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M2 break in


K4DV

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Just purchased a new M2 and was wondering about how many shots does it usually take for the gun to become"broken in" and the action and springs get loosened up and set?

Does the recoil usually lighten up a bit after breaking it in good?

Any other suggestions on breaking one in?

Thanks

 

[ 12-12-2006, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: K4DV ]

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Most new Benellis will cycle minimum recommended loads without a hiccup right out of the box.

If yours doesn't, then step up to a heavy field load or heavy trap load for about 100 rounds.

 

The recoil will not lighten up.

It's a light gun with a recoil-based system.

There's nothing but the wieght of the gun and strength of your shoulder to slow it down.

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Good point on the recoil. I noticed it does have a pretty hefty punch,as with any 12 ga. shotgun.

I guess when you read up on them so much and believe all the hype and advertising, you expect a soft, gentle little .410......lol.

I guess I have it pegged this way.....you trade off the weight of a gas gun and get the same recoil or close. Not going to be a powder puff for sure, but I am anxious to run some 3" magnum 2 oz. loads through it and compare it to my 1187 and see what the difference is.

Love the weight and fit. Smooth action. Just hope it doesn't knock me silly with those turkey loads.

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i guarrantee when you have a turkeyin your sights you will not notice the recoil. I have a nearly new M2 slug gun. I had 1 FTR on the 4th shell. I was shooting lightfield 3" 1-1/6 ounce slugs. I have about 60 through the gun so far and that was my only glitch in operation. I had it out in 15 degree weather, no issues with slowing down. It won't shoot as soft as a gas gun....but i like the slim forearm and it is very pointable for me. give it a chance and you'll like it. I thought it felt more like a pump gun in initial targeting but put fur in the sights and i did not feel a thing.

 

[ 12-13-2006, 01:08 AM: Message edited by: toolman_556 ]

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I agree 100% on not feeling the recoil while actually hunting and shooting at game. You never notice it then for sure. I am going to run a bunch of different ammo through it this weekend and give it a good testing beside a Remington 1187 and a 1100 and compare recoil that way. The Remingtons are both heavy guns in comparison, so it will be a good test to see how the light weight and the Comfortech stock performs vs. a heavy gas gun. I will report the results.

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Tested 3 different shotguns today with the same loads and here are the results on the recoil.

Remington 1100 was the softest shooter of the lot, and that with no recoil pad.

Remington 1187 was a close second on the 1 1/8 oz. dove loads and a clear winner on the 3" 2 ounce turkey loads.

 

Benelli M2 showed a marked amount of recoil over and above either of the above guns. This is a new M2, with the Comfortech stock on it.

With the 3" 2 ounce loads the recoil was a lot more pronounced and the muzzle jump a lot more pronounced on the Benelli than on the 1187. To be honest, the Benelli knocked the crap out of me. The 1187 ain't no baby but it sure was lighter than the Benelli.

 

Needless to say, I am very disappointed with my $1000 Benelli on the recoil. Even with the 1 1/8 ounce loads, it kicked pretty darn hard. The 1100 was much softer on the kick and had half the muzzle jump of the Benelli. The 1187 was about the same as the 1100 overall, maybe a bit more kick.

I didn't shoot the 3" loads in the 1100 to compare since it is only a 2 3/4" chamber, but figure it and the 1187 would rate about the same.

 

I knew going in that a gas gun was a softer shooter, but with all the hype and advertising of the Benelli being a creampuff of a gun on recoil, I was expecting a lot less than it dishes out.

I am sure Benelli is a great, tough gun, but it sure lets you know it is there on recoil.

 

Oh well, guess it is back to the good ol' Remington 1187. I have learned my lesson(an expensive one at that). You don't always get what you pay for.

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Where did you get 870?......I have one of those too and they are killers !!!

But I know one thing, my dad was going to get him a Benelli, but after today.......he said no way.

Not trashing them, but for those not familiar with them,( like I was a week ago), don't expect it to be a little 20 gauge cream puff, because it ain't.

The infomercials are very misleading to say the least. And no, I ain't keeping it, it is going to find a new home very soon.

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I don't know why the kick even matters. I could understand if you are quite old and would like a little less pounding on the shoulder but I am 16 years old and 180 lbs and I have a benelli nova and I shoot 3-1/2 mags almost everytime I hunt, I know what a kick is. The nova IMHO kicks a lot harder then an automatic with comfortech and I don't find the kick even bothersome. It might be the fact that that feeling the kick of a big old gun is half the reason I hunt but come on, the kick can't be that bad can it????

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Only if you are shooting dove in Argentina lol, but then you would take a gas loader like the Baretta or even the Remington. For ducks geese and turkeys you just aren't shooting that many times, and for reliability you are not going to find a better gun than the M2.

