Shotgun Review During Recent Intense Duck Hunt

W

Will Beararms

New member
God blessed us with a great hunt. Five of us killed 101 Ducks of the Mallard and Wood Duck Variety in 4 days-----hunting until noon each day.

The following is an accounting of the performance levels of the hardware employed. The shells used were the Winchester Dry Lok #2 Steel Shot with a little Remington and Bizmuth mixed in. The weather stayed around 30F in the morning climbing to the upper 40's around 12:00 PM. One day it rained heavily soaking the guns as we were hunting in flooded timber with chest waders on. All rounds were 3" Magnum 12 gauge.

Benelli Super Black Eagle - (Less than a year old on one of them)Frequent jams and hang-ups. Several Ducks were missed due to this. Truly unacceptable for a $1,000 shotgun. One lost it's extractor (five yr. old gun with 5,000 rounds through it).

Benelli M90 - Hung up numerous times, brand new

Remington 11-87 SP - One Functioned flawlessly with no problems. The other lost an extractor after about four years of use.

In conclusion, I will not be investing in a Benelli after witnessing what happened on this hunt. They kick like a mule and constanly hang up. The mostly steel Rem's may be heavy but they work. Incidentally, the Remington that did lose an extractor was a guide gun and has probably had 10K shells through it. The light weight of the Benelli is nice but not worth it in my opinion.


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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."


[This message has been edited by Will Beararms (edited January 09, 2000).]
 
Dave read again buddy thats
101 total by 4 days divided by 5 guys
thats 25.2 ducks a day by 5 guys thats
5 per person if I am correct any one see a problem with my math??????????
 
This is of course an average but we are allowed six ducks per person a day--------four mallards and two wood ducks. Our primary concern is safety followed closely by obeying all laws. Then of course, fun falls after this.

We hunt in hip waders in flooded timber and getting to the hole is an adventure in an of itself. I hated lugging the Remington in but I love the low recoil and reliability.

The hunting is hard on us, our guns and the outboard motors. I know the Benelli would do just fine in a cush blind but out in amongst the water and mud is a different story. I had my heart set on getting a Super Black Eagle but after last week, that has changed.

I will also add that each shotgun was cleaned with GUN SCRUBBER and allowed to dry. Then, a coat of Benelli Oil sufficient enough to provide lubrication but not freeze up if temps dropped. These steps were taken each evening. Remington ammo is simply out of the question. The powder is very dirty and more than once over-charged shells are aloowed out of the factory.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
Will,
Thanks for the review.
I only wish I could have been there with my Browning BPS for similar testing purposes.
(I wouldn't have bothered with my Rem as it has already proven itself.)
I like to hear about guns being "wrung out" in real marathon field tests- not those pampered gun magazine halfday bluebird tests.
use 'em and learn
 
Kingcreek:

I'm a lefty and I have been sucking it up while having the right side of my face covered with burnt powder at the end of the day. I had been leaning towards the left-handed Benelli Super Black Eagle until last week.

Lord willing I am going back to the BPS, this time in the Stalker version. We don't need the 3 1/2" Magnum in the flooded timber so I'll stay with the 3". I abused a BPS five years ago wearing off all of the finish on the receiver and it never missed a beat.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
I was considering a Benelli for my wife for next year. WAS.
The 3" 20ga 11-87 sounds like a better way to go, IF it is available by then.
Thanks again for the info.
 
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