I will never learn

[Rapier]

I have owned 3 Beretta 391 guns in 20ga, a 12 ga version of the 391 and just got the 20ga Cordoba Benelli. I should know better. So what did I do? I took the new/used Benelli Cordoba gun out and shot it, yep, just like it arrived. Kept thinking to my self, self, this gun feels funny. But it was my first owned Benelli and first extended shooting experiance with a Benelli. So I thought, maybe it is just the Benelli.

On the patterning board the bottom of the pattern just did touch the center hole so I knew it was shooting high at 10 yards. The center of the pattern was also a little left. I shot five boxes and I had 3 failures to feed. I "allowed" myself into a 75 on a tough 12ga sporting clays course, cold, overcast and no wind.

Got the gun home and took off the extension then the stock. Good grief, some folks just can not follow directions. The prior owner had DX and SX shims mixed (left and right hand), mixed letters (a n0-n0 which can damage the recoil spring tube) and had the shim for highest comb height installed. So I started kicking myself for not taking the stock apart to start with. This is what you get with a hard head afliction, aggrivated by being a slow learner.

I set the gun up with the same DX, cast off, shims and letters and with the lowest comb shim. Then all I had to do was to return 60 miles, one way, to the range.... what the hey, gas is cheap. I learn best if it is expensive.

Now the gun shoots center hole on the board. I do not like the bead setup on the Benelli though and have ordered a new mid bead and a High Vis front so I can go with a green insert. I shot 5 more boxes without a single burp in function. I guess the tube was binding on the recoil spring, luckily nothing perminent. I ran a 78 on the same course with high gusting wind.

Do yourself a favor when you buy a scattergun with shims set it up for you, before you go to the range. You do not know your measurments? You can get a rough set by standing in front of a mirror and mounting the gun, you should be looking right down the beads at your eye and the muzzle, no sides of the barrel should be seen.
Ed

[fabsroman]

Yep, I've always adjusted all my Berettas and Benelli as soon as I get them out of the box. I prefer a higher comb than most, but it is what works for me.

Luckily for me, I have never bought a used gun and had to worry about what the previous owner had done with it.

[Jack]

I can never resist taking a new gun apart, as soon as I get it. Or a used gun, either.

[Rapier]

With the 20ga Cordoba, after a year and a half of looking, it became a matter of paying retail or buying a used gun that had been only driven to chutch on Sunday by a little old lady, for $600 under retail. My 3 great grandmother was Mary McGregor need I say more..... As I said previously, I have seen Benelli guns with 750,000 rounds through them this Cordoba had 10 boxes total through it and looks new. I can buy a lot of shells for $600. In Argentina in July that will get me 1,500 shells.:D

But I know why the guy sold the gun as cheap as he did, he could not hit the side of a barn with it and it jammed all the time... his setup on the shims was all fouled up and he shot the gun dry. Benellis like oil and a lot of it.
Ed

[tjwatty]

Sorry Rapier but my SBE and my old M1 are not fond of excessive oil. I learned the hard way in the duck blind when my M1 decided to run in slow motion.
I put some pivot pin grease on the recoil plunger and some Benelli oil on the bolt slide guides. Other than swabbing the barrel that's it, and I'm pretty cheap with that, after slow motion cold weather hunting. The upside was It was easy to field strip and get the gunk off, and without any lube I used some butter on the slides. Not the best, but it smelled like toast every time I shot...

I also have a question for all about the color of your beads.
I have a red on the Benelli and orange on the Browning. I was always taught to ignor the barrel on my shotgun, I actually shot a ruger for two years before I realized my bead was gone.
I tend to start missing when I start looking for the bead and aiming like a rifle. So, my question is, Why do we care what color, and or why we even have one in the first place. Unless I've been taught wrong...

[Rapier]

TJ,
I use LSA on my auto guns, the semi liquid grease was developed by the DOD for artic use in the M-60 machinegun. I had cases of the stuff in the mid 60s but now it is getting harder to find. It will not gum in cold weather, ever.

Without looking. My beads on my 525 guns are all green, my 425 guns are green, my Ultra XS guns are orange and the plain jane Citori gun is orange, the old Superlite is two silver beads. I have a few Browning O/U guns. I bought the Cordoba as a Pigeon gun for Uraguay. On this trip to Argentina my so will have my 391 gold gun and my 30 inch three barrel set 525. The Benelli came with a needle for a center bead and a little orange front bead. It now has a white center bead and will have a green front bead to match my Browning 525 guns.

I like my beads a certin way, it just makes me feel better. I align the beads, swing the gun and look only at the bird. I shoot sporting clays. Before the shoulder surgery (3 severed tendons, left side) which I am still recovering from, I was shooting in the 90s with sub gauge guns. Last week I shot an 84 with my 20ga 525, 32 Inch gun. So, the recovery process is coming along. I will be back in the 90s before the big bird takes to the air in July.

I guess you love the smell of toast in the morning....:D
Best,
Ed

[skeet]

In all the years I have shot shotguns I usually ignore the beads on the gun. I found that "most" people that stack the beads and use colored beads..especially the fluorescent beads seem to pay more attention to the beads than the target. I actually shot with a fellow back east that used the brightest bead sights. He seemed to shoot ok some days and poorly others. Every time he shot a gun with a regular white front sight he seemed to shoot better. He was one of those guys that figured that last 10% would come with more equipment. His K-80 broke one day at a skeet shoot. Since mine fit him ok he used it in the 28 ga. Went out and shot his first 100 straight. He couldn't figure out why he could shoot my gun and didn't seem to shoot his as well. He tricked his out with those fluorescent beads and his scores seemed to start dropping. Usually I tried to discourage their use with my students. Just seem to be another distraction to the average person. They were a nice way to make a profit when I had the gun shop...but I still tried to discourage the people that wanted to buy them.:confused: Heck I won the 20 ga Md state Skeet Championship with the front bead on my gun cocked sideways. Never noticed it till I was about done. Name of the game is SEE THE BIRD...not the front sight

[fabsroman]

Off the top of my head, I would have to guess that all my beads are orange, and I have never messed with the middle bead. For the most part, the only reason I use the bead is when I mount the gun to see if it fits or when I mount it to swing through the imaginary clay before I call for the actual clay. When I am actually shooting, I almost never look at the bead. Shot at a couple of geese this weekend and don't recall every seeing the bead on my gun. Then again, I missed both shots at 60 yards and couldn't believe it. Maybe I should have been looking at the bead. LOL