Snarlbuckle
04-14-2010, 07:12 PM
After work on Monday, my roommate and I took a trip to the range to test out his new Remington 870 Super Magnum ($200 used). The only shotgun we had to compare it to was my Benelli Supernova ($460 new). Let the games begin.
-- Features --
To start off, we compared the stats and features of each firearm. The Remington he bought was nearly identical in features to my Benelli. The only exception was that the Remington is of course made of wood and steel, while the Benelli is made of steel covered in polymers (plastic). Each shotgun has a 26" vent-ribbed barrel with removable chokes. They both have barrels that take any 12 gauge shell up to 3 1/2". My roommate noted that the extractor inside his Remington isn't the one used for 3 1/2" shells, so we will have to do some further investigation on that issue. Each of these shotguns fulfill the same role for us. We use them to have some fun at the range shooting down clays, and we plan on using them to hunt turkey. These guns are not specialized for either job, but are very flexible and certainly capable tools.
When we took the guns apart for cleaning at the end of the day, we noticed that they operate in a very similar manner but that they have one very distinct difference. The bolt of the Remington has a lug that flips up and into a groove in the barrel to stay secure, while the Benelli has two rotating locking lugs on the front of its bolt. My personal preference is with the rotating lug design.
We also noticed some dents in the magazine tube that were put there by Remington to prevent the addition of extended magazines. This is an annoying move by Remington. Luckily, the older 870s don't have this 'improvement'.
When cleaning the guns, we noticed that the Remington required a tool to remove the pins that hold in the trigger group. The Benelli's magazine tube cap comes with a nipple for exactly that purpose, so the gun requires no extra tools to disassemble.
Benelli pumps also come with a little button on the bottom of the slide. If you hold it down and rack the slide, you will eject the cartridge from the chamber as usual, but it will prevent a fresh round from being released onto the lifter to be loaded. All it really does is prevent you from racking the slide all the way back where the magazine releases a fresh round. I like the feature, but I've never had to use it.
One big difference between the Remington 870 and the Benelli Supernova is the receivers and stocks. The Remington is made of wood and steel. It is built like a tank, and I have no doubts that it can take a serious amount of physical punishment. The Benelli on the other hand has a receiver made of steel that has had holes drilled in it, but then covered in polymers. Benelli Supernovas also come with the Comfortech stock which is adjustable and made of a hollow synthetic material. I wouldn't be comfortable using the butt of the Benelli as a close range weapon. I don't think that the Benelli receiver is quite as strong as the solid steel Remington receiver, but both of them can handle giant turkey loads. Overall, I think that the Benelli sacrifices some durability but makes up for it by reducing weight, reducing recoil, and resisting corrosion. Are you willing to sacrifice some structural integrity for the benefits of the Benelli? That is up to personal preference.
-- Shotgun Fit --
Shouldering and firing the two shotguns felt completely different. Remington has been making shotguns for a very long time, so they have their stock design down to a science. As far as ease of shouldering the firearm quickly and properly, the Remington 870 beat the Benelli Supernova hands down. Perhaps the length of pull on my Benelli isn't set properly. Luckily, Supernovas come with shims so that you can adjust your stock and fit it to your specific body type. Fit is an extremely important component of a good shotgun, so getting this part right is essential.
Weight and balance. Due to the synthetic stock and skeleton receiver of the Benelli Supernova, it looses a lot of weight in the rear. This leaves most of the weight in the barrel and hence the front. The Benelli is lighter, but more front heavy. On the flip side, Remington's wood and steel 870 is heavier but more balanced.
The Remington 870's wooden parts were in general thinner than the Benelli Supernova's synthetic parts. This felt more comfortable to both of us who were shooting that day.
When racking the slide on each gun we noticed that the Remington 870 makes an eerie and loud sound. The Benelli Supernova is much smoother but doesn't sound nearly as menacing.
-- Shooting Performance --
Lets be honest here, shotguns aren't precision machines. We can't compare how tight their groups are at 100 yards, and we really don't need to. We were shooting at clays the day that we tested these guns, so we did not do any patterning. Both guns fired shells and broke clays equally well... with one exception.
