No decision yet! I came close to pulling the trigger on a Fabarm SAT-8, but I'm not sold yet. I like the idea of being able to use my Fabarm stock adapter and through the magpul SGA on there, but don't like the idea of ghost ring sights on a 3-gun semi.
Can you tell me a little about your 3-gun edition? Where'd it come from, how much did it cost you? Wanna sell it to me?
I actually took Ms TVPP's little Hatsan out on the weekend and shot some clays with it. I can definitely see the value in a single fiber optic sight:
I agree with you about the ghost ring sights. I found it to be abit slower and the sight picture a little "cluttered" and eventually started "point shooting" with the damn things.
Ah, the Benelli M2 3-Gun edition.
This is a story in itself.
Two and a half years ago, I contacted Clay from Prophet River to inquire about the possibility of acquiring a 3-Gun edition. He said yes, but there is a huuuuge wait list, if memory serves me correctly, for about $2600 CDN tax, ship, fees all in (roughly)
Benelli claims the following:
Shorter barrel 21 inches long, which is almost exactly the length of an eight-shot magazine tube with a Teflon-coated follower (this was removed by the US based FFL for some reason and was not included, working on getting it included as the price says it should come with one) I really want that magazine extension because it makes speed loading MUCH easier. Fighting against a longer spring is always easier than the shorter one!.
It uses Crio chokes, like other M2s.
trigger job
enlarged, flanged loading port
HIVIZ fiber optic front sight, and comes with extra parts to change out the color and diameter of the light pipe.
Nordic Components magazine extension
Nordic Components enlarged bolt release button
It’s 42½ inches long, weighs 7.1 pounds, and has all-synthetic furniture.
Though they claim the work is done "in house" it is actually farmed out to Benny Hill of Triangle Shooting sports. It has the bolt mods (OOB, Ghost load) included as well all wrapped with a factory warranty.
If you're looking at getting something special like an Accurate Iron Works tuned Benelli like many competitors out there, you are out of luck as Mike has no interest in dealing with Canadians. None, Zero, Zilch.
You will have better luck calling Taran Butler and getting him to build you one since he designed the Salient Arms Benelli when he was with them and is MUCH more pleasant to deal with. A true gentleman and one of my personal heros.
The shotgun itself:
The trigger is very good, there is no takeup, but a touch of creep before hitting the break. I hope this will work itself out.
Enlarged port is nice, but I might want to open this up more.
Lighter than my 930 SPX despite being a 21" barrel (I am guessing this is because of the lack of a magazine tube)
I replaced a few things as you can tell because I had so much idle time before getting it (springs, bolt, safety, magazine release) I did not like the circular bolt release, the TTI one allows me to get two fingers on it for a positive release without being intrusive. I replaced the safety as well with a TTI sourced part as the "off" side is much more pronounced and easier to get at (strangely enough, since I had both guns on my bench apart, I decided to see if the stock benelli safety would fit in my Fabarms 14" pump and it does!, the triangle is easier to hit than the round factory piece)
Alot of shotgunners stateside are installing "flip up rear sights" in the rear most part of the sight rib for long range accuracy with slugs. They have a smithy dovetail one in. For me, maybe later as I like the simplicity of the sightrib and FO front sight.
The only thing of concern is the gel buttpad, which is not rubber coated, but slippery smooth and plastic like. This is something I am not used to and we'll see if this affects me in any way.
Sorry to say, I invested so much effort into this I would never sell it
