I sold my SBE II at a huge loss and was glad to be rid of it. Lock time you can measure with a sun dial was honestly the worst fault, will NOT run if it's held dead solid and doesn't recoil rearward enough to unlock the bolt, kicks like a pump, won't run light loads, if you shoot too fast the hammer will follow the bolt down and you have to rack the shell out to get it running, etc. Picked up a SuperX2 3.5" with what was left after taking a $450 dry bone getting rid of the SBE and it has been fantastic. It has none of the issues the SBE did. It's had 3000+ rounds of 3.5"steel through it and many many thousands of rounds shooting clay targets when I didn't want to use one of my 'nice' guns in weather. It's probably near 30K total. Picked up a Browning Gold because it had gorgeous wood and a 30" barrel and 3.5" chamber, it will NOT run dry at all, put a couple drops of oil on the bolt and carrier and it runs like a swiss watch with none of the issues the SBE had. Sold it because I wouldn't hunt with it and the associated beating it would take after only a couple thousand on it. Bought my father in law a 391 Beretta 3' and it had none of the issues the SBE did. I can name at least ten other shotguns I have had that were good to great. I have never had a shotgun in the dozens that I have owned that disappointed more than the SBE. If you like yours then that's awesome, it wasn't even marginally OK for me.
My Benelli Sbe 2 sucks
- Thread starter aOWENc
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Same series of problems…sold mine!!
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
Let the told you so's begin. We just built a blind in the woods for the kids and put a gage limit on it. 28ga max. I needed a gun quick and couldn't get a 3" o/U. Choices were a sbe3 and an a400 upland. Same price. The a400 feels like a 2x6. Frame is way too large for a 28 and it is too heavy. I bought the sbe and hope I don't regret it. I've had 4 12's and they all had issues like those above and departed. The 28ga is a little different from the others and feels great. I will keep it at least until the end of the season. Time will tell. Pretty easy to get a nice stack barrel when you have time. It will have to way outperform the others I have had to get to stay.
quigley257
Well-Known Member
I think as a rule, the 28 gauge autos of all makes perform well because the manufacturer has such a small window of shells to make things work properly. In the US this is especially true because all they have to deal with is 2-3/4" shells throwing 3/4 to 7/8 ounces of shot. Overseas they run 2-3/4" as well as 3" shells in their 28 gauges. I'm currently looking at one of the Tristar Viper G2 Silver Selects to use for dove hunting. The reviews I have watched have been overwhelmingly positive for the 28 gauge in this model. I'm guessing your Benelli will run just fine, but let us know how it goes.
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
I have a Tristar youth 20 and 410 for the Grandkids. their autos are a little rough but do break in and are decent guns. I really don't think it will give you problems after 3-4 flats if you keep it clean. I would have bought one for this duck blind if I could have found an adult one in 410 or 28.
You know, I have hope for your 28. As much as my SBE just plain sucked, my old hunting partner bought a 20ga 'for his wife' LOL that I liked quite a bit and if I remember right it was called a montefeltro? Going back to the late 90's could have been around 2000 timeframe. It was very light, a bit over 5 pounds with a 24-26" barrel, I don't remember exactly but it wasn't a short barrel. Just about perfectly proportioned for a 20. That gun was a shooter, and it ran well. The only dig I had on it was the lock time, not quite sun dial slow like the 12's but maybe stopwatch slow and the trigger pull out of the box was heavy enough you could have hung the loaded gun by the trigger and bounced it a bit before you got any excitement. It handled really well, recoil was 20ga, it carried beautifully and it shot where he was looking and also where I was looking. If it had the lock time and trigger of my Browning Gold 20 I certainly would have bought one. I really liked hunting with that gun, the pheasants didn't like it much though. We shot a good number of clay targets with it too, I saw and helped put a thousand or so through it. Hopefully your new 28 is as good.
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
Thanks. The reason I wanted a 3" is because when I was a kid, 28ga guns and shells were 2-7/8". The load we shot ducks in the woods with was 1oz of #6 lead. It was absolute poison on mallards and seemed to cripple less than the 1-1/8 oz 20ga short magnums and was absolutely better than the 20ga 3" 1-1/4 oz which blew patterns terribly. They load 3", tungsten in 1oz and 1-1/16oz bismuth. trying to duplicate the old lead load that was so good. No one in those days shot a 12 in the woods. everyone said it was just too much gun for shooting fish in a barrel. 12ga was for late season rice fields, geese and turkeys. Things have really changed since then, but maybe not so much. We will see this weekend.
