Airsoft Retreat

I’m hoping that this review will be what I like to call, comprehensive. I will do my best to cover every second I spent involved in buying my Benelli. From the time I spent searching for information on it, to the present day.

It all began about a year ago, when I saw a Benelli review on the website a fellow, who is quite well respected for his ludicrous, yet successful, medications. This fellow happened to be David Jones, AKA Inferno. He is well known for his ‘chopping’ and very in depth knowledge of the Benelli’s internals. After reading his review, I was in awe that such a Springer could achieve such great feats performance wise. And to top this, I have always been an avid spring gun owner. Yet the Benelli was placed into the back of my head, after I attained a number of other replicas, and obviously my budget was set at an all time low (we all know the feeling of this).

Several months later, I talked with a few of my buddies, and after very careful thought, and many long hours of doing yard work, I decided that the Benelli would be the first gun on my “Airsoft Agenda”. The best part was that I could actually afford it at that point. But soon a myriad of questions arose. Is the full stock too big? Is the shorty too short? How many shells should I get? How many shells do I need? To help answer these questions, I went to the reviews. I wanted the length of a shorty, but I also wanted the ability to use a stock for easier aiming. After reading a review (from which site I can’t remember), and reading that the stocks/grips of the shorty and full stock are completely interchangeable, I was set on buying a shorty version, then acquiring a stock, to put onto the gun. Seeing as how both the long and short version have the same size inner barrel(s), I would not be sacrificing performance. This plan had its flaws though. The only stock that is compatible without modification is the airsoft one, made by Tokyo Marui. And there aren’t exactly a whole lot of people who just have the stock of one. But luckily I struck gold. Jonard replied to me from one of the adds I placed on Airsoft Retreat, saying that he had a stock, with the necessary screw (which I will get into later), and a nice shell holder. He offered me both for 40 shipped; a deal that was just too good to pass up. I sent out the money as soon as I could, and received my stock and shell holder.

Now this was terrific, except I didn’t have a gun to use my new gear with! So I soon put in my order for a Tokyo Marui M3 Benelli Short Version with 3 extra shells, from Airsoft Arms in Ohio. The total came out to 215 shipped, and from there on it was a waiting game, as they would have to special order it. I chose to order from Locutus at AA, for a few reasons. His price was very good, and the one problem that plagues many Benellis is jamming. I’ve had a fair share of friends who’ve been stuck with a broken shotty, and a retailer refusing to give refunds, even after just a month. Locutus on the other hand was someone I could trust, and I figured that waiting a few weeks now would be better off in the long run.

Two weeks later I came home to a big box. As I tore through the shipping box and foam, it appeared. The box was bigger than I thought it would be, especially because this was the shorty.

I opened the box up and pulled her out. Man, this gun is sweet, I thought to myself.

After looking at the cool things that came with my new shotgun, I closely scrutinized the shotgun itself. It did not have a whole lot of metal, only the shell door, outer barrel, fake bolt handle, and sling mounts. However, it felt incredibly solid. The ABS used in construction felt like it could be used as a baseball bat! No creaks, noises or anything. The weight was not especially heavy, but not light either, I felt fine with it, as I’m not exactly your average Arnold. One thing I noticed was the sling mounts. The rear sling mount is a swivel on the Short version. A very neat concept I thought. However, this makes a lot of noise swinging back and forth, so I took it out (which is a little bit tricky, but is shown in the manuals). I also took notice of the fore-end. Constructed out of a rubbery-looking plastic, it provides a good amount of grip, and the same goes for the pistol grip. I think they are made out of the same materials.

In the midst this excitement a light bulb came up. The stock!!! I quickly pulled it out, and figured out how to get it on. I first removed the shorty grip, by using an Allen wrench to remove the screw that is on the backside of the grip. I then removed the rubber butt pad from stock, and noticed the long screw. Which was huge, almost a foot long! For dimensions sake, this gun is 11 inches long, and 5 mm wide, with __ inches of threading at the bottom. So this is what you will need in addition to the stock (should the owner not give it to you for some reason). I slid the stock on there, screwed it in with the “gigantic screw” and then put the rubber butt pad back on, and then attached the tactical shell holder I’d also gotten from Jonard. All this took me less than a minute. Not too shabby...

Although it was very fun holding it, I really wanted to start shooting it! So I set out to my backyard.

