Hello ,this is my first post and I would like to get your opinion on the Benelli Nova.Read some of the old posts and saw that someone had the receiver blow out on them.Is that common?.Have the new ones been modified or improved.Does anyone know a good place to get extension tube for the magazine.Also a good place to get a slug barrel.Has someone used them for a long time and found them durable and reliable.Sorry, if this question has been asked a lot.Appreciate your advise and suggestions,thank you.

IF it fits you great ( with the coat you will be hunting in) they work good .
But I have seen them freeze up in freezing rain when my 870 kept working .

If it is to long or POI needs to be raised or lowered they are junk.
With the stock and receiver 1 peice you can't shim a stock or change it a a kid grows .
Also if you break the stock ( it happens ) throw the gun away , it can't be fixed and not covered under the warrenty !!

I tested one for a few weeks before I sold it .
I was not impressed .
The forearm rattled .
It didn't fit me , I needed to shorten the stock , a real job and not undoable.

It was to fore end heavy and it kicked .
That is why they sell the extra $$ recoil reducer .

IMO if you want a 3.5" pump that will shoot 2 3/4 and 3" shells and not cost you a arm and a leg buy the Rem Super mag Syn stocked 870 .

I used to guide and no one broke a 870

Johnch

I shoot one sometimes. I had a serious problem with the receiver after less than a box of shells through it. Factory sent it back and no problems since. I've killed hundreds of birds with it, and like the feature that allows me to unload the chamber and *not* have the next round in the magazine picked up (safety while doing something in the boat and/or changing out load from duck to goose on occasion type thing) . Would I buy another? No.

Johnch and Kamo Gari,thank you both for your input.That is the type of information I was looking forward to.
Kamo Gari,you had said that after the initial trip to the factory for repair, you had killed hundreds of birds with the Benelli.So it did perform well after that glitch was worked out?.As Johnch also said if it fits one well and is one with no major problems it will perform well,but a Remington 870 is far better and much more durable.And both of you agreed on not buying another one.
How good (or bad) is the Benelli customer service.

I really like my Nova. I bought it mainly for the 3.5" capability. The forearm does rattle a bit, but nothing that has ever really gotten to me. I have never had any problems with it, and reliability is excellent. Stripping it for cleaning is a cinch. Plus, it must fit me well, as I can hit like a fiend with it!

For what it's worth, I'd get a Mossberg 835 before an 870 Supermag if I wanted to shoot 3.5" shells. I like the smoother bluing on the Mossberg and the tang safety. The 870's I seen lately have all had an issue with surface rust starting easily due to the porous matte finish. Of course, you can get the Wingmaster finish, but be ready to spend a bunch more. You might not want gloss, so maybe a moot point.

I would buy another Nova if slug barrels were more available. I just told my brother to get an 835, and I'd say the same to anyone.

the_captain You must have had better luck with 835 than me .
I had the rib come loose , it took 3 months to get the gun back from Mossberg , they claimed they also fixed a feed problem .
Before and after that I had feed problems with some Rem and Fed shells not ejecting .
Most 3.5" shells are actuly 3.35" - 3.4" and work great .
But the long ones (3.5") hang up when ejecting , so the 835 stays in the safe .
The ONLY reason it is still there , my GF gave it to me

Johnch

Why is there a scarcity of the rifled slug barrels for the Benelli Nova?.Also can one shoot slugs safely with a improved cylinder choke on their regular barrels?.If so,it maybe a cheaper way to go,especially if hunting in shotgun only ares.You won't have the advantage of a scope or rifle sights in this case.Would the 870 or Benelli barrels be upto this.Thanks for all of your info.

RAJ- you can get smoothbore slug barrels for an 870 that are fitted with rifle sights (both aftermarket and factory). The hardware exists, but I'm not sure what's all out there for the Nova. If I were to hunt in a shotgun zone, I would want the best accuracy I could get, so I would go for a rifled barrel with a scope.

Don't know why there aren't more aftermarket things available for the Benelli. The stuff that IS there is very spendy. My neighbor just spent almost $600 on a slug barrel for his Super Black Eagle. Ow.

The normal IC choke and old-style rifled slugs would work well, as long as you practiced and knew where to put the bead to match the desired POI. It's the same way slug hunters did things for years before rifled barrels were common. I still know guys who hunt this way, and it works for them. I've run slugs through the Nova, and they work just fine. Try a few brands - you might find one that your gun loves. The good news is that these kinds of slugs are so cheap, you can afford to try every kind out there.

Captain,thank you very much for the info.Appreciate you letting me know about the smoothbores and the rifle slugs.$600/ for a Benelli slug barrel!!!.Guess the way to go, would be with the smoothbore and rifled slugs on the Benelli.The slug barrel maybe the way to go with Remington.Are the Hastings barrels much better than the Remingtons'?.

I have a Hastings bbl for an 870 and it groups very well. It has open sights. It was around $200 in 1990. My Benelli slug gun is the one I use most. I paid $370 for the bbl,$50 for drill and tap,$50 for rings and bases,$75 for a slug bbl forearm,and ~$240 for the Burris scope. That's a total of $785 to make it into a dedicated slug gun. She sure can shoot slugs well though.

I had a Nova that blew up. A shell went off before the bolt closed completely. Destroyed the receiver and scared the hell out of me!

Benelli said that their warranty did not cover reloads (which is what I always shoot) so I was out of luck.

Since then, I have stuck with Berettas.