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Just purchased a new M2 and was wondering about how many shots does it usually take for the gun to become"broken in" and the action and springs get loosened up and set?

Does the recoil usually lighten up a bit after breaking it in good?

Any other suggestions on breaking one in?

Thanks

 

[ 12-12-2006, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: K4DV ]

 

would u want to drive a car with loose springs,

 

there is no break in, just shoot it

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The point on the recoil that everyone is missing is this........it isn't that it is kicking so bad that I can't shoot it, the point is that Benelli leads you to believe on their advertising and infomercials that these things are amazing to shoot. Very little recoil and what recoil there is the Comfortech stock absorbs it like a sponge.

I can handle the recoil, what ticks me off is that the ONLY reason I dropped $1000 bucks on a shotgun is that I believed the advertising and wanted it based on the premise that it was a light recoil shotgun.

But when I shot it and it punched me around for a couple of boxes of dove loads and then knocked the crap out of me with a couple of turkey loads, I said time out, get the 1187 out here and lets see if it is me or not.........well, it wasn't me. I would estimate that the Benelli has 50% more recoil than the Remington, at least.

I talked to a Benelli representative and a Benelli sponsored clays shooter and told them of my test. They BOTH agreed with my results and BOTH said that the Benelli would definately have MORE recoil than the gas guns. I said, Wait a minute, Benelli says these things are a JOY to shoot, better recoil than anything out there.........they both laughed and said you can't always believe what you read. The clay shooter said that he shot around 1200 or more shots per week with a Benelli , so he knows what he is talking about on the guns recoil for sure.

I guarantee that Benelli is a great shotgun and will probably out last all of us, but I am sticking with the MUCH more comfortable to shoot Remington myself and save $300 bucks in the process too.

After my dad witnessed me shooting the Benelli, he changed his mind on getting one and is going with a gas gun, either a Franchi or Remington.

I just wanted to post these results to hopefully raise a flag, which I wished I would have seen raised before I bought mine.

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if you can handle the recoil I would stay with the Benelli, when all of the Remington shooters are fixing their guns you will still be out shooting your Benelli. I've owned an 1187, Browning Gold, and a Winchester SX2 and all of them had less recoil than the Benelli. No matter what you put on a recoil operated gun the recoil will never be less than that of a gas gun, unless you add alot of weight to the recoil operated gun, which in turn will cause the gun to not function properly. Buying something just because the manufacturer claims it is supposed to do something is simply stupid, anyone who is trying to sell their product is going to say its the best because they know there are people in the market that will just go out and buy the product and not research the claims to see if they are really true, and by the time you found out that the manufacturer lied they already have your money. If your dead set on going back to a gas gun I would suggest getting a SX2 or SX3, the SX2 that I had was a nice gun and was very reliable, but with the high volume of target shooting I do it required more maintinance to keep the inside clean and was also very heavy to carry in the field(probably not much different than the Rem auto's your used to), but I also noticed that the new SX3 is much lighter.

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I hear what you are saying K4DV the characteristics of the recoil from a Benelli are different to a gas gun such as a Beretta.

For a given load the recoil is identical in energy, this being the equal and opposite reaction to the pellets exiting in the other direction. The inertia system however delivers the "reaction" more abruptly compared to the gas cycling systems but the energy involved is the same - you can't destroy energy.

I shoot a L/H M2 and I gave it to a friend to try last weekend, he shoots R/H. He put about 10 shells through and gave me it back saying it was the most recoil he has ever felt. He has shot my O/U and my 1910 Westley-Richards S/S in the past. I don't think it is that bad but the L/H stock is set up for me. Which is why I said gun fitting does make a difference.

Most guns you can shoot straight out of the box, even if they don't fit you and they'll be OK, the Benelli semi-auto isn't one of them.

 

photopro

 

P.S. Only $1,000 ?? My M2 cost me £850 and at nearly $2=£1 that's about $1,700 !!

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Hey guys,

 

I am new here but thought I would give you my story and opinion. My wife and I grew up shooting. We got away from it and re-discovered the fun of shooting knowing that there are ranges in Southern California. We love clay shooting. The only shotgun we own is an old Parker that was my grand-dads.

 

Anyway, we have been shooting around here renting the guns and going to many different shops and shouldering all kinds of models. Although we were pushed pretty hard to get Beretta's we ended up settling on Benelli. I got myself a 12g Supersport w/ Comfortech and bought my wife a Montefeltro 20g. I had to get her stock cut and fitted for her.

