Anybody running a Benelli R1?

Hitzy

Hitzy

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Not sure why I'm interested in a semi auto magnum, but these have caught my eye. The wood stocked units look pretty good, but I have no experience with them at all. Looking at the 300WSM or 300 win mag.
Are they worth the $1200 or should they be avoided?
Bennelli-R1-.30-06-walnut-22-inch-11770.jpg
 
I have a wood 300 Win and it's a fantastic gun. Lighter, better balanced than a BAR and very well made like all Benellis. Mine shoots around 1.5 MOA with factory and I've never found the need to reload for it. I have a VX2 3-9 on it and it's a great gun. The mag system is big and makes carrying an extra mag a pain but other than that I'm extremely happy with it.

Patrick
 
My elderly father had one in 30.06 and used it for several years until passing at the ripe old age of 86. I was never enamored with the euro styling but I could understand why he liked it. As phinton81 mentioned, it was light, well balanced with very good ergos and had excellent build quality. Accuracy was acceptable for hunting at 1-1.5". Always resourceful, he would grab the barrel and use it as a walking stick! (unloaded of course). I miss him.
 
They are a very nice gun and $1200 is a good price as I would guess that is stock from last year. I bought one last fall in APG Camo and they run about 300 more than the wood ones. The Camo and synthetic stocks have the recoil reduction system built in them but not in the wood stock if that makes any difference. They can be field stripped including barrel removal without tools and that's quite unique. Having said all that, I will be selling mine as I found something I like better but there is certainly nothing bad to say about it.
 
Friend has one in 300WM.

Good: Semi-auto, lighter recoil vs bolt.
Bad: compare to bolt it is heavy, complex, way less accurate, more expensive, can't look down the bore so b!tch to clean. Rails/mounts were unique thus expensive.

If you must have a semi-auto then no point comparing it to a bolt. If a bolt suffices get a bolt.


Another friend has Tikka T3 300WM. I handload for both these rifles (yeah, I'm a nice friend). For plinking, target practice, hunting and any other activities I can think of I'd take the T3 bolt.
 
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Is there any reason to go with the 300wsm over the 300wm? Or are the wsm's pretty much heading the way of the dodo.
 
Why would you want a semi in a magnum? Recoil will kick you off target so much that you won't come back for follow up fast enough. Precision is meh. 2 inch group, 1.5 maybe. You could do so much better for long range shots, and at close range its too much velocity anyway, 375 and 9.2 would be way better up close.

Plus you have a gas system to worry about. Automatics can jam, fail to feed, fail to extract and eject are more likely in an semi-auto. More parts, more springs, harder to clean and assemble. Just because it is auto loading the receiver is actually double the length compared to bolt action.

All for what? A 3 round magazine in a rifle you can't keep on target fast enough?


From the interwebs:
http://forums.benelliusa.com/archive/index.php/t-14472.html
 
Hitzy said:
Is there any reason to go with the 300wsm over the 300wm? Or are the wsm's pretty much heading the way of the dodo.
Click to expand...

A few of the gun store folks that I have spoken with mentioned that the short mag versions seemed to have the most trouble with the R1. Standard chamberings had fewer malfunctions/returns according to them. Nonetheless, they are slick and very well made. Mine weighs 8lbs 4oz with scope so certainly in the realm of most 300 Win bolt guns set up the same.

Patrick
 
What got me looking was a buddy asked me if I wanted to buy his Winchester SXR with a Redfield 3-9x40 this week....it didn't seem like a very solid rig for the $1000 he wanted, so looking around found the Benelli. I already load for 7mmRM so I could use that brass, and I have assloads of .30cal bullets.
Looked at BARs...don't like the idea of not being able to tear it down easy. Looked at REM 750, seemed OK for the price but #### trigger.
Every single hunting rig I have is a bolt gun...would be neat to have a semi auto cannon just for something different.
 
I had one for a while in 270wsm, got rid of it mostly because it didn't seem to have any clear advantage over a bolt action, and was less accurate than one. One thing to take note of which I would consider a design flaw: The front sling swivel is integral to the screw which keeps the forestock in place. As you are out walking around carrying the rifle on a sling, the slight swinging motion slowly works that screw loose. Every time I returned from a day in the field I would have to tighten that screw down. If you leave it too long without tightening it will work itself to the point where the entire forestock is wobbly. An easy enough problem to deal with, but a pain for sure and one that shouldn't exist on a rifle at this price point.
 
BadRonald said:
I had one for a while in 270wsm, got rid of it mostly because it didn't seem to have any clear advantage over a bolt action, and was less accurate than one. One thing to take note of which I would consider a design flaw: The front sling swivel is integral to the screw which keeps the forestock in place. As you are out walking around carrying the rifle on a sling, the slight swinging motion slowly works that screw loose. Every time I returned from a day in the field I would have to tighten that screw down. If you leave it too long without tightening it will work itself to the point where the entire forestock is wobbly. An easy enough problem to deal with, but a pain for sure and one that shouldn't exist on a rifle at this price point.
Click to expand...

That has never happened to me in 8 years of owning/hunting mine.

Patrick
 
owlowl said:
Why would you want a semi in a magnum? Recoil will kick you off target so much that you won't come back for follow up fast enough. Precision is meh. 2 inch group, 1.5 maybe. You could do so much better for long range shots, and at close range its too much velocity anyway, 375 and 9.2 would be way better up close.

Plus you have a gas system to worry about. Automatics can jam, fail to feed, fail to extract and eject are more likely in an semi-auto. More parts, more springs, harder to clean and assemble. Just because it is auto loading the receiver is actually double the length compared to bolt action.

All for what? A 3 round magazine in a rifle you can't keep on target fast enough?


From the interwebs:
http://forums.benelliusa.com/archive/index.php/t-14472.html
Click to expand...

Sounds like you are a hater and have never owned a semi auto centerfire. They can be a very reliable rifle and as far as accuracy go's, I have never owned one that wouldn't shoot 1.5, most around the 1-1.25.
 
Got her out for a run today, runs like a champ, shoots like an SKS lol.
Gonna need some load development to get this thing shooting under 3"....
 
I own a .300 WM (in wood) and a .338 (synthetic). Both are great guns and shoot under 1.5" when I do my part and this is about all that anyone hunting big game really needs. If you keep them clean and lubricated they are superbly reliable. Yeah they bounce when they fire but show me a magnum that doesn't. I especially like the fact that I can shoot either of them and the felt recoil is somewhere in the area of my .270 & 30-06 which works well for this 75 year old.
 
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