Benelli Super Black Eagle 3

Anyone have one of these? Starting to research shotguns that might tame the recoil better than a basic pump and I see lots of complaints that when they first came out they were all shooting high. Have they fixed this problem?

 

Well I don’t know about that problem specifically.

However, the SBE series of shotguns are recoil operated and as such do not mitigate recoil as well as gas operated shotguns like Berettas or Remingtons.

 

Looking for the lowest possible recoil, so I am all ears.

 

My info is going to be outdated but back when I had most of my experience with 3 1/2” semi autos, I really liked the Browning Gold and Beretta 391. Very soft shooting and a bit heavier but that helps with recoil too.

IIRC, the Gold had a reputation at the time for being very soft shooting.

 

I shoot trap with a 20 gauge. This is pretty much exclusively for waterfowl and other hunting and my usual goose load is 3 inch BB shells.

 

There are two distinct types of recoil, actual and perceived (aka "felt", aka "kick")
Actual recoil is a math equation - to reduce actual recoil, you shoot the heaviest possible gun with the slowest and lightest payload that will work the gun. Benellis are not typically heavy nor do they tend to like light loads. Berettas, like the A400, do handle light loads and can add weights fore and aft to help reduce actual recoil.
The second is purely handled by perfect gun fit. A heavy gun that is shooting light loads but does not fit will still hurt via cheek slap or similar means of discomfort.
The nice thing about the newer semis is that most come with adjustable shims for LH and RH shooters to adjust cast and drop so unless you are really short or tall, you should be able to get it to fit. One should also check one's eye dominance; it is not always the same as your strong side hand.

 

Benellis, with their inertia system, have no gas ports to get gunked up by weeds, mud etc which is at least what my duck/goose hunting buddies tell me. That said, my Beretta Xplor Unico has a 3.5" chamber, weighs 7# and has the Kick Off recoil system. Since it is mainly my wife's sporting gun, it only sees light 2-3/4" target ammo and performs flawlessly. The other area Benellis will shine with those aforementioned duck/goose hunters is in dealing with cold temps. Gas guns need hotter ammo in colder weather to work properly.

 

For lowest possible recoil a heavy, gas operated gun will be most effective. With waterfowl in mind, that suggests an 1100 synthetic or a Versamax, for example. The Weatherby SA08 synthetic is also quite cost effective, but certainly not heavy. For waterfowling, I shoot an old Valtro-made Weatherby SAS based on an older Beretta design and have shot it in sub zero weather hunting eider and geese and experienced no issue with standard steel loads.

 

Since we are talking low recoil, I have to bring up the Browning Recoilless Shotgun. IIRC, it was an ugly cuss of a single shot trap gun that was way front heavy but had hardly any felt recoil.

Also a commercial failure and very few were produced. Saw one in person once at the pawn shop I worked at.

 

I bought a SBE II rather than the SBE III because of the problem with the SBE III shooting high. I have not read anywhere that Benelli has done anything to resolve this. I can tell you that I just recently had the opportunity to clean my Benelli and my son’s Berretta. Cleaning my Benelli was so easy. Cleaning that Beretta was far more difficult than cleaning the Benelli. I almost had to curse to get the Berretta back together.

Perceived recoil is one thing, but there is nothing perceived about cleaning a gun. I’ll take a little more perceived recoil for an easy clean job. As they say YMMV.

 

I am still fond of the Browning Gold. I’m not too into semis anymore but I would probably look at a Benelli Ultra Light or Franchi AL48 before anything else. Those don’t fit the OPs criteria but my next choice would be an M1 Super 90. Don’t really need the 3 1/2”.

 

The issue with the SBE III has not been fixed. According to Benelli there isn’t an issue. Of course it’s been well documented that there is a problem.

The Browning Gold and it’s offspring are good at ameliorating recoil. Offspring are:
Browning Silver
Winchester SX2, SX3 and SX4
Browning Maxus to a large extent.