 

I have read a lot about recoil and some of the negative stuff in forums and started to get worried. The only Benelli's we were able to rent were pumps. But my wife loved the way the Montefeltro looked and felt and I am a gadget guy so I bought into all the stuff I read on the Comfortech, Inertia system, ported barrel, adjustable LOP and Comb, bla, bla, bla....

 

So just so all you know my wife is 5'2 and 96lbs. When we rented the pumps she shot all day but came home with a black and blue shoulder. As you can see from what I have been reading I was getting nervous.

 

So we have been going out for about 4 weeks now and let me tell you, we LOVE these guns. Of course I closed my eyes when my wife shot hers for the first time. In her words it is the best gun she has ever shot and to her she said the recoil is better than any rental gun she has shot. I truly believe the fit is what made it this way for her. The gun fits so it is not slapping her face or shoulder. She loves it and WANTS to go shooting all the time.

 

I don't know about all you all and again I am new but the SS is a dream. Even with the heavy loads I broke it in with. I am keeping it real 2.75 dram, 7 1/2 shot, 1250 shells. It shoots as good as the video and all the marketing said it does. Again I don't have a lot of experience but this is what I have seen and felt.

 

I had e-mailed Tom Knapp (before our purchase)just to see what he would say and he said the Comfortech thing is for real along with the medical gel and comb pads and so on but he did say that my wifes gun due to the 5.4 lbs light weight that it may kick more than normal and recommended a Limbsaver pad if a vest didn't work. When I had the gun fit I put the Pachmayr sporting clay pad on it and my wife loves it plus she uses a vest. I knew buying a light gun may kick but it was a better option than an 8lb gun that after a round of Trap or clays she would complain about the weight. I let her pick the gun and the she wanted the lighter gun.

 

I am so glad we got Benelli's. Super clean, easy to maintain, good customer service (that is another story) and it is nice to know we can just load and roll.

 

CR

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I did not think the recoil was unmanageable... certainly no worse than a browning a-5. The browning I have shot the most is a 28" full choke solid rib all original belgian fromt the early 60's with a steel buttplate. If you want a soft shooter I agree gas is the way to go. I bought my m2 for a dedicated slug gun after doing the research and I wanted the 2 lug rotary bolt.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been shooting the M2 off and on and doing further comparisons and have had an about face on my first, off the cuff, rebuttle on the Benelli recoil.

I think I had my expectations WAY too high at first and was surprised at the recoil and was very discouraged on my first experience with the shotgun.

After more firing and shooting clays, I have changed my mind on this shotgun. The recoil is more than a gas gun like the 1187, but it is a different type of recoil. It does kick, but the kick isn't a painful, hurt of a kick like other shotguns. I shot the 1187 again with turkey loads, 2 ounce, and compared the two. The 1187 didn't kick as bad on the part of moving my body back but did "hurt" more on the cheek and shoulder as far as felt punch. The M2 seems to jar me more, but it is a softer, gentler punch. No pain on the cheek or shoulder.

I shot about 50 1 1/8 ounce loads at clays and absolutely LOVE the way this gun shoulders and shoots. At the end of the day, I ran 10 more 2 ounce loads through it at clays and it did kick pretty good, but didn't to the point that I couldn't hit the doubles three times in a row.

I did purchase a C&H Mercury recoil reducer that screws on in place of the forearm cap, and it does help with the recoil of the turkey loads very noticably. I shot several rounds with and without it in place, and it does work. It definately isn't needed on the 1 1/8 ounce loads, but does keep the muzzle down and soften the punch.

I regret "jumping the gun" on my original post and do retract my first opinion on the gun. For those looking for a soft recoiling gun due to injury, etc. , you probably want a gas gun and a 20 ga. at that. My dad had shoulder surgery a few years ago and can't take the kick of a gun much at all. He wouldn't shoot it when I first bought it, but did at the clays range the other day. It kicked him, but he said it didn't leave him sore or hurt like he expected. He bought a Rem. Sporting 20 last week for doves and maybe even turkeys due to his condition and it is a dream to shoot for sure, but he said he was surprised at the M2 on the way it didn't "hurt" his shoulder.

Sorry for the rash review I gave. I am now a true Benelli fan. Great gun and I can't wait to use it in the dove field and elsewhere.

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It's good to see a happy ending to this thread. Benellis like any gun take a little getting used to and the extra "kick" is more than made up for with the excellent pointability due to the lighter overall weight.

A friend of mine has just bought a Beretta Urika and we did a swap whilst shooting some clays on Christmas Eve. The weight difference is very apparent, and after shooting my Benelli he said given 20:20 hindsight he would have bought a Benelli not the Beretta - and still might !! I found the Beretta recoil has two stages, well that's how it felt, which does explain why it feels softer.

 

photopro

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