If you have reason to do so, talk me out of buying a Benelli Nova
 

I'm going to be buying a shotgun in the next month or so, and I'm finding myself fixated on the Benelli Nova. I found it locally for $300 (don't want to deal with FFL tranfers, etc. over the internet,) whereas the MSRP is 350, adn that seems like a decent deal. I've looked at a few websites, and I don't see anything bad that would change my mind. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this gun, and what feedback you have. I know that Benelli makes several guns for military and police usage, and I think that's a reasonably good indicator of quality and durability. I primarily want it for target/skeet/trap shooting, and I don't expect to use it for home defense, as no burgular with more than four functioning brain cells would pick my house if he were casing my neighborhood.

What I plan to buy is the following, in this order:

Benelli Nova in matte black with 28" barrel
Sidesaddle shell holder
4-round magazine extension
Shortest possible legal barrel and tactical grips (no stock,) if I do decide to use it for protection.


Also, I discovered that #4 shot is $3/25rd box at Walmart right now. A friend and I are picking up some surplus .50 ammo boxes at the Army/Navy store and loading up to prepare for zombie invasion.

Depending on how much ammo you have/buy, I might be willing to extend an invitation to come and hang out in my compound in the event of Zombie Invasion.

Benellis have a decent rep.

Hell, if you are willing to spend the money, then by all means buy it. In the mean time, I will stick with my Rem 870, which in CA ended up costing $260 after tax and DROS. It was even on sale at the time. :(

Before buying any ammo, go to, or call, the range you plan to shoot at and see if they have any ammo restrictions. Also, I really don't like tactical grips. I find they reduce accuracy when shooting.

Tac grips look cool, but they reduce your effective range to about the length of a room.

I'd say go with an M-1 rather than a Nova just because it's semi-auto and I'm lazy.

Which would be a problem were you to use it for skeet/etc.

But for home defense you'd be set... I assume none of the rooms in your house are bigger than... rooms.

I shoot skeet regularly (100 targets/ week) and a pump action shotgun w/ a short barrel and a tactical grip is not gonna be a good choice for that game, you really need either an over and under or a semi auto w/ at least a 26 inch barrel. I dunno where you plan on shooting trap and skeet, but I know that my gun club (http://www.jcsa-shootingsports.org/) will not allow us to use any shot size larger than 6 (as the number gets smaller, the size of the shot gets bigger). I use #8 in my 12 ga. and #9 in my 20 ga., you want to use a relatively small shot size for both games. The smaller the shot themore pellets your putting in the air, therefore the greater the likelyhood that your gonna break the target. I purchased a 20 ga. semi auto Beretta 390 at Wal-Mart a few months ago for 300 dollars. It's a fantastic gun, in the 3 or 4 months I've owned it I've put better than 1000 rounds through it w/o a single failure to fire or failure to eject. It shoots to point of aim, it's gas operated and will shoot any load I throw at it, including 3 inch shells. The Benelli is a good gun, don't get me wrong, but it's not gonna do what you say you wanna do with it very well.

Why does adding a tac grip reduce the effective range so dramatically?

I don't see that they would necessarily, however shortening the barrell definitely would. The only reason i can see that a tactical grip would make any difference would be in accuracy because of way you hold it, and the tendency to shoot from the hip, but the shot would still travel just as far.

Those would only be for home defense (I said no stock, and I'd be crazy to go trap/skeet shooting wtihout one

My friend had the nuber wrong. It was #8. The range we went to today (I got a membership, so I'll be back,) had no problem with what we were shooting.

Nope, semi for a pistol, but for rifles I'm more of a fan of bolt, and shotguns are pump or breech load (unless I can get my hands on a street sweeper.)

The Remington 870, as mentioned before is a great gun for the price. They are very easy to break down and reassemble, tons of aftermarket parts for them, reliable as hell, and you can get magnum load chamberings for aroung the $325 price range!

btw the pump should do ok for trap, and number 8 shot will be fine for both trap or skeet. I recently purchased a used 12 ga. Browning Citori Over and Under, they're not cheap, but if you plan on shooting more than the occasional round of skeet, and you prefer a breech loaded shotgun to a semi auto, then I'd strongly suggest you look at an O/U...stay away from the Remington Ppartan or any of the similar Turkish/Russian guns...they function ok, but they have ergonomic problems and as a result they are just miserable to shoot. If you are gonna be shooting mainly trap and not much skeet, the Benelli is a good choice. What kind of chokes come with the gun?