I have never shot ducks with lead, I was late to the game for that but I've shot a bunch of pheasants with 20 gauge and lead, I always liked #5 shot but 6's worked very well too, and 3/4 or 7/8 ounce of 5's on pheasants makes me a believer that ducks at a reasonable distance would be slain very efficiently. Geese too for that matter. Looking forward to the report after the hunt!
Being we've drifted a bit, I'll add a view on the 28 gauge auto. FWIW - Best feeling 28 autoloader I've handled is a Rem. 1100 20 ga. LW with a 28 gauge Purbaugh conversion. Added just enough weight to keep it from feeling like a broom handle.
bigmiah22
Active Member
Sorry you had such terrible luck with yours! I fortunately haven't had any issues with mine and the only time it has ever jammed was the user's fault, not the guns! Goodluck with the new gun choice, hopefully you have better luck with the next one!
I sold guns for years and still work on them. I hunt and am a Sporting Clays instructor so I see a lot of shells fired year round.. I also trap at youth clay events where I get to see all sorts of semi autos being used.
I owned two Benellis. Both M1s. They kicked like a mule, were loud, and did not run in cold weather. They preferred Premium ammo and do not run light loads reliably. Buying a benelli is like buying a lottery ticket. One may run and be very dependable, the next two may be a headache and nothing you can do will change it. Break in may help some of them but not all. Seems like 1 in 3 will be a good one. I ordered two for a customer and they arrived and we're only a couple serial numbers apart. One you couldn't stop, the other was a train wreck. They are also by far the loudest gun in the field or duck blind. I don't want to stand beside a guy using one. I can pick them out of a crowd by their report.
I found the Browning A 5 to be in that same boat. If you get a good one, hold on to it. Keep an eye on the roll pin that holds your extractor in place. They do break and cause issues. Shame because the old a5 was a solid work horse and one of my favorites since childhood. They were built like a tank. They just don't disassemble easily and I clean quite a few for folks. They would do well to bring the old style real A5 back. I would buy on In a minute. I shoot a Citori CX for clays and it has been ultra reliable for 10+ years but I have had it rebuilt twice. 100,000 rounds will do that to a shotgun. I owned a gold and a Winchester Super x3. They both lasted about 3 seasons before an array of issues started popping up. Number 1 was braking gas piston springs. At one time I had a box full of them.
TriStar. Honestly, save your money. I have seen several that came out of the box a single shot. If I carried a tristar hunting, I would carry a backup and it would not be a TriStar. Had a lesson with a lady that brought two Tristar 28s recently. She ended up finishing with a rental gun. It's not an if situation with these but a when. They are ok for a youth gun for a kid to shoot for a couple of years but they won't take much punishment.
Mossberg. Just not a fan. The ones I have had experience with were lacking.
Remington is a company that I would like to see do well again. But their quality hit rock bottom before bankruptcy. The old 1100s and some 11-87s were good guns but are getting to the age that they do have some fatigue breakdowns. They can be reconditioned to run. I shot 870s, 16 and 12 for years. Early 70s models and I still treasure them.
Fabarm. There are people that swear buy them. But they haven't been around long enough for a true in the field longevity test. They hit the sporting courses by storm. But the only place I see them now are in the classifieds. I know some folks that went down this road. I've seen them at my lessons. Disappointing honestly. They make a nice, adjustable firearm.
Beretta has the best gun for the dollar today in the a300 Ultima. It also comes in a 20. The Ultima is simply a frilly Outlander. It's simple and it runs. If the Ultima in Kickoff had been a bit earlier I would not have bought my Xtreme Plus. I have 9 Beretta autos from the 390 to the latest a400. Ergonomicly, I prefer the 390 and 391. When Beretta went to the a400 their stocks changed some and the fit did as well. And not for the better. Despite that I still think that they are the best semi auto system made. Their Ultimas and outlanders just keep running and all you have to do is change the $16 action spring every 7500 to 10,000 shots. My Berettas will run loads from 3/4oz to turkey loads dependably. My favorite waterfowl gun is the Xtrema 2. It's a tank of a gun but it's dependable. The Unico 3.5 in wood I own has over 40,000 rounds through it. My latest xtreme plus brings mixed emotions. It's very dependable but the fit isn't quite there. I shoot it well, but it's not my favorite. When 20 gauge shells become more plentiful I will by an Ultima in 20 ga. That is if I don't find an older 303, 390, or 391.
I'm not being a hater here. I have owned, tried, and worked on every make mentioned above plus some others. I see all of these in action and have worked on all of them. All a person has to do is look in the high volumn arena of clay sports and the South American hunting operations and see what they are using. They are doing that for a reason. Berettas are there. Benellis are there too. Find a good one and they last.
