Benelli/Franchi “Click”?

[Jesse Jaymes]

I never paid attention to this but believe I’m a Victim ??

Brand new Franchi Affinity 20. I’m a lefty and wanted to dip my toe in 20 gauge. Nice, light Chukar gun. It is light. Holds more than 2 shells. And didn’t break the bank

But F me……this POS has gone CLICK on at least 5 of my most in opportune times Cost me several roosters and drakes so far. My pup works too damn hard to miss these opportunities

This simply a design flaw in inertia guns?

 

[voltage]

This happens because the bolt isn't fully engaged. Usually, this is because the bolt is closed softly (such as when trying to be quiet) or when the bolt handle catches brush.

I have an SBE2 and an Ethos. The click happens more than the SBE2 for me, likely because it is a duck gun that I abuse. On both guns, I look at the bolt all the time.

Benelli claims they fixed it on the SBE3, but it can still happen.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

I had it happen a couple times with mine when brand new. Good cleaning of the bolt and running abunch of rounds through it has helped. No issues since the break in period.

However, it's now a dedicated turkey gun with a red dot. I've been tempted to take it out on duck/dove hunts to see how the red dot helps/hurts with leading.

 

[LongWayAround]

Your bolt is not locking up tightly. Sometimes caused by bumping the bolt handle in a blind or trying to close the action quietly. It need to SLAM shut.

If you don't think either of those things have caused it, you can try a stronger recoil spring but you may have trouble cycling lighter rounds.

 

[molliesmaster]

The bolt needs to slam home. If the bolt face doesn't rotate into place you're gonna get that click.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

It’s more #2….i assume it’s a rotating bolt/lug like an AR. I do allow it to fully cycle into battery. Still an issue. Caught on a wader. Or the butt bumped from a slip or fall. I’ve been treating it like glass. Still happened again today. Super disappointed honestly.

Does anyone make a more stout spring ?

Im about the 100 shell mark. Shot a few rounds of trap with it. Spring seems SUPER soft.

No issues on pavement…but who uses a gun like that ? Does nothing for me. The birds are in the shitty stuff. Not on a 5 stand

 

[LongWayAround]

I bought my recoil spring from Wolff. Not sure what all varieties they offer. I believe it was +25%.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Used them on several handgun springs. I’ll look. Thank you

 

[RockAndSage]

It’s more #2….i assume it’s a rotating bolt/lug like an AR. I do allow it to fully cycle into battery. Still an issue. Caught on a wader. Or the butt bumped from a slip or fall. I’ve been treating it like glass. Still happened again today. Super disappointed honestly.

Does anyone make a more stout spring ?

Im about the 100 shell mark. Shot a few rounds of trap with it. Spring seems SUPER soft.

No issues on pavement…but who uses a gun like that ? Does nothing for me. The birds are in the shitty stuff. Not on a 5 stand

It actually does rotate, at the very last bit of forward travel - you'd think you'd be able to bump the bolt handle forward to close it, like you would the forward assist on an AR, but it doesn't seem to work that way unless it's lubed really well. Best practice is to pull it back a long way and let it slam home.

Something to know about heaver recoil springs, is it might limit its cycling reliability with really lightweight loads. The bolt needs to be going back at a certain velocity to unlock when the gun hits the harder wall of your shoulder, after the softer, squishier clothing and flesh has compressed. From there, the bolt will still fly backwards and compress the recoil spring. If it's not flying back fast enough, it either may not eject sufficiently, or the recoil spring may not get enough energy compressed into it to fling the bolt forward again with enough energy to chamber reliably. So, if you change springs, be sure to experiment with different loads, and determine what's acceptable to you.

 

[Str8shooter]

As long as you avoid trying to quietly slow feed the bolt body into battery it will rarely be a problem. If you happen to slam or set the shotgun down on the stock hard, that can also result in the bolt coming out of battery. Also keep your recoil spring cleaned and if it is an older gun or your gun seems to easily come out of battery or doesnt lock in hard, consider a Wolff recoil spring as mentioned above. Also see the great post by remarkable on the benelli forum regarding recoil spring maintenance https://forums.benelliusa.com/topic/3225-which-recoil-spring/

 

[KurtR]

year 3 with my affinity and 99% used hunting waterfowl and im not the best at maintenance and only have had the click once but i was messing with the bolt in the lay our blind. I let it slam forward and always a little push with the handle to make sure. Never had it happen pheasant hunting other than forgetting to load it out road hunting

 

[Trout&Buck]

I feel like the other major cause of the "Benelli click" is not having the gun fully/firmly shouldered when shooting. I've had this happen on a few occasions when I have taken my first shot before I have my gun tight against my shoulder, miss, and then get a "click" on my 2nd shot.

