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Super Vinci 1-1/8oz Cylcing Problem


rdm5546

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I bought the Benelli Super Vinci in January, 2012. I love the gun and have shot 15 boxes of 3" shells and a box of 3.5" inch shells (all Black Cloud). The gun cycled shells perfectly for the duck and goose loads, but I would like to shoot clays to practice in the off season. 1-1/8oz loads are fine for clays.

 

The gun has gone through more than the recommended usage of four boxes of hunting loads before I attempted a 1-1/8oz skeet load. I have used it after the break in period for more than 100 skeet shots. The shells eject fine but the last shell never loads from magazine. It always gets caught above the shell lifter mechanism.

 

Since I live in California I called BenelliUSA customer support and then sent the gun in to them for warranty repair. Benelli support were sympathetic and helpful. I sent the gun via UPS ground to Benelli yesterday Feb 8, 2012. I expect it will take several weeks to get my back since the shipment will take about six days to arrive.

 

I have heard many great recommendations of Benelli guns. My results with 3" and 3-1/2" shells were fantastic. I am optimistic it is something small requiring a part replacement or adjustment. I expect that they will succeed in doing their job and make the gun compliant with their published specification which clearly states that a 1-1/8oz loads will work in this model.

 

My gun is very consistent in not working at this specific load. The failure rate is very high. It may have worked for me about 2% of time where as my friend shooting the same gun was able to get it work about 20% of the time. Of course both are horrible and not useful rates for any practical shooting.

 

Both of us are large men. We are more than six feet tall and 200lbs weight. We held the gun firmly while shooting as we read this was important for the inertial drive. We tried holding the gun many different ways as well and simply nothing improved the cycling of this load.

 

After my gun returns from repair and I do some testing I will add a second post of my results with the gun after this trip to the warranty repair department of BenelliUSA.

 

I look forward to having a gun that I can practice with on clays in the off season using the local ranges. No ranges around here allow shooter a bigger load than 1-1/8 oz for safety reasons they claim.

 

I particularly like the recoil reduction offered by this gun when using the Comfort-tech stock with the extra thick 14-7/8" Comfort-tech plus pad. For me it makes shooting the 3" shells a pleasant experience and shooting with the reduced recoil the 3-1/2" shells a practical choice for high flying geese. The gun's operation with these waterfowl loads is quite nice. I do like the gun. I just need to practice with clays.

 

This is truly a good gun for shooting the larger shells at waterfowl and the recoil reduction techniques help me enjoy the experience.

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  • 3 months later...

As promised in my earlier post describing my problem with the Benelli Super Vinci cycling shotshells I would post again to update on the results I got with my gun after sending it into Benelli for service. I remain happy with my Benelli though is clearly particular about the shells 1 1/8 oz shells it cycles reliably. In my follow discussion I will tell you what 1/8oz shells did work and what did not work for me in my gun. It seems to require in my gun more than 1 1/8 oz loads with 3 DRAM of powder but shells with a smoother finish as well. A little more than 3 DRAM of powder helps too which is not surprising. I found a few types that work and a case of each and I happy. In particular I found among the working "skeet loads" ones a steel shot load also suitable for dove hunting in lead free areas of California.

 

The local skeet ranges are handy for practice but they do not like you to use tool large of loads over 1 1/8 oz or too much powder or 3DRAM so finding a good balance between their requirements and Benelli cycling preferences. I do not do competitive trap or skeet shooting with the Benelli but it do like the Benelli two shot performance to practice prior to duck season at the skeet range. In hunting season I do like the reliable feeding of the Benelli shotguns with 3" duck shells. It is the best gun I have used for these bigger shells. My only issue has been finding good skeet shells. The following describes my search for these shells.

 

I received my Benelli Super Vinci back on March 27 after shipping it off Feb 7. It was a long wait. I did call after four weeks and the customer representative said they had about a four week back log. I live in California with out five shipping days to the east coast. My took five weeks to inspect this seems a little longer than I would expect from a high quality manufacturer like Benelli. My Canon camera lenses are repaired in two or three weeks by comparison.

 

More disappointing was that the included papers said that after being tested by RF and MB they wrote "Could not duplicate problem--Possible Ammo Issue RT. Note: Bulk ammo is not always loaded to

3 DRAM 1-1/8oz." They returned my Super Vinci with only this test that failed to reveal a problem.

 

In some sense this was good news for me. They shot some shotshells and they worked in my gun. I had not been able to do that with the two types of shot shells I tried. However, they did not tell me the

brand or type they used in their tests. That is something that many other might have thought to do. If you do a test provide the specifics.

 

I bought this gun to hunt ducks but I also want to shoot skeet with same duck gun in the off season for practice. My local rod and gun club have rules about the maximum size of shot shells that they allow. In reality anything that is low brass is ok with them but they do not want the larger hunting loads due to noise and their range has limited property boundaries.

 

The note they included inspired me to buy a larger variety of shotsholls in the skeet range from a couple of websites. The previous two types I test were local purchases and all that was available nearby. Both appeared to have the needed 3DRAM and 1-1/8 oz loads as I explained in the detailed letter I sent with the shot gun to the Benelli customer repair department. It was surprising to me that they would put a comment like they did regard "bulk ammo" in their return paperwork. I can only conclude they did not read my letter written to them very carefully.

