bigcountry

I like to say I got the best. Sometimes. I like to feel, that there's no reason to covet for something else or feel dissatisfied with my purchase. Don't everyone?

oldelkhunter

What in your opinion makes it the best?

bigcountry

Well, I am still partial to browning golds.Golds is great quality, feels great, shoots very fast. I can pound off 3 shots like crazy with a gold. The 1187 wasn't near as smooth. The action was rougher, and seemed to need a recoil spring that could brake a mans finger. Of course wood on an 1187 is not the greatest. I was raised on Auto-5's and kinda partial to them and browning belgiums. Also as a serious waterfowler the speed feed of the gold is very desirable. It is the little things that matter to me as I know the same for you.

But I do have one friend who doesn't take good care of his 10ga gold or any of his guns, that had jammings with his 10ga gold. But hasn't with his bennelli. He's hardcare duck hunter as it gets. I bet he spends 30-40 days on the water duck/goose hunting. And who knows how many shots he pounds out. And usually never cleans his gun believe it or not until after the season. He is the defintition of torture tests for guns. So his blued guns are pitted. But he could care less.He hunts the same bay water I do and it doens't get much more brutal than our hunting due to the salt 5F to 30F temps, and 2ft waves in a jon boat. I myself clean my guns ever trip. Never been an issue for me.

I have taken a bennellis apart and like the smooth feeling of the action and lug and parts in general. You know as well as I do OEH, when you put something in your hands and you feel like this is nice.I don't like the recoil of the inertia action compared to gas. Gas beats it every time.

oldelkhunter

I am impressed by the way they build their guns. It's about the most automated plant I have ever seen for any product anywhere. They do a lot of hand fitting though when subassemblies are put together. The italians are getting quite good at CNC and hand assembly and getting the best of both worlds in a finished products. They feel great in my hands and shoot even better..tough combo to beat.

Worc

The Browning Gold 10 is a whole different gun than the Gold 12 and 20 gauges. Parts between the 10 and 12/20 are not very similar at all.

Benelli's have a combination of machined and stamped parts like most other current semi auto's. The new models now even have plastic trigger groups. Quality wise the Benelli'sare not on the same on the same planet as the Browning Auto-5, but then again no semi auto shotgun is. The Benelli line of semi auto's is quite nice, but so is Beretta's and Brownings.

Gundigest

I have played with a lot of shotguns and as far as I am concerned there is no smoother bolt operation than the Benelli's. I have an SBE II with comfortech and I have shot 2 3/4" light low brass loads up to slugs and 3 1/2" Hevi-shot and Impact loads and never once has it jamed or failed to function. I can go from 3" steel the first shot to a 3 1/2" hevi-shot the second and the bolt still goes back far enough to chamber the longer shell. If I had to do it over again I would get the same gun. My father and a friend have them also and their guns have never failed them either.

uplandlodge

Benelli use to say "Performance worth the Price". Got a hat that says so to!.

I have just completed my 5th hunting season shooting my SBE 11. After the first season, I had to send it back for some service work. I encountered two problems. First the bolt would not always move all the way forward, and not seat itself properly. As a result, it would not fire. They fixed that problem. What they did - I don't know. The second problem persists to this day. If you do not have the gun securely snugged to your shoulder, it will not cycle properly. The spent casing will get caught in the ejection port. This seems to happen mostly when shooting passing shots nearly straight overhead, where sometime the gun may slip off my shoulder. My speculation is that for the inertia driven recoil mechanism to function properly, it must have (X) amount of resistance to cycle the round. Other than that I like the shotgun. I continue to use it primarly, because I like the weight and the way it handles. And I paid a bucket of money for it, so I feel obligated to use it. Sorry Benelli, but I have inadvertenly steered several prospective buyers to other guns. OBTW, Federal's Blackcloud shotshells will cause that gun to jam in as few as 10-15 rounds. That is one dirty shotshell.

Lastly, the recoil pad is prone to being knocked off. Solution - glue it on. Or, purchase the smaller recoild pad. But that costs more than my first shot gun at $129.00.

In all fairness to Benelli, I believe it is a superbly engineered gun - maybe too finely engineered. I hunt in some demanding places which may exceed the engineering specifications. If Benelli were to offer me my money back - I would probably decline. It has it quirks, but I know what they are!

vabyrd

Holy Resurrected threads Batman...

Hopefully whichever one he bought got traded in on a Beretta 391.

rem1187

11-87 ALL THE WAY!!!!! i hav an 11-87 and im 12 the weight doesnt bother me at all. carry it through the woods and fields all day long and dont get sore. im net a big fan of the benneli's because they are a little to fancy for my taste. my 11-87 is beastly goth the sportsman supermag in mossyoak breakup

BOWHUNTERCOP

I'm not sure if one is better then the other, and I'm not sure if I can justified the differance in price. When I was in the market for a semi-auto years ago (deer hunting only) I couldn't afford the Benelli, so I went to the 11-87, the only issue I had with it was the rubber O ring, I replaced it and it has served me well. Shot placement is key. I'm in the hunt for a 20ga 1100 with a slug barrel.

The choice is yours and only yours, shoulder both at the same time and see which one fits you better