Actually, I believe Beretta is the parent company for Benelli, Stoeger and Franchi.

I purchased a Franchi I-12 back in August. My previous (and first) shotgun was a Remington 870 Express that I bought about 4 years ago when my son and I started hunting. I wanted an all-around shotgun better suited for hunting and shooting clays at my gun club. I ended up with an I-12 because I liked the inertia action and was not going to pay $1000+ to get it. Basically the I-12 is a Benelli without the crio-treated barrels and some of the "bells and whistles" that you get for that $1000+.

Anyway, I've got about 300-400 rounds through it so far and am completely happy with it. It's a breeze to clean and has functioned flawlessly so far, even with some (non-recommended) 1oz target loads (English Gamebore, 28gr). I think the gel inserts in the I-12's recoil pad work very well and after shooting 1/2 of my 100 targets on a clays course with 1 1/8oz loads, my shoulder wasn't sore or bruised the next day.