I purchased my Raptor 712 in Canada last September, and thought I would post a few comments that I've had with it.
Right out of the box it would not cycle properly. Two hundred rounds later it did not break in. According to the manual it did not require the O-ring that is commonly required in gas systems, but thanks to a fellow shooter who loaned me the errant part from his Remingtom 1100, it finally shot properly.
I phoned into customer service (at Benelli USA) and they sent me the missing peice promptly, although they also read the same statement in their service manuals. "The O-ring is only required in the 912 model."
Everything shot fine for the next 500 rounds when I noticed some wear inside the receiver along the extractor channel and upper channel. I did not think this to be a problem, and expected a little wear there due to theres not a lot of metal left there to hold the shell on extraction. Fellow shooters and gunsmiths at the local club also reached the same conclusion, and said it should not be anything to worry about.
At 1000 rounds the receiver was wearing unevenly along the same places and also on the top of the receiver it was getting gouged. There was not any ejection problems at this point, however several trips to the store where I bought it and the local gunsmiths just said keep monitoring it.
Somewhere between 1100-1200 every so often it would not eject, or the ejection was shooting farther hitting the person standing to the right of me at the 16 yard line. I also noticed that every now and then the bolt would hit the back of the receiver giving it a little twang. At 1300 hundred rounds every third shell would not eject, getting jambed and crushed inside the receiver.
both the upper inside of the receiver and around the ejector had what I now call serious gouges causing the shells to get stuck in the ruts on extraction, and then crushed when the bolt went foreword. The simple reason for the failure of the receiver is a problem with the heat treatment process when the part was manufactured.
Back again to the gunstore, which called Stoeger (which now does the service in Canada) And they sent out instructions on how to re-machine the reciever (this took two weeks), which the gunstore said was beyond their capabilities, so sent the gun back to Stoeger. Another seven weeks passed and the gun was returned, untouched!
I immediatly called up the customer service manager named Peter, who after I explained all the problems said" he has never seen a receiver worn out, and if I was unhappy with the work to send the gun back. I told him that if this untouched receiver is an example of the work his company does to replace the receiver alltogether. This he refused to do, as he has never replaced a receiver in the past, would not start now, and the gun is out of production. That was the end of that conversation!
The gunstore said that they would refund my money and send the gun back themselves. We worked out a deal for another gun as Stoeger would not honor the warranty. This gun came with a three year warranty and crapped out with two years and three months remaining.
I will say someting positive about the rest of the gun. The barrel was still in perfect condition, the weather coated wood was pristine, no ring wear around the bolt head, or any wear on the gun except the receiver was not manufactured / heat treated properly. The gun never saw any high powered loads, only target loads, from winchester, remington, and fiocchi.
I don't believe that I was out of line in asking for a replacement receiver, however this experience really put me off the Franchi brand.
Trev
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