Remington 1100 and 1187 are soft shooting. I believe the VersaMax and V3 are even softer shooting and would be my choice if purchasing today-if it wasn’t for the nagging little bankruptcy issue.

Gas operation, weight and fit are your friends when it comes to recoil.

I find the Mossberg 930 to be soft shooting too. Beretta is not mentioned in this missive because they don’t fit me well so perceived recoil to me is high.

They are not inexpensive but FABARM semi’s are very soft shooting to me. I have a L4S.

 

The lowest possible recoil would be from a Remington 1100 Competition Synthetic; it is a gas operated gun, with a recoil device already on it. (The Ken Rucker Auto Buster) The only way to lower it further would be put weight in the mag tube. I put up to 4 shot filled hulls on top of the magazine spring. Puts it just over 10 lbs. very little recoil. The Beretta a400 with the Kick-Off device in it comes close, but is also more expensive.

It (the 1100 Competition) however is not a 3" Mag. Duck and Goose gun. I'd buy a V3 if I were taking up waterfowling again. As George P. notes the Beretta a400 is made in 3" and 3.5"

And the Ljutic Dyna-Kick. Uses the inertia of the firing pin to reduce recoil.

 

I got one for the grandson for Christmas. I called Benelli before I bought it and they said they fixed the problem. Something about a barrel retaining nut I believe. His shoots great.

 

I shoot a new model Browning A5. After I figured out the adjustment it shoots pretty well. It's very light but recoil isn't too bad.

 

Benelli "Click" on SBE3 fixed. Further explanation below:

https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=523548

 

I have a CZ712 and it is a pretty easy shooter. I was told the newest CZ line is very soft shooting but never shot one personally.

https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-1012-synthetic-bottomland/

 

Coreection, they are inertia operated whereas the Browning A5/Franchi AL48/old Remington mod 11 (A5 copy) are recoil operated. I have not owned the SBE3 but several original SBE's and SBEII's. I'm a fan. Owned Beretta's, Browning Golds/Winchester X2-4's (X3's were the best IMO of those). You cannot shoot 3.5in shells and not have them get your attention. I prefer inertia over gas operated personally. Simpler design and easier to clean for me.

 

Are you talking about inertia, gas or both in reference to the above quote?

 

This is something that comes up often, usually among Benelli fans, of which I am one, but many Benelli fans fail to educate themselves on the minutia of shotgun action types and instead use a term that was trademarked by Benelli to describe an action type. And, I honestly should not have risen to this. It is akin to chastising folks for calling magazines clips.

What operates the gun again? Inertia? For inertia to exist, there first has to be some sort of motion caused or already extant. That initial motion, in this instance, is caused by the firing of the shotgun and the resulting recoil of that fired shot. If there were no recoil, the gun wouldn't function just like any other recoil operated gun.

"Inertia" is just what Benelli calls this recoil operated system. They patented a floating bolt mechanism and called it Inertia Driven. It is not an inertia action or inertia operated. It is operated off of recoil which then sends the bolt rearward and back forward through a system of springs.

The Browning A5, Rem 11, and Franchi AL48 are all "long" recoil operated. The barrel follows the bolt back. The Benelli is a fixed breech design and the bolt cycle is "delayed" by the isolator springs for a moment until the "Inertia" spring throws the bolt back. This is not known as short recoil operation in the traditional sense since the barrel needs to move for that system as well but the action is still driven by recoil. As I mentioned earlier, it is more like a fixed barrel/breech delayed blowback. The delay is caused by a spring action bolt.

 

All. But good gas guns like the Beretta Xtrema, SX Winchesters/Browning Golds are more comfortable than my SBE's with 3.5in loads.

 

Good explanation for all and I don't disagree with it. The long recoil guns always "kicked" me more than the others in layman's terms. Preference for the inertia driven guns for me is the pure simplicity for thorough cleaning especially in salt water environments. That is my experience and preference. I actually prefer good gas guns for the clay ranges and own several. Thank you.

 

Browning Maxus. Eats 3.5’s all day.