I used to be dumping wind-driven mallards with sufficient consistency to quietly reward each my means to visualise the loopy quantity of lead required and the snappy 12-gauge Franchi I used to be swinging.
However for each chook I despatched cartwheeling into the Nebraska Sandhills pothole, my buddy Scott Turner crushed one other, and each of us have been reaching out to 40 and 45 yards for a number of the wariest greenheads and teal. Solely Turner was taking pictures a 28-gauge and laughing after each shot. It simply appeared that he was having much more enjoyable than I used to be, so when he provided to modify weapons I jumped on the invitation.
It took me a number of photographs to get the texture of the load and lead, however then I began connecting with teal, and have become an prompt convert to the cult of the 28-gauge. It helped that Turner is the product supervisor for HEVI-Shot, so I didn’t really feel too dangerous about taking pictures all his shells. However it additionally helps that the 5.5-pound gun isn’t overly whippy. As a substitute it factors with authority and swings easily, however the lithe determine of the gun and its mild weight make it a pleasure to shoot, even throughout prolonged volleys.
That night shoot for mid-season Nebraska geese final fall satisfied me to get my very own copy of the 28, and inside a pair weeks I had my very own Benelli Tremendous Black Eagle 3, sporting the all-purpose Gore Optifade Timber camo sample. I used it for Montana waterfowl and pigeons, but it surely bought most of its work within the prairie, the place I deployed it for sharptail and sage grouse and twitchy little Hungarian partridge.
My yr within the area with the SBE3 gave me some insights into the capabilities of the 28-gauge, but in addition some views on its limitations.
The New 20 Gauge
Basically, I’d describe the 28-gauge — no matter platform — as the brand new 20-gauge. That’s as a result of shotshell improvements have elevated payload efficiency, giving 28-gauges new attain, new lethality for a variety of winged sport and extra selection in payloads. You should use the identical 28-gauge for spring turkeys, then for opening-week doves, pheasants and most waterfowl.
Utilizing HEVI-Shot for instance, the HEVI-18 payload in No. 9 shot is a devastating turkey load, and the HEVI-XII measurement 6 tungsten load will care for pheasant-sized sport, and I’m a fan of the No. 4 shot for mallards and close-in geese. Different shotshell producers have equally upped their 28 sport, rising capacities and introducing all kinds of metals and shot sizes.
Whereas I’m tempted to say the SBE3 is the proper all-around 28 gauge, it’s solely an satisfactory turkey gun. The gun’s receiver isn’t tapped to simply accept an optic, and its carbon fiber rib doesn’t simply settle for aftermarket sights. I deliberate to make use of HIVIZ sights to a minimum of give me a two-sight airplane for taking pictures tight teams out to 30 yards, however the rib is pretty fragile and I didn’t wish to threat cracking it with set screws. With solely a entrance bead, the SBE is considerably restricted as a turkey gun.
I ought to be aware that I bought deadly 30-yard groupings with that entrance bead, primarily due to an aftermarket choke. Benelli consists of Cylinder, Improved Modified and Full with the gun, and whereas the manufacturing unit Full grouped all three turkey hundreds fairly nicely, I used to be searching for a tighter choke for TSS hundreds. Scott Trulock of Trulock Chokes got here by means of with a brand new TSS-specific choke that tightened teams by about 20 p.c. I settled on APEX Ammo’s 2 3/4-inch, 1 3/8-ounce load of No. 9 tungsten, however on the finish of the day, I left the SBE3 in its case as I pursued turkeys with a shotgun that I felt assured taking pictures out to 40 yards.
However any shortcomings the Tremendous Black Eagle 3 has within the turkey woods are eclipsed by its efficiency on flying birds.
Final Fall Gun
I began my fall with tune-up pigeons and located myself laughing like Turner with each chook I dropped. The 28-inch barrel is optimized for crossing photographs (the SBE3 can be out there with a 26-inch barrel) and the power to chamber both 2 3/4-inch or 3-inch shells allowed me to shoot mild area hundreds for each pigeon and doves.
The gun was at its greatest on early season doves. With a short-sleeve shirt, the 14 3/8-inch size of pull was good. I observed that the LOP was a bit lengthy for later-season searching, once I had a sweater and a coat. I struggled a bit with snap photographs at doves, however any longer crossing shot was lights out.
Benelli has executed exceptional work with each its controls and its lock-up motion. The outsized charging deal with is straightforward to function, even within the warmth of an incoming dove squadron. And gone are the times of the dread “Benelli click on,” when the bolt wasn’t fully locked up. I discovered myself continuously bumping the charging deal with ahead to make sure the bolt was seated, however didn’t actually need to; it was only a behavior left over from the previous days when light-cycling shells typically didn’t have fairly sufficient fuel to seat the bolt.
The set off guard is overlarge, but it surely’s completely sized to accommodate late-season gloves. The beveled loading port can be a lot simpler to govern with gloved arms, making in-the-moment reloads a cinch.
The 28-gauge model of the SBE3 has all of the recoil-mitigation expertise of the bigger-bore Benellis. They embody the shock-absorbing chevrons of the Consolation Tech inventory and an artificial cheek pad that reduces vibrations. Inside, Benelli’s patented Inertia-Pushed System runs easily and cleanly for a semi-automatic.
Do you want the recoil-absorbing options in a 28 gauge? Most likely not for lighter area hundreds, however they’re good for heavy turkey hundreds, and since the recoil with a number of the stouter waterfowl hundreds have a cumulative impact, the gun is equally a pleasure to shoot on the finish of a great duck day as it’s to start with. I can’t say that about each 5.5-pound shotgun.
It is a premium semi-auto area gun, and the retail value of the SBE3 — $2,049 — will preserve it as an aspirational buy for many hunters. However given the rise in 28-gauge shotshell availability and the broad versatility of the platform, the Benelli stays a strong different to a 28-gauge side-by-side or over-and-under.
If I might advocate one vital change to the Tremendous Black Eagle 3, it could be to copy the excellent design in a left-handed model. The righty motion is okay to work, but it surely’s such a longtime design that I believe Benelli might win over a wholly new inhabitants by extending the product line to us southpaws.
