Have had a Beretta 390 for the last 10 years. I am thinking about a SBE or an M2 Benelli. Are they worth the extra money? Likes and dislikes? How is their customer service? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, JB

I have a Super Black Eagle 2...Awesome....you won't need the customer service!!

I have shot that gun so many times where my spit bubbled off the barrel - waht a work horse And with the cool shim-kit you can adjust LOP ,cant and comb!....It's the Perazzi of automatics in my humble opinion...FYI, I own a lot of fine doubles and enjoy shooting this gun as much!

Go Benelli SBE2!
JW

+1 for the SBE! Great weapon.

I have a L.H. SBE II in Max.4 camo and love it. I'm sure you will hear from some Benelli haters, but I have absolutely no complaints!!!

My hunting partner has one. It functions OK. Few jams. It does not work with 1 1/8 oz loads. He shoots 1 1/4 oz on doves.

My take. It is a perfectly good gun mechanically. It is too clunky for me. the thing feels like a German '88 on a plastic stock. The 3 1/2" feature is usefull for steel shot. The extra length shell will gain you about 5 yards of effective range. I think steel shot is going to fade away, tungsten is better in every way but cost. Tungsten has no place in a 3 1/2" shell, too much of a good thing to be practical.

The gun is going to cost you about 1500 bucks. If you kept your old gun and and bought 1500 bucks worth of tungsten shells you would be way ahead of the game. You could kill ducks to obscene distances and have a gun that actually swings nice. The old Beretta is a better all around gun. With it you can shoot all flying game. Shooting the same gun all the time is a good idea. You will be a better shot than if you switch all the time. Think of the old coger with the model 12 that never misses, be that guy! My take, your milage may vary.

I'll give you my take on the SBE. I have had mine (Black, Synthetic, 26"bbl) now for some 5-6 years, and shot several cases of 3.5" steel through it, mostly Estate brand. I have taken a lot of geese and ducks with this gun. Function wise, it is as reliable as any gun I have ever shot. I also take it apart - including removing the stock, etc. - at least once per season. The factory supplied chokes, and they give you a handful, are an absolute joke, worse than useless. Get a Rhino .735 for waterfowl and steel shot, an aftermarket turkey choke and you will be ready to go. And mine would not shoot/cycle light loads when I bought it but after a lot of 3.5" shells it is about 95% reliable with my 1 1/8 OZ reloads. Now having said all this, I'll add one more thing. The SBE was the hardest gun for me to learn to shoot I have ever shouldered, bar none. Can't really give you a reason but it doesn't feel, swing or shoot like anything else, and I've shot a lot of different ones. And it is also the fastest cycling auto I have ever used. I like mine, I hunt virtually everything with it, and it works. I don't think the gun should cost as much as Bennelli sells it for, and I think it should have a lot more stainless steel parts in it. I think the new version has the equivilent of a Sure Cycle kit in it from the factory. And those God-awful chokes should be re-designed, especially for a gun that costs $1500.