doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com South America and the Benelli Cordoba

Greetings,

I'll be headed to South America once again and have decided it's time to retire a few Beretta 391 20ga's. The 2 guns have been the work horses of my battery for about 7 years now and have been through the mill. I always bring a SxS or a O/U also.

The 20ga gauge semi has always been a problem for me with the loading and wearing of the thumb after a hard day of shooting. Even with tape and roping gloves it get's sore. I went to check out the new Benelli Cordoba, the gun fits nice to me since being a lefty I like the shim system like the 391 for stock adjustment.

I have been thinking about taking a 12ga 391 for loading ease on the thumb and most know the ammo down there is dirty and some what weak compared to our US ammo. The 391 is a little heavier compared to the Cordoba with this comfort stock.

After shooting the ribs off a few 21's this trip looks like it will be a semi and a Browning 20 O/U. What are the pro's an con's of the 2 semi's and does anyone have any high volume shooting with the Benelli?? most of what I have found with a brief search of the web most are shooting these guns 100 rounds here and there.

Can the ammo down South cycle the Benelli?? should I re-up the 391's???

I shot dove in Argentina in July. Took a nearly new Benelli M2, borrowed from my shooting partner. The gun quit cycling on the first day and even a thorough cleaning didn't cure the problem. And the birdboys (the world's best field gunsmiths) couldn't get it going again. Rented a Beretta 28 gauge O/U from the lodge and couldn't have been happier. Ran over 1,000 rounds per day through it with nary a problem or bruise. Didn't feel handicapped with the smaller gun. Yes, the ammunition is not up to our standards but really was not bad stuff.

Joe, can you elaborate on the ammo? What is not up to standard?

JC(AL)

P.S.: Honest curiosity btw.

JC, for the most part the stuff worked just fine. But we did have several primers that were well punched but didn't fire. And I ran across a couple of shells that wouldn't chamber cause the metal heads were misformed. No big deal at all. Sorta like shooting my reloads. I think it's more of a matter of poor quality control. But the stuff killed birds so what more can be said.....

Most of the ammo is Fiocchi or Rio(burns dirty - has residue). But be sure to request which shell you desire: for a 12 bore 24, 28 or 32s. I can assure you that a truck load of 32s in a 12 bore double will result in a painful shoulder and a necessity of a nightly massage. Last year, I saw a few Benellis(non Cordoba) but 391s in 20 bore seem to be the choice for high volume. But if you are shooting for your name on a board(2000 to 2500 Doves) and your averge is less than 50%, you better have the auto cleaned nightly. It also appears to wear your thumb nail less.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I once went with Roger Anderson and his outfitter Miguel Midus. The duck loads he had were like TNT but that was one outfitter. Alvin Loude had a nice 1oz 12ga load that did the job but was so dirty it fouled the 391. I personally clean my own guns nightly while most hang in the lodge with a nice cocktail. What surprised me is most was most bird boys clean the clients guns with straight GAS out of a primative air can connected to a compresor with about 20 holes in the hose.

That's the Latino way: least effort with max results(they think). There were 2 groups at "The Lodge" one of which was a group of 8 Brits who snapped 56K cartridges and downed near 32K doves, pigeons and a duck over 6 or 7 days. They had trouble with the 391s until we made the birdboys breakdown and clean the guns every night. Parts are really difficult to obtain and I don't understand why they don't clean the guns on a daily basis.

I believe the Argentines are starting to make there own, or have made their own shotshells. Total amount of powder is the only restriction; therefore, they can only have a max number of shotshells at each repository.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Our bird boys dipped the guns in gas and failed to use any lube. Put Break Free on the 390's operating rod and had no problems. A new Benelli Cordorba failed the first day but the 390's keep shooting. Use cloth bandaids on you loading thumb.
bill

It's interesting you guys start talking about the Benellis and then switch to the ammo as the offending party. Why is it necessary to clean your gun every evening after the shoot? So it will work? I have been to SA six times and can honestly say I have never had a gun malfunction in thousands of rounds and I didn't clean the gun each nite. I shot two O/U 20's and they flat worked EVERY time. On each trip, without fail, the only guns that failed were the semi's.

People will chime in here and say how their guns "have thousands of rounds through them and have never failed". Well, let me tell you what my impression is; it ain't a matter of IF it will fail, it is a matter of when.

Why spend all that money on a shooting trip and not bring your own double?

I had a fella bring in a newer, less than one year old, Benelli into the shop a day or two ago and when I asked him what was wrong with it he said it failed to eject. I told him to sell the damn thing and buy something that works.

Jim

What I saw was 10 thousand rounds per gun per week. I don't recall how long they had had the 391s, BUT they had been cleaned very little in the time they had them. I would say that most cartridge makes would have done the same thing. I personally shot the owner's Citori which had ejector issues due to residue.

IF you are going to get your name on the board at an outfitter(which they promote in order to see hulls fly, but I neither condone or support) you are going to have to have at least one, maybe 2, unplugged autoloaders unless you have Lord Ripon's handler seeing if you shoot 50% and you need to snap 5000 rounds over the course of a day to meet the 2500 benchmark. If you consider lunch(and when you begin), you have to be downing a bird every 15 or 20 seconds.

There are issues for countries like England/Great Britian where some of the guys I shot with could not get their guns out of their own country. In order to get it in country, cash has to change hands after the inspection and before you put your gun in the outfitter's vehicle.