The Remington 870 JAMMED on the third shot! We emptied the only round out of the magazine tube before attempting to fix the stoppage. After a nervous 15 minutes or so, we removed the jammed shell and inspected it. Nothing appeared to be wrong. Since the gun was new, we figured that perhaps the magazine tube cap hadn't been tightened enough. We removed it and the barrel and re-tightened them as hard as we could. We chambered another round and made sure to put forward pressure on the slide this time just in case that had been the problem. Guess what, it jammed again. After clearing the jammed shell, we tried a different brand of ammunition. Of course, the new ammo worked wonders and the gun didn't jam again for the rest of the day. At this point we were sure that cheap ammo was the culprit.
I had never had a jam in my Benelli, so I tried some of the 'bad' shells in it and didn't have a single failure. Further examination of the jammed cases from the 870 vs the ones from the Supernova told the story very clearly. The low brass on the cases coming out of the Remington 870 had widened quite a bit, which was apparently enough to jam them securely in the chamber after firing. The shells coming out of the Benelli Supernova were just as straight as before they had been fired. The problem was obvious. The chamber of the Remington 870 was wider than it needed to be. That combined with cheap shells made a bad case of expanding brass that caused the gun to jam horribly. Lesson learned: Remington shotguns only like Remington shells.
-- Conclusion --
Both guns are excellent firearms. Each one has very distinct strengths which outweigh its weaknesses. For half the price, you can't beat the value of the Remington 870 Super Magnum. If you keep it clean and feed it good ammo, it will serve you well. The Benelli Supernova is far more expensive, but it may be well worth it if you like the extra features.
If I remember, I will post some pictures of the different features for all of you to see.
Edit: I found out after doing some research that the Remington 870 I reviewed is a normal 3" magnum with a 3 1/2" magnum barrel. This means that the receiver and ejection port are smaller than that of the 3 1/2" receiver of the Supernova. I also heard that all Benelli shotguns come with hard chrome plated barrel lining. The hard chrome is smoother than steel, which gives the Benelli an edge in cleaning, patterning, reliability, and durability. I also added some pictures, but please pardon the low light. Better pics coming soon.
-- Features --
To start off, we compared the stats and features of each firearm. The Remington he bought was nearly identical in features to my Benelli. The only exception was that the Remington is of course made of wood and steel, while the Benelli is made of steel covered in polymers (plastic). Each shotgun has a 26" vent-ribbed barrel with removable chokes. They both have barrels that take any 12 gauge shell up to 3 1/2". My roommate noted that the extractor inside his Remington isn't the one used for 3 1/2" shells, so we will have to do some further investigation on that issue. Each of these shotguns fulfill the same role for us. We use them to have some fun at the range shooting down clays, and we plan on using them to hunt turkey. These guns are not specialized for either job, but are very flexible and certainly capable tools.
When we took the guns apart for cleaning at the end of the day, we noticed that they operate in a very similar manner but that they have one very distinct difference. The bolt of the Remington has a lug that flips up and into a groove in the barrel to stay secure, while the Benelli has two rotating locking lugs on the front of its bolt. My personal preference is with the rotating lug design.
We also noticed some dents in the magazine tube that were put there by Remington to prevent the addition of extended magazines. This is an annoying move by Remington. Luckily, the older 870s don't have this 'improvement'.
When cleaning the guns, we noticed that the Remington required a tool to remove the pins that hold in the trigger group. The Benelli's magazine tube cap comes with a nipple for exactly that purpose, so the gun requires no extra tools to disassemble.
Benelli pumps also come with a little button on the bottom of the slide. If you hold it down and rack the slide, you will eject the cartridge from the chamber as usual, but it will prevent a fresh round from being released onto the lifter to be loaded. All it really does is prevent you from racking the slide all the way back where the magazine releases a fresh round. I like the feature, but I've never had to use it.