I have the Benelli and love it, I went with the 26 inch barrel for hunting, none of your add ons. Barrel length really doesn't mean much, only in longer range accuracy, all the powder will be burned in the first 20 inches. Personally, lose the front grip idea, no need and you do lose accuracy.

My second choice would be the 870, very reliable, no design changes for an eternity, parts are available anywhere and fairly inexpensive.

Either way, the pump is the way to go if u want something reliable forever (nearly). Like the revolver, or bolt action rifle, the fewer moving parts you got, the less chance you will have for failure... and BTW..do you live in Somalia or something, the home defense issue baffles me. Although I';m a huge fan of being prepared, and anyone coming in my home with the intent of harming me and my family will be carried out, I'm not obsessed with it. Live life and enjoy it!!

No, I live in a nice quiet town where violent crime has double over the past few years (goodbye, single-digit yearly violent felony numbers) and this happened. I've never died, but I still have life insurance. It's a just-in-case thing.


I'm ordering it on Monday, and after a two-week waiting period (think Homer waiting for his gun on The Simpsons,) I'll be the forum's newest gun owner (although still a long-time gun nut.)

A two-week waiting period for a shotgun!!?? In that respect, I'm glad I live in Washington. On long guns, you fill out the form, they make a call, and escort you out of the store with your new baby, all in the course of 15-20 minutes.

Sorry you have to wait for so long, but congrats on your new purchase. I've shot the nova a few times and it's a lot of fun.

Yes, my state (the same one that is known to give a CCW to anyone with a pulse, a clean record, and two forms of ID) has a waiting period. It's waived if you have a pistol permit, or have taken a hunting safety course (don't have time for either right now.)

I'm looking forward to fucking up my shoulder again. Maybe I can add rotator cuff to the list of permanent joint injuries.

That just blows my mind...oh well, at least we can still buy firearms without too much hassle.

As far as fucking your shoulder up is concerned, I've found that a little extra padding helps me out quite a bit. The last time I went shooting it was frickin' cold out, so I put on two fairly lightweight fleeces, and it ended up working great for reducing the felt recoil of the 12GA I was shooting. You probably already know about this, but they make a recoil reducer for the nova that's supposed to work fairly well.

Yeah, I'm going to be a wuss and let people laugh at me for it, but my shoulder won't hurt any more than it does :) (Stupid job.)

Woohoo, I ordered it yesterday and I'll be getting it on May 5.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it, I know I enjoy mine!

The first time I used it, I made the mistake of shooting 3 dram loads in a relatively light gun. Left a nice pattern of broken blood vessels on my shoulder.

I have a Nova and I like it a lot. I considered a 870, but wanted something a little different than everbody else.

I know what you mean about the pattern on your shoulder;)


Two weeks eh? Up here in Canada you can buy one and take it home the same day despite our gun laws... I can live with that..

Congrats on a fine shotty MrSelfDestruct. The Nova's have a great reputation.

You forgot about the part where we pay lots of money, go for a 3 day course, take a exam, get our picture taken, get personal references out the wazoo, send away for our license, pay more money and then wait 6 months for the CFC to process your application.

After all that, we can walk out of a gun shop with a non-restricted long-gun in as little as 10 minutes... As long as the government approves your TAN. :rolleyes:

Sorry, I still prefer their method.

I didn't have to go through as much as that, but I did get my FAC years ago. The part that I can live with is the walking out the same day with the firearm, not all the other bullshit the Gov makes us do (I'm no fan of rediculous gun laws)....just so we're clear;)

enjoy the benelli, and congrats, you should have a lot of fun for a long time with that gun.

here in oregon, they do instant background checks, typically it takes about 10 minutes. Occasionally it takes a little bit longer, but not usually more than half an hour.