benelli R1 vs browning BAR
- Thread starter a1dookie
- Start date
tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
I heard the benilli is slicker snail snot
Would also love to know, had a chance to hold both at a SAIL location with the R1 shouldering a little better, just personal preference.
That being said, I was able to chat with an experienced sales person who preferred the BAR (long track), said it was more reliable/better construction.
What caliber are you thinking? I know the R1 is a little more limited in caliber options...looking forward to your comments Drillbit!
That being said, I was able to chat with an experienced sales person who preferred the BAR (long track), said it was more reliable/better construction.
What caliber are you thinking? I know the R1 is a little more limited in caliber options...looking forward to your comments Drillbit!
They're both great for that, I'll lay out the pros and cons and you can decide what is most important to you.
I'll start by saying I've been hunting with a comfortech R1 for the past 5 or so years and have put around 30lbs of powder through it. This spring I switched to my Longtrac 270 because I have a 5ga pail of ammo for it and a shelf of powder and lead for it. Haven't been able to find any 4350 for the R1 for around 2 years now, so it's parked.
After using the Longtrac 270 (oil finish) all spring, I'm very happy with it and doubt I'll go back to the R1.
My R1's are both 30-06, a wood and a comfortech.
I have a Longtrac 270, a Winchester SXR 30-06 and some old BAR's (7mm,30-06,308) that I won't discuss.
For feel the Benelli's fit me the best, and shoulder the best. This is without even shimming them. The Longtrac can be shimmed too, but I haven't played with it yet. The sxr and the old BAR's I find a little blocky and awkward. This is all personal preference, and you have to shoulder them to really know.
The SXR is by far the lightest of the bunch. It has a "Balsam" wood stock or something that is very light, but damages very easy. The others are all similar, I've never weighted them, but none stand out as heavy.
Magazines & Volume. I'm a volume guy. 3.5" shotguns and Beowulf magazines are my cup of tea. So 4 rounds are OK, but 5 is better. I got 10 round mags for the R1 pinned to 5 (hard to get nowadays though). Mags are kind of hard to seat in R1's so the extra big handle helped. Plus the 1 extra round never hurts.
The SXR comes with a fully detachable 4 round mag. The magazine is the same as the longtrac, but the floorplate is different the longtrac is not fully dtachable and is the browning hinge system that I dislike. The stopper can be drilled on the mag so it will also hold 5 rounds. BUT, with 5 rounds in the mag it can't be inserted under a closed bolt. Gotta run it dry before a reload but nice to slam in and shoot.
I bought SXR floor-plates and run them in my Longrtrac so I have fully detachable 5 round mags.
Cleaning. The Benelli is by far the easiest to clean. An 11mm or 7/16 wrench and the simple piston system can be cleaned very easily. *do not try to unscrew the barell nut with the front sling mount as shown in the manual, use a wrench* The bolt is also easy to remove and clean. The longtrac and sxr are a little harder to clean but really not bad. Also, the bolt is not removable (that I know of, the manual says gunsmith only). That being said I gunscrubber them and g96 them and that's it, once after spring bear season, and once after fall hunting season. I've hunted my R1 in -36 for a week and never had any problems. Haven't cold weather hunted my longtrac yet, but the old BARs were always fine and I'm sure it'll be good.
Benelli Piston. There are 2 piston styles in the R1. The originals were a 1 piece alloy. I melted 2 of them, Benelli replaced them in less than a week free of charge with the original receipt. Gun never malfunctioned and it was found cleaning after hunting season giving it the full disassembly clean. The new style is 2 peice, the alloy and a stainless piece, if you buy and R1 make sure it has the updated piston.
Accuracy.
Have done a lot of range shooting and load development with all the rifles.
The Longtrac and SXR both shoot sub moa very consistently. The benelli's shoot an inch left, then an inch right of center depending on how many are in the mag. With an empty mag (single feeding it) they'll shoot around 1.5 moa.
Recoil
The comfortech 30-06 is awesome and cuts recoil considerably. The 270 longtrac is about the same though.
The wood Benelli is 3rd and the SXR is the worst, as it is the lightest with a block stock.
The front sling mount screw on the comfortech need to be snugged up periodically as it always works itself loose, the wood guns always stay tight. Also the butt pad on the Comfortech R1 came off a few times and I gave it a couple dabs of glue so I wouldn't lose it.
IF there's any more questions let me know. That was a lot and I'm sure I've missed something.