I believe Franchi also recommends running 2-4 boxes of heavier loads through the gun to break it in. So if you're at about 100 rounds and a portion of that is from target loads the gun may still need some breaking in.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

@LongWayAround

I just called Wolff.....zero help. Said no spring. Nothing for Franchi....."I believe all those manufacturers and models are different"

The "Click" has never been on a second or third round. It doesn't go BANG the first time.

Think half the people here have it correct......I DO allow it to feed and charge from fully locked bolt. But the recoil spring seems so pathetic I feel I could drop the gun on the butt from less than a foot....and it would cycle the bolt. There's nothing to this spring.

More "shooting and break in" is going to ??? Soften the spring......

Wouldn't think any modern 2024-25 production shotgun should need a few hundred shells to "break in".

I was super excited for this shotgun. Checked a ton of boxes.

Right from jump....the fore end was schitt and didn't fit. Needed sanded a ton to even assemble the shotgun. They sent me a new fore end which was much better molded and it now fits. Had Clicks with both fore ends now. It's a wimpy spring. And schitty design.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Franchi sending me a new spring with a simple phone call.

But how ghetto is "stretching a spring". Not sure tug o war with my wife is going to be very +25% scientific to "tune" the original.

 

[LongWayAround]

Wolff Recoil Spring Benelli Super Black Eagle, Montefeltro, M1 Super

Wolff rifle and shotgun extra power recoil springs reduce the amount of felt recoil when using heavy loads and can improve feeding. Reduced power...

www.midwayusa.com

Seems like it might be worth a try for $17.

Mine is a Gen 1 SBE so I'm not sure about spring diameter or length variances.

 

[Bearlodge10]

Yep, I'll say you have become a victim. It doesn't help the situation when the dog work is good, and the shot opportunity is there. Just leads to Frustration. I recently purchased a Franchi and hunted a little with it. I figured it was silly to have to run a bunch of heavy loads through it, so I just took it out and didn't have an issue. Then I let me son use it to hunt pheasants after three incidents of "the click" he was about to throw it in the creek. I thought that I was going to have egg on my face until I watched him load it and check if it was loaded while walking up towards a dog on point. He wasn't letting it slam closed and thus, the bolt wasn't closed all the way. Since that learning expedition, it has worked flawlessly.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

But yours was/is a 20? Seems like there would be a ton of difference between a 12 and 20 spring.

But agree. For $20 it’s worth a shot

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Yep, I'll say you have become a victim. It doesn't help the situation when the dog work is good, and the shot opportunity is there. Just leads to Frustration. I recently purchased a Franchi and hunted a little with it. I figured it was silly to have to run a bunch of heavy loads through it, so I just took it out and didn't have an issue. Then I let me son use it to hunt pheasants after three incidents of "the click" he was about to throw it in the creek. I thought that I was going to have egg on my face until I watched him load it and check if it was loaded while walking up towards a dog on point. He wasn't letting it slam closed and thus, the bolt wasn't closed all the way. Since that learning expedition, it has worked flawlessly.

In competitive 3D archery we call it “Ground Tuning” a bow. Throwing that POS as far as you can…guess like a golf club?

Yea…this Affinity has nearly been a boat anchor several times now.

 

[LongWayAround]

But yours was/is a 20? Seems like there would be a ton of difference between a 12 and 20 spring.

But agree. For $20 it’s worth a shot

Mine is a 12ga. Some of the reviews there on Midway reference using the same spring in a 20ga. Might be a crapshoot...

I had the same issue resurface last year and my gunsmith ended up replacing a "cam spring" in the bolt. That's probably an unlikely cause for you with a new gun. Mine was purchased "used" in about 2009.

 

[S.Clancy]

In competitive 3D archery we call it “Ground Tuning” a bow. Throwing that POS as far as you can…guess like a golf club?

Yea…this Affinity has nearly been a boat anchor several times now.

My brother and I both shoot Affinity 12 GA. From what I have seen, it seems like some of the guns come with "soft" springs from the factory. For example, mine has only "clicked" when I check for a live round and then forget to slam the bolt home. My brother's has opened the bolt by setting the gun butt down hard on the ice duck hunting.

I would start with a new factory spring. IMO, the Affinity is unbelievable in value outside of that stupid spring.