I normally hunt with a Win 101 O/U. That said, I've got numerous 870s and they're good guns. I also have a Benelli Nova 24 inch barrel (seems to balance better than 26s for me) that is the one I pick up when I'm going hunting where I might use it as a push pole or an aid to keep me from falling in a beaver run. I've dunked and mudded mine many times, shake or rinse it out in the marsh water, and its good to go. Get home, spray the action with WD40, work it a couple of times, and you're good to go for the next time. I think they're great guns for the money. Using the Benelli, I just killed a Mallard Drake triple off of one of my cattle tanks. Of course, this was about 10 minutes after a triple miss at another one. I guess it all averages out.

I recommend the gun highly but don't consider it superior to an 870 but certainly less rust prone.

quote:

Originally posted by RAJ:
Kamo Gari,you had said that after the initial trip to the factory for repair, you had killed hundreds of birds with the Benelli.So it did perform well after that glitch was worked out?.As Johnch also said if it fits one well and is one with no major problems it will perform well,but a Remington 870 is far better and much more durable.And both of you agreed on not buying another one. How good (or bad) is the Benelli customer service.

OK, you've asked several questions which I'll try to answer for you. It has performed well since I got it back in that I've not had any major issues with it. Every so often it sticks a bit when I'm in the process of shucking an empty and I have to really yank on the forearm, but it hasn't been a major issue. In all fairness, I suppose that could be attributed to operator error. As I hunt the salt as much as fresh water environs, we generally get a great deal of rust on anything exposed. A little rust, even a very vague film on a shell's brass, will certainly potentially cause stick extraction of empties.

I own an rifled barrel 870 myself and I like it fine, but won't use it until I get myself a cantilever scope mounted barrel. The 870 just doesn't fit me right, and I have to crunch my face down it hard to even be able to line up the sights on it.

The Benelli customer service was not great as far as getting it back to me in a reasonable time, but I got a really hokey response when I called to ask about it. The problem was such that the carrier assembly was bent out and locked up. I had drawn down on a black duck on a salt marsh, slapped the trigger, to have nothing happen. I shucked (and a round popped out unfired) and tried again. Same thing, except this time the whole mess with the carrier. I examined both shells, and neither had any marks whatsoever on the primers, yet the guy told me that I had 100% positively had a shell explode while ejecting it, destroying much of the action--in other words I had a hangfire. This is, as I told him, 100% bullshit, as I ejected both shells in their original state. Longer story short, they replaced the whole action. Which is funny, as one poster above said that tbey don't do that. Well, they did for me.

I'll buy Benelli again, but not a Nova. This one has been going strong for a few years, and as stated, my waterfowling shotguns take some pretty serious abuse to the tune of about 100 days a year, and especially so when I'm in the salt, which is about half the time or better (seaducking on the open ocean, coastal marshes, brackish estuaries, etc). I agree with Fatcat who sayds that the finish holds up well. Much better than the other few scatterguns I own and hunt with that have no such exterior finish or synthetic parts.

I grab the Nova alot, but it's more that I don't care a lot about it rather than me liking the way it shoots. Hell, the way we like to take them (in close, naturally!) it's not all that important what you use I don't think, as long as you can swing your gun and shoot reasonably proficiently in the first place.

Anyway, hope that helps.

KG

Oops, missed that the guy above me was shooting reloads. You admitted that? Therein lies perhaps your problem. :c)

Carluchin that is interesting that you would go with Berettas' rather than Benelli with respect to warranty.Benelli is now owned by Beretta(at least that is what I heard).Maybe they do have different warranties for their different shotguns.
Kamo Gari,thank you very much for you patience and kindness in answering all my questions.Appreciate that very much.That is impressive,-100 plus days hunting birds.Any shotgun has to be halfway decent or would not last long with you.So the Benelli Nova is OK not the best around.Would you rate the other Benelli's higher than the Nova in terms of durability and reliability,as you had mentioned you may buy other Benelli's and not the Nova.Glad to hear that Benelli after all the bellyaching ,fixed your shotgun for you.Thank you once again,truly appreciate your help.

quote:

Originally posted by RAJ:

So the Benelli Nova is OK not the best around.

In a nutshell, yeah.

quote:

Would you rate the other Benelli's higher than the Nova in terms of durability and reliability,as you had mentioned you may buy other Benelli's and not the Nova.

Several of my buddies shoot SBEs, and they all like them, but Beretta's autoloaders I would lean to buying instead, probably.


You're most welcome for any assistance I provided. Good hunting and good luck.

KG

Kamo Gari.....You are right, I should have never told Benelli I was shooting reloads! Dumb move on my part. Live and learn.

RAJ....I always have had Berettas because its what I like and fits me well.....I had the Nova as a "kick around gun" and like someone said before ....cause you dont care if you drop it in the mud! You can always hose it off and spray some wd-40 on it and you are good to go.

However....seeing what happens to a plastic receiver in the case of a "boo- boo"....and let's face it: shit happens...I prefer to have metal between me and an errant explosion. If I had to get another kick around gun today it would be a Rem 870!

Can't fault honesty. But then again when a white lie cost you the price of a shotgun that probably was defective/substandard to begin with...Let's just say that if I were you and had neglected to mention the reloaded shells part, there's an excellent chance I'd still be able to sleep at night.

I'm not impressed with my Nova.
1.The the forearm rattles
2.Slug barrels are too expensive(more costly than the gun itself)
I can't take it hunting because the forearms rattles. I got the 18" barrel for it with rifle sights. Now it sits in my closet as my home protection piece. I just threw a saddle mount with a red dot and loaded it with slugs. It is accurate enough for what its there for. That and sometimes I take off the saddle for some clay busting.