Gun Test - Benelli SuperSport

1 BENELLISUPERSPORT18 CLAYSHOOTINGUSAGUNTESTCLAYSHOOTINGUSA 19 GUNTESTA esthetically it certainly hasa big wow factor. Whenyou pop open the case, thefirst thing that strikes your eye isthe simulated carbon fiber stockwith the eleven chevrons marchingdown the stock from the rear of thesoft comb insert to near the gripcap. The attractive minimallyembellished brushed silverreceiver stands out from the blackstock and dark blue/black receivertop like a Dallas Cowboycheerleader at an ugly contest. The Super Sport s neo-modernistic appearance may notplease ever yone, but I like itdespite my affection for a nicelymarbled piece of walnut. This is,after all, the twenty first centur yand the Benelli SuperSport isdefinitely a twenty first centur yshotgun. How a target gun shoots,not how it looks, is the mostimportant factor.

2 I found that theBenelli SuperSport shoots ver y IMPRESSIONSWhen I unscrewed the fore-endnut and removed the fore-end toassemble the Benelli there were noO-rings, plastic or metal washers,gas ports, metal rings, cup shapeddoodads or any parts of any kindsurrounding or attached to themagazine tube. An inertia operatedsystem does not need any of thatstuff to operate. While recoiloperating systems are not new tofirearms, the Benelli inertia systemwith a rotating bolt is unique for anautomatic shotgun. The only othershotgun currently beingmanufactured with a rotating bolt,that I am aware of, is a operated shotguns rely onbleed-off pressure generated bythe burning gases that propel theshot charge down the barrel tocycle the action. This is at the sametime a plus and a minus. The plusis that it reduces recoil.

3 The minusis that they can be difficult to keepTHE LATEST VERSION OF THEBENELLI SPORTING CLAYSSHOTGUN, THE SuperSport ,HAS SO MANY UNIQUEFEATURES THAT IT IS DIFFICULTTO KNOW WHERE TO STARTSAYS TOM and maintain in optimumoperating condition. The gasesused to cycle the system carr yresidue from unburned powderthat can gum up and disable amarginally maintained gas gun inshort order. Stamped metal parts,O-rings and bolt rails need to bereplaced more often than parts ona fixed breach shotgun such as adouble barrel or pump. Most gasguns are inexpensive tomanufacture and can be purchasedat a low initial cost, a definiteadvantage for gas gunmanufacturers and shooters. The Benelli inertia recoilsystem relies on the predictableenergy of an inertia spring tooperate. The initial shortmovement of the gun rear ward ondischarge is the key element incompressing the inertia spring andcycling the entire system.

4 It is afairly simple system that is easy tomaintain with few moving parts. Infact, I counted only twelve movingparts in the entire system andthat included the bolt handle andtwo retaining pins. The Benelliengineers believe in the KISS(keep it simple stupid) school ofshotgun design. The entire receiver, boltassembly and rotating bolt headare CNC machined out of solidsteel. There is not a stamped metalpart on the entire receiverassembly or for that matter theentire shotgun. Benellicould easily haveused a piece offormed sheetmetal forthereceiver cover but did not. It looksas if it is machined out of a singlepiece of thick walled seamlesstubing. The machining is wellexecuted. The disadvantage of the Benellisystem is that it is composedentirely of precision-machinedparts and is expensive tomanufacture compared to gas-operated shotguns.

5 At a suggestedretail price of $1,600 theSuperSport approaches the cost ofan entr y level over and undertarget shotgun. But it does offerthe ease of maintenance of adouble and the advantage of muchlighter recoil than a gas gunprovides. You could say theSuperSport offers the advantage ofa gas gun lower recoil and theadvantage of a double ease ofmaintenance and reliability inone gun. A pretty good advantageover both competitive only knock against theinertia system is that it cyclesfaster than a gas operating systemand because of that does notspread recoil over as long a periodof time as a gas gun. Because ofthe shorter recoil cycle it isrumored to recoil sharper. If thereis a recoil problem with Benellishotguns and I do notthink there is itmight bebecause of gun weight. The gun Ievaluated weighed only 7lbs 5ozs,which is a tad light for acompetition shotgun.

