I shoot my SBE 2 so well its ridiculous. Unfortunately, it requires that I break it down completely and clean it after every hunt the way most guns get cleaned once or twice a year....just to make it thru the next hunt without ejection/feeding problems. Sometimes, if its a barn-burner of a shoot, I'll get hang-ups despite thoroughly cleaning the night before. I clean it exactly like Benelli says it should be cleaned, and I shoot HeviShot, Heavy Speed Ball, Hevi-Metal, and Federal Bismuth 3" duck loads, so unless I'm clueless and those are junk loads, I have to say that I am extremely disappointed in the reliability of the gun. I had a Beretta xtrema in the early 2000s that was way to long for me (I shouldered it and bought it wearing a t-shirt...never again) and I sold that gun to a 6'8" friend/neighbor, but I hunted with it for a few years...and I can not recall it ever having the slightest hiccup. Both the Beretta and the Benelli have cost me longbeards due to the infamous Benelli "click," (Beretta does it too) so I was happy to see that Benelli pretty much resolved that issue with the SBE3. That said, I hate to not hunt with my SBE2, because when it goes bang, 90% of the time, a duck, crane, or goose has just died. That said, I go on week long turkey and duck hunts where I might be living out of my truck or a tent, and breaking it down and cleaning every nook and cranny after every hunt is getting old and it is going to result in me losing a spring or pin somewhere in the woods and being without a weapon.
I was hoping I just got a lemon, but it seems more and more as if there are a lot of fanboys willing to look the other way over assinine reliability issues simply because it is the sweetest swinging and shooting gun out there...when it dosent malfunction. It isn't just the shooting high issue giving me pause about the SBE3...hell, that may make it even more deadly in a duck blind; I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of my misses are low, but the fact that Benelli didn't just bite the bullet and fix it and reassure all potential buyers that it is a done deal and that the gun is guaranteed to shoot 50/50 0r 40/60 at 30 yards...that's indicative of a deeper issue that overshadows what the gun may or may not do.
I'm heavily leaning toward Beretta now. Everything from them since the xtrema 1 has shouldered well (and maybe someone sold me an xtrema 1 xl or something and I was too ignorant to realize it), and I don't see anyone anywhere reporting any cycling issues that come close to what I read about and have personally experienced with Benelli...I just hope I will see the same number (%) of birds folding when I pull the trigger as I do with my SBE2.
Does anyone know if Beretta has improved/upgraded their rotating bolt head and Beretta "click" issues like Benelli did? If I call in another turkey and watch it haul the mail after another "click" I may lose it and flat ruin whatever gun does it to me again.