Choosing a new shotgun.

[turkey]

I own a Browning Gold 12guage 3", w/ glossy wood stock. I do a lot of turkey hunting, may get into goose hunting. I have been looking for a new 3 1/2" camo. I have been looking at the Benelli SBE and SBEII. Was convinced that I wanted the SBEII but after reading some of the posts I'm wondering if it will be problematic. Also, a dealer said that the browning would have less recoil. I had the fever for the benelli but am now wondering. Any advice?

[CKuwitzky]

Turkey,

See my post in "reconsidering" thread.

CK

[dagrizz]

I just recently purchased a new Benelli M2 Field and love it. It has the wooden stock and will handle 3 inch shells. There is just something about a nice piece of wood. I am also not a fan of the synthetics or camo options. Just my personal tastes. I also don't see a need for the 3.5 magnums. I have gotten geese in my younger years with a .410.

This gun is to replace a 30+ year old 16 guage remington 870 Wingmaster. This is for 2 reasons. The first is that according to Remmington or other gun shops, it wont handle the requirement of steel shot in some of the areas that I plan to hunt. The other reason is that 16 guage shells are some what hard to come by. I have checked with several different gun dealers in the area and even remington and a new barrel that could handle the new shot are not available.

I cannot compare the recoil to other guns but it is not uncomfortable to me.

So far I have run about about 50 boxes of Trap Load RIO shells through it with no problems. I have also gone through a couple of boxes of plain jane #4 steel shot for pheasants here. Again no problems

The one thing that I make sure of is that I only shoot loads of 1 and 1/8 ounce or greater. I have not tried lighter loads as they might or might not cycle well. The manual reccomends that load for a minimum.

I was going to originally purchase the Montefeltro but the dealer where I purchased the M2 recomended it over the monte. I will probably get a Monte 20 guage for my wife. She is getting interested in upland bird hunting as well.

So I dont think you could go wrong with any one of these Benelli's that you are considering.

[birddog]

BENELLI
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SBEII
M-2
M-1
Nova

FRANCHI
-----------
912
712
612

BERETTA
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391 Urika
391 Extrema

all good choices within the Beretta group