6 ON TESTOne of the claims Benelli makes isthat their guns will functionefficiently with any shells from 3inch magnum goose loads to lightskeet loads. I had to prove this tomyself and I did. On my first outingI shot 1,350 fps 1 ounce FederalFITASC loads, Winchester 11/8ounce 1,200 fps Super Targetloads, Winchester 1,350 fpsFITASC loads, 1 ounce 1,185 fpsRemington Gun Club loads and mywimp reloads through it withoutany problem. The FITASC loadsdid thump me a bit, but they thumpme a bit with ever y shotgun I haveshot them through including myRemington 1100 and a Beretta 391I borrowed for comparison. The SuperSport stock has somany features it is difficult todecide where to start describingthem. Who would everhave believedsomeoneThe Benelli inertia recoil system relieson the predictable energy of an inertiaspring to SUPERSPORTOFFERS THEADVANTAGE OF AGAS GUN LOWERRECOIL AND THEADVANTAGE OF ADOUBLE EASE OFMAINTENANCEAND RELIABILITY IN ONE GUN.

7 APRETTY GOODADVANTAGE OVERBOTH CLAYSHOOTINGUSAGUNTEST would develop andmanufacture a stock thatactually slides and dissipatesrecoil energy? It certainly is a newand completely out of the boxconcept, but seems to work ver ywell. In order to determine howmuch the ComforTech stockreduced recoil I would haveneeded a Benelli that was notequipped with one. As I did nothave one without a ComforTechstock I could not make a side-by-side comparison. It would havebeen interesting to do that, butalas I could not. I perceived noirregular stock movement when Ishot the SuperSport despite thefact that I knew it did move. I wascompletely unaware of anymovement at all. I was on thesecond bird as fast or even fasterthan I usually am, but that couldhave been because theSuperSport is ver y lively andsweet swinging gun to shoot.

8 The checkering wrappedaround the entire grip. I was notsure if I would like it at first, butafter using it for a while I grew tolike it ver y much. It is a minor, butnice little touch that other firearmmanufacturers might be wise toemulate. The grip has a fairly shortradius and is designed withcompetition in mind. The radius isnot overdone in the manner sometrap guns are. The grip is generouswithout making it uncomfortablefor shooters with small hands. Itshould accommodate mostshooters quite well. It did not take me long toappreciate the ergonomic gel filledrecoil pad. It snaps on and off thestock easily and is available in leftand right hand configurations andtwo lengths of pull. The standardpad, supplied with the gun, has a143/8inch length of pull and theonly optional pad has a 14 inchlength of pull. The only downsideto the other wise well designed padis that is only available in twolengths of pull.

9 The ergonomicallyshaped butt pad fits comfortablyand snugly into the shoulderpocket, a welcome aid in mountingthe gun consistently in the samemanner. The easily removable recoil padmakes it convenient to access theinner workings of the butt stock toadjust drop, cast on or cast are several shims and twosteel plates that allow a variety ofadjustments to the stock. Thestock may not adjust with absoluteperfection for all shooters, butshould easily accommodate thevast majority of them. I added a bitmore cast off and adjusted thecomb a tad higher with littletrouble. The fore-end is shaped a bitdifferently than most shotguns, butfelt ver y comfortable in my checkering, if it can be calledthat, is molded into the syntheticstock and fore-end and nicelydone. The pseudo-checkeredsurface offered a good grip withgloves on or WORKThe barrel, like the other majorcomponents of this shotgun, hasmore attractive features than a LasVegas showgirl.

10 Most interesting isthat all Benelli shotguns havecr yogenically treated yogenic barrel treatment is notnew to shotgun barrels, but Benelliis the first shotgun manufacturerthat I know of to supplycr yogenically treated barrels on allof their shotguns. Practitioners of this sub-zeroblack art believe that hammerforging barrels leaves stresses insteel that can cause the barrel tovibrate and move unpredictablyunder force of firing. Subjectingthe barrel to 300 F changes themolecular structure of the barreland provides a more stable barrelthat vibrates more harmoniously. Cr yogenically treating shotgunbarrels has been popular with trapshooters for many years. Like trapshooters who have had thisprocess done to their trap guns, Benelli believes cr yogenicallytreated barrels have shorter shotstrings and print better and moreconsistent patterns.