Sport II

[Geno]

I'm thinking of retiring my M1-90 12 Gauge to a back-up gun and buying the Sport 11 [if I can find a dealer with 1 in stock] for hunting and sporting clays/trap shooting since I've heard the Supersport won't be on the market this year. I've only fired the Sport 11 one time at the DU Great Outdoors Festival in Wi. last summer and really liked it but don't know anyone that has one. I'm looking for comments good or bad on it's performance, feel, reliability, 28 inch vs 30 inch barrel, etc. Thanks from Packer Country!

[Pull]

Geno saw a sport II today at Gander Mountain in Novi MI. I am holding out for the Supersport. Benelli emailed me the other day and said check your dealer in 40 days for the Supersport.

 

[ 06-09-2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Pull ]

[shell waster]

I would go with the 28" barrel purely from an easier to handle angle. You won't lose any pellet energy and I just find 30" guns cumbersome.

[DUKFVR]

I have had a Sport II for a little over a year now & love the gun. I have shot over 4000 or so rounds thru it. It is my main clays gun & I do some dove & duck hunting with it. I would recommend the 30 in. barrel if you are a bigger person. The gun is light & the 30" seems to smooth the swing out for me. I am 5' 8" & 160 lbs. The operation has been flawless on this gun. I can shoot 7/8 oz to 3 in shells & no problems. Let me know if I can help you out any more.

[Geno]

Thanks to the 3 of you for responding. I prefer to workl with a local dealer for service purposes and as far as I know, there is not a Sport II within 100 miles of here right now-and we have no shortage of Gander Mountains-Scheels-and privately owned gunshops in this area. All are on back-order. When I got the bug to get one, the Benelli dealer I prefer said about 60 days. When I called about 10 days ago, they said another 45 days. I just want to pick up both lengths and see which one feels the best. By the way, doesn't the Supersport look almost too space aged? My M1-90 is synthetic and I purchased it that way for a purpose[ glare-dings, etc.] but don't you think a real shotgun should be of wood and metal-at least for looks! I like the idea of the new recoil system because Benelli's do carry a bit more jolt-would like to see it in the Sport II. Incidently, I did e-mail Tom Knapp a month or so ago to get his opinion, didn't think I had a chance of him responding, but he did e-mail me back his opinion [favorable] within 24 hours-I was impressed!

[Geno]

Just to let you know I purchased the Sport II yesterday at Scheels Sports in Appleton, Wi. as 3 were shipped the day before. I traded my beloved M1-90 after shooting 23/25 at 21 yard line the night before in trap league so gave it a decent send-off. I bought the 30 inch model and off course as is always the case in assembling it at home put a nick in the receiver plate because I didn't read the instructions and it assembles differently than my former Benelli. My fault! I had to fire it so went to a local sporting clays range last night and ran 44/50 on an Intermediate/Difficult course and had no malfunctions, jammed shells or any problems. It shot were I was looking except for the 6 operator errors. It didn't have any of the "problems" we have seen in the forum about the new SBE-no safety problems, no chips in the barrel, all chokes, wrench, oil, manuals were included. It has decent wood and feels well balanced and smooth. The only so-called problems are that the 30 inch didn't fit in my normal soft case which I didn't even think about [it comes in a break-down case from the Dealer] and no shell catcher available for trap shooting. I think I have a keeper.