I owned two Benellis. Both M1s. They kicked like a mule, were loud, and did not run in cold weather. They preferred Premium ammo and do not run light loads reliably. Buying a benelli is like buying a lottery ticket. One may run and be very dependable, the next two may be a headache and nothing you can do will change it. Break in may help some of them but not all. Seems like 1 in 3 will be a good one. I ordered two for a customer and they arrived and we're only a couple serial numbers apart. One you couldn't stop, the other was a train wreck. They are also by far the loudest gun in the field or duck blind. I don't want to stand beside a guy using one. I can pick them out of a crowd by their report.
I found the Browning A 5 to be in that same boat. If you get a good one, hold on to it. Keep an eye on the roll pin that holds your extractor in place. They do break and cause issues. Shame because the old a5 was a solid work horse and one of my favorites since childhood. They were built like a tank. They just don't disassemble easily and I clean quite a few for folks. They would do well to bring the old style real A5 back. I would buy on In a minute. I shoot a Citori CX for clays and it has been ultra reliable for 10+ years but I have had it rebuilt twice. 100,000 rounds will do that to a shotgun. I owned a gold and a Winchester Super x3. They both lasted about 3 seasons before an array of issues started popping up. Number 1 was braking gas piston springs. At one time I had a box full of them.
TriStar. Honestly, save your money. I have seen several that came out of the box a single shot. If I carried a tristar hunting, I would carry a backup and it would not be a TriStar. Had a lesson with a lady that brought two Tristar 28s recently. She ended up finishing with a rental gun. It's not an if situation with these but a when. They are ok for a youth gun for a kid to shoot for a couple of years but they won't take much punishment.
Mossberg. Just not a fan. The ones I have had experience with were lacking.
Remington is a company that I would like to see do well again. But their quality hit rock bottom before bankruptcy. The old 1100s and some 11-87s were good guns but are getting to the age that they do have some fatigue breakdowns. They can be reconditioned to run. I shot 870s, 16 and 12 for years. Early 70s models and I still treasure them.
Fabarm. There are people that swear buy them. But they haven't been around long enough for a true in the field longevity test. They hit the sporting courses by storm. But the only place I see them now are in the classifieds. I know some folks that went down this road. I've seen them at my lessons. Disappointing honestly. They make a nice, adjustable firearm.
Beretta has the best gun for the dollar today in the a300 Ultima. It also comes in a 20. The Ultima is simply a frilly Outlander. It's simple and it runs. If the Ultima in Kickoff had been a bit earlier I would not have bought my Xtreme Plus. I have 9 Beretta autos from the 390 to the latest a400. Ergonomicly, I prefer the 390 and 391. When Beretta went to the a400 their stocks changed some and the fit did as well. And not for the better. Despite that I still think that they are the best semi auto system made. Their Ultimas and outlanders just keep running and all you have to do is change the $16 action spring every 7500 to 10,000 shots. My Berettas will run loads from 3/4oz to turkey loads dependably. My favorite waterfowl gun is the Xtrema 2. It's a tank of a gun but it's dependable. The Unico 3.5 in wood I own has over 40,000 rounds through it. My latest xtreme plus brings mixed emotions. It's very dependable but the fit isn't quite there. I shoot it well, but it's not my favorite. When 20 gauge shells become more plentiful I will by an Ultima in 20 ga. That is if I don't find an older 303, 390, or 391.
I'm not being a hater here. I have owned, tried, and worked on every make mentioned above plus some others. I see all of these in action and have worked on all of them. All a person has to do is look in the high volumn arena of clay sports and the South American hunting operations and see what they are using. They are doing that for a reason. Berettas are there. Benellis are there too. Find a good one and they last.
Number 4 is my favorite but 5s are great on ducks. At reasonable distances 6s and even 7.5 on teal and smaller species kills extremely well. And you don't have to use ultra fast 3" plus shells.
As one that grew up shooting lead shot, you'd be surprised what 1oz of 8s at 1290 would do.
Steel stinks, I hate it. It's a crippler and steel loads are punishing to shoot. When I guided I would watch folks shoot unaware that they had hit a bird. Then watch the bird fold and go down 3 ponds over. I would mark and let my dog retrieve them. It happened a lot. If given the choice I would take a 2 3/4" 1 1/4oz 5 compared to whatever Steel gets brought to the table.
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you enjoy the Berettas and possibly prefer gas over inertia. Any experience or opinion on the Franchi affinity?
No sir unfortunately not though I have handled a few. Franci hasn't really been popular in my area. You are correct in that I do not care for Inertia guns. They have to kick to work. That limits the range of shells they can function reliably with. Due to severe neck and back injury I don't handle recoil well. What really stinks is the Benelli super 90 fits me better than any other shotgun I have tried. I'm sorry that I do not have enough experience with the Affinity to give you a decent answer.