One big difference between the Remington 870 and the Benelli Supernova is the receivers and stocks. The Remington is made of wood and steel. It is built like a tank, and I have no doubts that it can take a serious amount of physical punishment. The Benelli on the other hand has a receiver made of steel that has had holes drilled in it, but then covered in polymers. Benelli Supernovas also come with the Comfortech stock which is adjustable and made of a hollow synthetic material. I wouldn't be comfortable using the butt of the Benelli as a close range weapon. I don't think that the Benelli receiver is quite as strong as the solid steel Remington receiver, but both of them can handle giant turkey loads. Overall, I think that the Benelli sacrifices some durability but makes up for it by reducing weight, reducing recoil, and resisting corrosion. Are you willing to sacrifice some structural integrity for the benefits of the Benelli? That is up to personal preference.
-- Shotgun Fit --
Shouldering and firing the two shotguns felt completely different. Remington has been making shotguns for a very long time, so they have their stock design down to a science. As far as ease of shouldering the firearm quickly and properly, the Remington 870 beat the Benelli Supernova hands down. Perhaps the length of pull on my Benelli isn't set properly. Luckily, Supernovas come with shims so that you can adjust your stock and fit it to your specific body type. Fit is an extremely important component of a good shotgun, so getting this part right is essential.
Weight and balance. Due to the synthetic stock and skeleton receiver of the Benelli Supernova, it looses a lot of weight in the rear. This leaves most of the weight in the barrel and hence the front. The Benelli is lighter, but more front heavy. On the flip side, Remington's wood and steel 870 is heavier but more balanced.
The Remington 870's wooden parts were in general thinner than the Benelli Supernova's synthetic parts. This felt more comfortable to both of us who were shooting that day.
When racking the slide on each gun we noticed that the Remington 870 makes an eerie and loud sound. The Benelli Supernova is much smoother but doesn't sound nearly as menacing.
-- Shooting Performance --
Lets be honest here, shotguns aren't precision machines. We can't compare how tight their groups are at 100 yards, and we really don't need to. We were shooting at clays the day that we tested these guns, so we did not do any patterning. Both guns fired shells and broke clays equally well... with one exception.
The Remington 870 JAMMED on the third shot! We emptied the only round out of the magazine tube before attempting to fix the stoppage. After a nervous 15 minutes or so, we removed the jammed shell and inspected it. Nothing appeared to be wrong. Since the gun was new, we figured that perhaps the magazine tube cap hadn't been tightened enough. We removed it and the barrel and re-tightened them as hard as we could. We chambered another round and made sure to put forward pressure on the slide this time just in case that had been the problem. Guess what, it jammed again. After clearing the jammed shell, we tried a different brand of ammunition. Of course, the new ammo worked wonders and the gun didn't jam again for the rest of the day. At this point we were sure that cheap ammo was the culprit.
I had never had a jam in my Benelli, so I tried some of the 'bad' shells in it and didn't have a single failure. Further examination of the jammed cases from the 870 vs the ones from the Supernova told the story very clearly. The low brass on the cases coming out of the Remington 870 had widened quite a bit, which was apparently enough to jam them securely in the chamber after firing. The shells coming out of the Benelli Supernova were just as straight as before they had been fired. The problem was obvious. The chamber of the Remington 870 was wider than it needed to be. That combined with cheap shells made a bad case of expanding brass that caused the gun to jam horribly. Lesson learned: Remington shotguns only like Remington shells.
-- Conclusion --
Both guns are excellent firearms. Each one has very distinct strengths which outweigh its weaknesses. For half the price, you can't beat the value of the Remington 870 Super Magnum. If you keep it clean and feed it good ammo, it will serve you well. The Benelli Supernova is far more expensive, but it may be well worth it if you like the extra features.
If I remember, I will post some pictures of the different features for all of you to see.
Edit: I found out after doing some research that the Remington 870 I reviewed is a normal 3" magnum with a 3 1/2" magnum barrel. This means that the receiver and ejection port are smaller than that of the 3 1/2" receiver of the Supernova. I also heard that all Benelli shotguns come with hard chrome plated barrel lining. The hard chrome is smoother than steel, which gives the Benelli an edge in cleaning, patterning, reliability, and durability. I also added some pictures, but please pardon the low light. Better pics coming soon.