Any benelli b76 owners out there?

[albanian]

I just bought a like new benelli b76 with two mags at a gunshow. I paid $400 OTD. From what I have seen, this is a good price for one.

Does anyone know how to take it down for cleaning? How do you like yours? What kind of accuracy are you getting? I have heard these are very very accurate because of the fixed bbl design.

 

[BlkHawk73]

Don't own one but keep my eyes open for one. One of THE best feeling pistols I've ever held. Just holds really nice. From others I've seen being sold, $400 seems kinda steep if no box/papers or extras came with it. Depends on condition I guess. I see very little mention of them. Benelli won't likely offer much help but it's worth a try contacting them on a manual. otherwise, do a search and find other owners of them and politely ask for a copy/scan of thier manual. Better than nothing.

 

[albanian]

Well it wasn't really $400 cash and it came with two mags. I gave $400 for the gun, three Thermold 20rd mags and a new plastic SKS 30rd mag. I guess I got about $95 worth of mags at current prices. I guess I really paid $305 if you factor in the value of the mags.

 

[Matt-man]

I have one, along with two mags and the original manual. When I get a few spare moments I'll scan up the manual.

I haven't stripped it in years, but I think I remember how.

1. Pull the slide to the rear and lock it with the THUMB SAFETY
2. Look at the silver block at the back of the slide. It has two ears on it that extend to the sides of the slide. These need to be rotated backwards.
3. Depress the firing pin and the block will slide out the bottom of the slide.
4. The slide will now come forward off the gun

Reassembly is basically the reverse of the above. Getting the slide back on with the breech block in the correct place takes some wiggling, but eventually you should be able to get it.

 

[pippin53]

B76

I got one and another on order. I think they are some of the more interesting pistols out there. At $305, I think you did well. You can buy new mags on Auction Arms through Joes Pawn Shop for $27.00. When I talked to them several months ago they still had 1-200 left. After these are gone, theres probably no more to be found, as these pistols haven't been made since
~1981. I have some feeding issues with mine, which I think are due to weak recoil springs, but fortunately you can buy these from Wolff. If you decide you don't want it, I'll be happy to take it off your hands
Enjoy it!
Ken

 

[albanian]

"I haven't stripped it in years, but I think I remember how.

Pull the slide to the rear and lock it with the THUMB SAFETY
Look at the silver block at the back of the slide. It has two ears on it that extend to the sides of the slide. These need to be rotated backwards.
Depress the firing pin and the block will slide out the bottom of the slide.
The slide will now come forward off the gun"

That worked just fine. You don't need to scan your copy. I don't have a printer anyway. It is actually pretty easy to strip once you have a clue where to start. I have never seen a gun that takes down like this. It also took me a little by surprise when I looked inside and saw how differnet it was from anything else I have seen. It is not your typical semi-auto by any means! I was prepared for the fixed bbl because I knew it had one but the recoil assembly and breech lock (if that is what you would call the piece) were totaly different.

The thing about this gun is, you don't see them for sale very often. It is hard to price a gun that you have never seen in person before. The FFL that sold it to me said he had only seen two of them. I don't doubt it as I go to every gunshow and gunstore within 100 miles looking for neat finds and I have never seen one in over 10 years. I am sure that somewhere there are more of them but not in my area.

Now I am thinking about getting a traget version. A B76S may be in my future if this thing shoots as well as I have heard.

 

[Matt-man]

Glad I could help. I'm going to go ahead and scan my manual and put it up on my web site anyway, as it occurs to me that other B76 owners (all five or six of them ) could probably use the info.

I know what you mean about the rarity of these pistols - I've never seen another one, and this is the first time I've ever heard from someone else who owns one. I guess I should grab a couple of extra magazines and recoil springs while I have the chance.

 

[albanian]

I am thinking of making or having an extra extractor made while mine is still in one piece. If it breaks, I wouldn't have any sort of template to work with.

I had heard that CDNN had mags for this gun for cheap but I guess Joe's Pawn Shop bought them all up and is now selling them. At least they can be found in new condition.

As for the springs, I wouldn't worry too much about that, they will always be a spring around that you can use in the Benelli.

 

[old_ironsights]

Benelli - the Ferarri of Firearms

Got hooked on Benelli handguns with an old B-82 in 9X18 Ultra. Ammo costs of that unusual round kept me from enjoying it as much as I would have liked.

I was able to sell the B-82 to a collector and purchase a B-76 in 9x19. A picture of mine is attached.

It's a failed Italian military weapon, but IMNSHO it's far superior in aesthetics, handling, accuracy, fit and finish to other Italian weapons.

 

[albanian]

Nice gun! Mine look just like that but my grips are not as dark. I have not yet shot my gun but the more I hold it the more I am growing to love it. I have always been a fan of the severe grip angle guns like the Luger and the Ruger MKI and MKII. They seem to point much more naturally than a 1911 or just about anything thing else I can think of.

I am starting to think of it as a DA/SA SIG P210. It is all steel, single stack 9mm. Once I get a chance to shoot it, I will be able to tell if this fixed bbl is going to be accurate as I think it is going to be. Every fixed bbl pistol I have owned has been more accurate than it had any right to be. I even had a Jennings J-22 that was very accurate because of the fixed bbl design. My Bersas would amaze someone that had never shot one before. I'll post a range report when I get a chance to test it out.