I loaded up my shells with .2s using the loading device. The loading device is basically a barrel which will house the 30 BBs, and is pushed at the loading area of the shells, and then a rod is used to push the BBs down the barrel of the loading device, and into the shell.

Once the shells were loaded, I went outside to take some test runs. Put one shell in her, cocked it, but surprised at how hard it was, and was not able to cock it all the way. Doh!!! Scared to cock it again I released the shell, and got the 3 BBs out by pulling down the foregrip, but not far enough to cock it. The gun was harder than I thought it would be to cock, what helped was to just do it fast. I experimented with several different modes of cocking, with and without the stock. With the stock, I actually found it difficult to cock when shouldering it. This is because my left arm was somewhat was almost full extended, when holding the foregrip, so I couldn’t get much leverage. However, if you have longer arms, the stock would very much aid you in rapid fire. The two methods I seemed to like best, was cocking at the hip, and holding the gun upward, and cocking down, although I use the hip one most, as I can actually get some good rapid fire using this method.

Enough about the cocking lets get some shooting specs. At 50 feet, the distance of my backyard, I would just get a tight triangle hitting the target, at quite a nice speed. I would hate to be on the receiving end of this gun. However I wanted to see how the spread would be at 100 feet. So I went back inside my house, to the very front. And shot all the way through my house, out the backdoor, and to the back of my backyard. (I love my house for this). Here I found that the BBs usually spread in a 1-2 foot triangle. Quite a big spread, however I would one would still be able to hit their target. This could probably be remedied by using every BBs, because they would be less affected by wind. Unfortunately, all I have are Marui .2s at this time. Performance-wise, you can expect this shotgun to perform admirably in the field. Your only real disadvantage would be your low rate of fire (ROF). The lack of ROF could be compensated by tactics, though. Inferno has written up a very nice guide on using the shotgun in the field, which is posted on his website.

Full stock or Shorty? A lot of people ask what’s best for them, hell I did too. For me the full stock is nice for aiming, not pumping At 5' 9", I'm just too small for that. Ideally, having a shorty, with an extra stock, would be best. The ability to change between the two is very advantageous. It can be used as a primary one game, then a secondary the next, in a matter of 30 seconds. If you are a big guy, then just be sure that you get a stock on one, whether it have a short barrel or long barrel. Or else this will feel like an mp5k on you. But the shorter outer barrel gives you some better maneuverability.

Although I love this gun I do have some quirks. My biggest one would have to be the shells. These things cannot be weighed in ounces. They should be weighed in grams, that is how light they are. Entirely plastic, I get mad thinking about them. The markings on them consist of a sticker that Marui puts on the shell. Which I actually took off on one of mine to fix a shell. I think it looks better. However, the shell does have some advantages. It is easy to get into and fix, with the exception that getting the spring back in may be tricky. Also, because of its lightweight, when it is dropped, it doesn’t have a ton of momentum. So if you open the shell door and the shell pops out (which it sometimes does, something I think is pretty neat), and falls onto the cement, it wont break. I wouldn’t say the same for other mags, such as those for GBBs, which are very heavy. But the shells get the job done, and so for that, I cannot really complain.

Accessories are a must for a shotgun. Right now I have this Tactical Shell holder that is made by CQB solutions. (http://www.cqbsolutions.com/shotgunbssl.htm) This holder works very well, it sits very securely on the stock. Right now, the loops are a bit tight on mine, since it hasn’t seen much use. What I’ve been doing is leaving the shells in them overnight, to keep them stretched out a bit. The nylon material will somewhat take the sticker off the shell when you place them in, but very little, and I don’t really care, because I’m not a huge fan of the sticker. I like this particular one, because it is very secure on the stock. It doesn’t move around, and may be used on the left or right side of the stock.

Another favorite among Benelli owners is the heat shield. These can be found on websites such as www.cheaperthandirt.com and fit over the outer barrel. Inferno has used this one on his Benelli also.

In short, I got this gun because I am 99% a backyard shooter, and 1% a skirmisher. Although now that I’ve got this thing I think that may change. Don’t get this gun if you’re looking to massacre people on the field or are a spray and prayer. One will have to use tactics and be covert to be successful with this gun. But even if you are a plinker with a budget that exceeds that of what is required for your HFC and UHC springers, then this could be an option for you. But I can be sure that buying this gun is something you won’t regret.