Dove, Dogs, and Shotguns

The lucky bastards from Shooting Times got to be the first to test Benelli’s new Vinci model out in Argentina. The folks from Benelli allowed them to abuse the latest member of the Benelli family, in an effort to establish the Vinci as one of Benelli’s premier shotguns.

Argentina boasts the largest population of mourning dove in the world. The dove there never migrate and the mild climate allows for 4 to 5 nestings in a single year. Dove are so thick that the farmers call them pests. When you throw in the fact that there are no bag or day limits in Argentina, one begins to see the potential for a sore shoulder. These conditions make a shoot in Argentina like nothing else.

Benelli took the guys from Shooting Times to Cordoba. Home to 30 or 40 million doves on a land mass one-third the size of California. We are talking 1,000 birds per in acre in some areas. A good test area I’d say.

It is standard after a day’s shoot for your shotgun to get a thorough cleaning, but for the test, there would be as much torture as possible, no cleaning or lubricating.

The shoot consisted of three six hour days. They shot 6,375 rounds in 18 hours, more than 25 cases of shells, more than most shoot in an entire dove season.

On the first day the Vinci fired 2,200 shells without one mis-fire. About two hours into the second day, the shotgun failed to eject twice. Keep in mind, we are talking 3,000 rounds with no oil or cleaning. Two drops of oil were applied to the rotating, locking lugs of the bolt and another to the locking lug recesses of the barrel. This was repeated every 50 boxes of shells, or 2500 rounds. After that, not a single malfunction, and if the three drops of oil had been applied after the first 50 boxes there would have been no malfunctions in 6,375 rounds.

If you are not impressed, you don’t know much about shotguns. The volume we are talking in three days rivals what most shotguns see in a lifetime, with virtually no hang-ups. Simply amazing, Benelli has done it again.

The winner is BENELLI VINCI, hands down, it took what Argentina had and came out on top.

Shooting Times goes on to explain all the awesome features of the Vinci, you can read their entire article here.

Let me just say, that if anyone would like for me to test any shotguns in Argentina, I’ll be glad to take one for the team. I know it will be a great sacrifice, but I’ll do it. That’s how I roll, I’m a team player.

Time to RELOAD!

Dove, Dogs, & Shotguns

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