 

[old_ironsights]

Albanian!

Albanian, the fixed barrels, while harder to clean are much more accurate, and the additional length of the B-76 barrel helps. Also, the sighting system is much more user-friendly and, like you, I enjoy the grip angle. Steyr claims the "ideal 111 degrees grip angle" in their advertisements and the Benelli seems to be just a tad more. I don't have a method of exact measurement.

Any chance of getting yours from your estate...when the time comes, of course! I'm a patient kinda guy.

 

[albanian]

"Any chance of getting yours from your estate...when the time comes, of course! I'm a patient kinda guy."

I'll put you in my will.

I just noticed that my gun doesn't have any import marks. Does anybody else have one with no import marks? My SN# is 0047XX. I have heard that they only made about 10,000 of these so this puts mine right in the middle.

 

[Matt-man]

I was able to scan the entire manual last night. Right now I have everything in JPEG format, with an image for each page. The entire thing is close to 3MB. You can get it here: http://www.icantping.com/~mmasuda/misc/B76_manual.zip
If it would work better for folks, I could put it into Adobe PDF format.

While I was looking through the manual I found the original receipt. My dad bought it in March of '83 for $285. It's serial number 0014xx and it's marked Sile Inc, NY. How one of these pistols made it to a hole-in-the-wall gun shop in Central California is a mystery to me.

 

[DT Guy]

Sile was a big-time importer once upon a time.

The Benelli I've had for 20+ years is an exceptionally accurate pistol. It's also been very reliable, although they reportedly had difficulty with hollow-points, supposedly because of the grip angle and its resulting feed ramp configuration.

I've been on the lookout for the 7.62 version at a reasonable price for a while, if one can be found for a reasonable price.

My B-76 is one of the guns that I'll NEVER sell....


Larry

 

[pippin53]

B76 manual

Matt,
I'm printing the manual as I'm typing. Its coming out perfect. Thanks my friend. In looking around, I see lots of B80s for sale (well 2 or 3) in GunsAmerica but no B76s. Shoots too expensive a cartridge to justify getting one. I wouldn't mind picking up another 9mm if one comes along.
God bless,
Ken

 

[pippin53]

B80

Larry,
There are 2 on GunsAmerica right now -- one of them is reasonable. I saw another last month that was $415 for NIB , papers and 5 mags. I should have gotten it. I can't seem to find it now. Best of luck in your search.
Ken

 

[Matt-man]

Larry, mine won't feed hollowpoints at all. I've never had a problem with ball ammo though - it's as reliable as anything else I have as long as I don't try to feed it HPs.

Ken, glad I could help.

Matt

 

[Al Honnen]

Benelli B76

I am looking to purchase a magazine for a Benelli 76. Can anyone help me? Thanks. AH

 

[Storm]

I have a Benelli B76. It was NIB with two mags, manual, and cleaning rod. I've seen a few of these around. I think someone came across some new old stock. Takedown is tricky, but nothing too bad. I still haven't shot mine yet, but it is a rather amazing gun based on what I have seen and heard from others.

As to magazines, there is a seller on AuctionArms that has sold them in the past. If you PM me I can give you her contact info as she may have more. Mags are rather rare.

 

[old_ironsights]

Watch the on-line gun auction and use your search browser. From experience I can affirm that B-76 magazines are becoming much harder to find. (None of mine are for sale).

 

[Storm]

Oops, I forgot the obligatory photo! I'd also add that it is one the most solid and well built guns that I've ever held.

 

[schmeky]

I've had 3 B-76's through the years, still have 1. I found some mags in Arknasas a couple years and bought 5, I think I still have 3 or 4 new unused.

The mags are getting very scarce since only 10K B-76's were ever made worldwide.

 

[waverace]

way to ressurect an old thread

good on ya for ressurecting an old thread , I'll double what everyone else said , parts are next to non existent , Ive been looking for a spare mag and a firing pin for ages , saw a mag at a gun show once guy wanted $60 for it , told him to keep it .
my firing pin broke not long after that , couldnt find one so I had to make one , two , three , still havent quite got it right .
Does anyone else get the problem of the breech block chewing the frame up where it bumps up to disconnect ?
This is something I've had to fix reguarly , take the burr off with a small file and stone .
Other than that they are nice guns , fit the hand nicely and once you know where the fixed sights are shooting they are consistently accurate too , tin cans at 50 yds offhand , I cant do that with any other pistol
Mine might be for sale soon if WA state doesnt allow me to shoot soon .

 

[Nimble1]

Great Shooting Gun

I have had one for about 10 years and its one of my favorite pistols to shoot. I don't know about anyone else but mine has no import marks on it at all. Not sure if this is common. I did write Benelli about it a while back and they said it might have been brought back by a service man or a government official.I do know that Sile did import them at one time.
I missed a chance to buy one at a gun show last year for $350 with two mags. I won't pass up another one.

 

[Walkalong]

I use to have one. $300 out the door several years ago. A lot of quality for the money. Superbly made guns. I did not care for the grip angle and ended up selling it.