say we were both shocked when the pattern hit way above the piece of ice. I ended up finishing off my limit of birds with his 870. And was angry and determined to figure out why my new SB3 shoot so high. Now a year and a half later I still own the gun, it’s been sent into Benelli twice, I have all the right shims on it and even have a high viz sight on the end of the barrel as well as bought different chokes for it. And guess what it still shoots super high. I had hopes of Turkey hunting with it but no way is that possible. We even tried to pattern it from a rifle rest to take all human error out of it. With shooting from a rifle rest at the range it’s shoots/patterns 100/0 high at 22 yards. That’s ridiculous and not acceptable imo. I have not sold the gun or traded it off, I am a gun collector, and I own most of the waterfowl shotguns on the market. This year my Browning Maxxis 2 and Beretta A400 will be traded back and forth on my waterfowl hunts. Both of them shoot a near perfect, 60/40 pattern. So if looking to get a new shotgun, I can get behind and support most of them on the market today, but not Benelli, I would caution anyone that wants to buy a Benelli, and that’s a shame for such a prestigious gun manufacturer.
Jason Liebe
Blackfoot, Idaho