 

I do not fault them for this is casual reading of my letter if they would only told me what type of shotshells they used in testing my gun. I regret to report that I found lackt of testing detail very disappointing.

 

I bought 15 boxes of shotshells from the web sites for about $150 to evaluate this. Most were at or above the specification of 3DRAMs and 1-1/8oz. Some were less. My test results are summarized by the three files at:

https://docs.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/0Bxe7NL_oxExlTjlmbC1sQm9FT0k

 

Specifically six types of shells that did not work and which clearly list the DRAM and load size as being with the Benelli requirement are:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxe7NL_oxExlNm5ZbEdsX2hYWlU/edit

 

Shotshells that did work and meet or exceed the Benelli Vinci specified minimum 3DRAM and 1-1/8oz load size are:

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxe7NL_oxExlUGtaWkZtWDNGYVU/edit

 

Note: that I purchased five cases of shells of the Winchester shells on page 2 of the above link that I found to work. I bought from Cabelas.com website (there was at promotion for free shipping which I participated in).These three types cost me $6.50, $7.00 and $8.50 per box.

 

These website shells I felt were affordable, but more than the non-working Winchester and Federal Walmart target shells I had problems with (despite their on-box specifications being 3 DRAM and 1-1/8oz). My problem is now solved by having these shells and learning more about the shells issue. It would have nice for Benelli to make some suggestions of skeet shells as some surprising shells I expected to work did not work.

 

I believe that in addition to shells with the requisite minimum loads the the type of coating on the shotshell bases matter. The bright silver plating on the cheapest shotshells seams to correlate with the

problem. Heavier loads than the minimum are better. I have the shells I purchases in case lots have a

1250fps rating is is more than the 3DRAM equivalent. They are 3.25DRAM or 3.5DRAM.

 

I have some Fiocchi bright silver plated base target shells with 3.5DRAM and the bright silver bases which feed pretty well but they do not feed 100% with the miss-feeds being only occasional. The brass and nickel plated base shot-shells seem to load better than the bright silver ones in my Shotgun.

 

When you are shooting shells that are near or at the lower recoil Bellini-specified boundary of 3DRAM and 1-1/8oz it is a trial error process. I am used to having to do such a trial and error process when choosing the most consistently accurate ammunition for my highly accurate big game rifles. Every riflerifle has a barrel established preference for the most accurate ammunition. The same is true the best feeding of trap loads with my Benelli SuperVinci.

 

The inertial shell feeding mechanism in the Benelli product line ofshotguns enjoy a well earned reputation for reliable feeding in duck and goose hunting with the large waterfowl shells. All of my

friends know this well. This is why I bought the gun. I has been a little bit of a surprised that Benelli does not maintain a list of preferred shells types for trap and clay shooting and they did not even tell me which shells they used to test my shotgun with no problem found!

 

I believe there a low level of misfeed problem that does occur with my shotgun with light loads that do comply to the Benelli 3DRAM and 1-1/8oz specification. I further believe that the bright silver base shells are more likely to be a problem. After testing 15 shell types I have found a few exceptions with a couple working shells types appearing bright silver and a not working shell type appearing brass colored suggesting the need for trial and error testing.

 

I hope this post helps other Benelli users and Benelli to improve their systems and product. I hold no hostility for Benelli customer service. Some of these problems could be improved but overall Benelli

produces an excellent shotgun. I am sure there are many of customers like me that love their shotgun but only seek to find solutions to this off-season clay target practice requirement. I hope my post helps. The Benelli Super Vinci is a fantastic duck gun!

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Somewhat interesting post. The date could be 1992 - 2012. Benelli hunting guns are not known to handle all trap loads. Can you imagine a list in their manual of what brands of shells might work in their guns? The list could be long. Then they would have to add a list for reloaders, telling them what reloads might or might not work in their guns.

 

To me, this is 99.99% an ammunition manufacturer's issue, with the other .01% being operator error.

 

I've only been shooting for 40 years, but in that time I can recall dozens of issues with certain shells. Few of the problems are gun related, even though tweaking a gun might help accomodate a poorly made shell.

 

Kent for example, uses soft brass in some of their ammo. For years, Kent Matrix stuck in all of my 12+- shotguns. Should I have called all the gun makers and asked them to ensure their guns worked with Kent shells? Instead, I contacted Kent, who knew about the problem, and they sent me new ammo at no charge.

 

Sometimes it is the gun, but not necessarily a defect. The Browning BPS has a slightly overbored chamber, by design, to accomdate feeding. Of course, this can lead to sticking with cheap shells. The solution is to polish the chamber a bit, and most of the sticking problems cease.

 

Hang around a gun shop or shooting range, and you will hear all of the stories. They all seem to sound the same after awhile....

 

Good luck with your SV, I have one coming next week. I'll report back after testing....

 

mudhen

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have never had any issues with my Super V having cycling issues. I've shot 3.5" Black Clouds and Winchesters, 3" Winchesters, and 11/8 oz Remington 6 shot(dove loads). I know that when I spoke with Benelli before I purchased it we talked about the lighter loads and make sure that the drams of poweder were between 3 and 3 1/4.

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