Joross

Hopefully I don' t start anything. I am looking for a comparison of the Xtrema and the super black eagle. I am trying to decide on a 3.5" to replace my franchi 612. Any help or ideas. Thanks,HH

Handles

Between my dad and I we have three 391Urika' s and love them. Sweetest shooting autoloader that I' ve ever shot. Geese, ducks, and Pheasant. No problems with jamming on 2 3/4 or 3 inch shells. I haven' t tried the Xtrema. I' m going to guess that a main difference between the two is recoil as the Beneli isn' t gas operated. One item that you may or may not know is that Berreta is the parent company for Beneli and they make all of the beneli barrels. I' m not sure if this helps or not.

Danny45

It' s a matter of preference. If you' re the type of person who loves disassembling a firearm and making sure it' s meticulously clean, and recoil bothers you, you could go with the Beretta. If you' re like alot of us and hate cleaning the things, and recoil doesn' t bother you, I' d go with the Benelli.

Gas operated actions reduce the felt recoil more than inertia systems do. But they can malfunction if not kept clean. Also, I' m not sure the Beretta is offered in Camo or not. The Benelli can be had in a couple of different camo patterns.

I have a SBE and love it. It shoulders better then my Franchi o/u does. It does have more felt recoil, but it' s manageable.

Either way, you' re looking at two of the best semi-autos on the market.

oldelkhunter

What is the difference...Beretta owns them both... Like Danny said inertia vs gas system...I would rather have inertia since it is less maintenance... Both great shotguns

mathewsconquest

For me that would be like making a choice between two sons. They are both fantastic semi-auto. Most of my collection is now either Benelli or Beretta. Handles makes a great point about cleaning. The Beretta will need more attention. I personally like cleaning my firearms but not after everytime I use one. That is why I got rid of my Browning Gold Hunter as a duck gun. A little dampness or mud and that baby was useless for a second shot.

Good luck, you can' t go wrong either way.

Mathewsconquest

Handles

Danny 45 mentioned the cleaning issue, not me. Just for S&G' s one of the guys at our trap club wanted to see how long his 391 would go without cleaning before having a problem. He shot over 5000 rounds before jamming. At about 4000 it started to get a little sluggish on jacking in the next shell. I doubt that any hunter would shoot that many rounds in a season, much less without cleaning it. I wouldn' t say that cleaning it is much of an issue. After duck or goose hunting we always run a boresnake through it, take off the fore arm and run a lightly oiled rag over everything. 3 years and no problems yet. If you are in the middle of a sand storm, well that might be another issue. Have fun with either gun.

Danny45

Handles,

I' ve seen guys that don' t shoot very many rounds and had their Brownings and Remingtons actions slow to a stop on the sporting clays range. No telling when the last time they cleaned them was, but running a bore snake thru it won' t clean the gas ports and action they way they should be. Another problem is people tend to use too much oil on their firearms and that collects dust and can really gunk up a gas system. Granted, most people will not have any problems with their guns as long as they' re cleaned occasionally. I too have seen what a damp duck blind will do to these guns. And most hunters don' t have a cleaning kit with them to get back to shooting immediately.

I' m not bashing the Beretta, or Brownings or Remingtons for that matter. I' m just saying that they need more care than the Benelli.

Handles

I agree with you totally Danny45. The gas-op autoloaders will need more maintanance than the Benelli. 11-87' s, and Browning Golds (In my opinion,not a good gun) also seem to need much more care than a good old Rem 1100 (thats why they don' t make the 11-87 for trap anymore and went back to the 1100), and of course the Beretta. I also agree that the boresnake isn' t all you need to do. I mentioned taking off the forearm and wiping the area with a " lightly oiled" rag. For in the field cleaning, unless it is an extreme situation, that should be all that is needed, and it should be done to every gun, gas-op or not. I guess my best advise to a person worried about the berretta not performing because they don' t want to clean it once in awhile is to ignore the whole autoloader idea and get a 870 Express. Beat it, bash it, submerge it in a duck pond, and when it stops working either take the whole thing apart and clean it or throw it away and buy a new one.

maytom

I handled both of them at a local gun shop and don' t like the feel and fit of either of them!! I then picked up a Browning Gold and that was the one I liked best!!

hunt127588

Seeing all this talk of Beretta vs. Benelli makes me wonder...WHO the heck can afford a $1400 shotgun!? I can' t see paying that much for a shotgun. I' ll keep my measly 11-87.