I am trying something different this year, I have always been a slug gun nut but my exposure to 20’s is not extensive. Back in the day the 20 gauge slugs just did not have the punch the 12’s did on deer. That has all changed and the new slugs being offered for the 20 ga guns have very impressive ballistics.
I already have a Benelli SBE II slug gun and I cannot match its accuracy with any other 12 gauge slug gun we have tested, and we test them all!
So I thought I would buy a Benelli M2 for giggles and run it through all the currently available slugs and see what the what is.
First thing I notice is that the barrel has a receiver sleeve unlike the SBE II that has the barrel attached to the upper receiver. This is one of the reasons that the Benelli SBE’s demonstrate outstanding accuracy.
The design of the M2 barrel is identical to my Extrema 2 where the attached sleeve slides into the receiver and fills out the top of the action. The Extrema gives very good accuracy as well but it is not as good as the SBE.
I put another Leupold Ultimate Slam 3-9X40 on the M2 but I may go to a 2-7 after the testing to lower the profile a bit.
I am going to shoot a bunch of groups with all the slugs I can get my hands on to see if the M2 is a shooter. And if it’s not I will pin the barrel to the receiver and shoot the same slugs again to compare the groups.
Wish me luck.
Firearms Training & Hunter Education
Hi there,
very nice gun! Just a question… does it have the holes in the receiver for the rail from factory, or it is a modification from you?
Thanks!
Yes they are drilled and tapped from the factory and you can get base mounts from weaver or Benelli!
Wanted to see how you did and what slugs worked best
We tried about six different slugs and the core-loct ultras from Remington worked the best!
Mark, thanks for the review, I am going to order one of these on Monday. Do you still feel you have to pin the barrel? I pinned the one on my Mossberg Bantam and it made a noticeable difference. Thanks, Dale
Any additional info regarding your results?
What size groups are you getting?
Did you pin the barrel to the receiver?
So how did things go with the testing? My buddy wants to get a Benelli semi-slug gun and any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Les,
My best groups were produced with Remington Core Lokt Ultra and Remington Accu-Tip. Remington still makes the best slug in my humble opinion.
The Barrel was not pinned to the receiver. The full-barrell sleeve on the M2 makes pinning redundant.
Bill,
The Benelli are equal in killing power. The clear winner for weight and recoil is the M2 ( in 20 Guage). As to Long range accuracy, the 12 gauge performs slightly better. On a deer sized target the differences non-discernible.