20 Gauge Semi feedback

Looking at new 20 gauge semi from Mossberg Sa20 and weatherby sa08 and Franchi element. Looking for some feedback, particularly long term reliability.
 
I am familiar with the first two and they should give you many years of great service . I own a 20 ga M-2 Benelli that has been great gun from Upland to waterfowl
 
I shoot a Weatherby SA-08 in 12 gauge. It has been my primary pheasant/quail/grouse gun for 3 years. I love the gun. Planning to get one in 20 gauge for quail. It has been very reliable. It comes with 2 pistons, one for heavy loads and one for light loads. That system has really worked well for me. The gun fits me like a glove and it is extremely light.
 
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I can vouch for the Weatherby SA-08 20 gauge guns....probably the best of the Turkish semi's that everybody seems to sell a version of these days. They are gas guns that come with two gas pistons for light and heavy loads. They appear to be Beretta clones with minor differences like safety position and the aforementioned gas pistons. Lightweight (6 pounds) and surprisingly soft recoiling guns. Weatherby appears to be pushing their new Inertia semis now instead of these...
 
I have a Beneilli 20Ga M2/Synthetic/Comfortech stock. Nice little shotgun. Easy to carry, mild recoil if any at all. I truly like the adjustable stock (shims); makes it point where I'm looking.

HOWEVER, mine has been a testament to Benelli customer service. Bought in 2012. One trip t0 SD and it went back because it was rolling the leading edge of the brass on the hull when it chambered a round. Also, it would feed an extra round out of the magazine tube, jamming up the works. Benelli was running their "No Excuses" adverts at the time. Asked for a replacement shotgun...no excuses! They of course said no. Boxed up, sent to Benelli. They hand adjusted (filed) the chamber; it no longer rolls the brass. They trimmed a coil off the magazine spring; it rarely double feeds now.

Next season, 2013, I walked a tall native sunflower patch, with the flowers tugging at me all the way. When I came out the other side...no recoil pad! The flowers had pulled it out of the cage that holds the pad in the comfortech stock. Called Benelli after I got back; the sent me a new pad. Good customer service. They advised me to use some Gorilla Glue to hold the pad in the cage.

A few weeks ago, I took it out of the heated (Goldenrod) gun safe and shot 150 rounds of various clay. The replacement recoil pad, now 6 years old, started crumbling into tiny black bits of padding. Looked like pepper flakes. Called Benelli, sent pictures by email. Two days later, new Gel recoil pad. Good customer service.

The newest problem which I first noticed when shooting the clays was that the comfortech stock was getting "sticky/tacky". It's almost like pine tar tacky. I have never used solvents on it, in fact pretty much never put anything on it at all. Occasional rain maybe. I've have washed it in Dawn dish soap. Seemed to make it worse. I tried a bit of GoJo; that cleaned it up but a couple days later it was tacky again. Tried rubbing alcohol. That has worked the best but it still seems to return a bit. It's going to SD anyway; I shoot it too well to leave it home. But when I get back....Benelli customer service again. I have read online that they did have some tacky stock problems around 2012. Maybe mine was slow to develop.

Summary. I really like the shotgun. Benelli customer service is great. Unfortunately, I have to use it too often! :)
 
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I did a bit of research on your problem: try baking soda and water. Make a paste and scrub the stock. Apparently this works.

Good Luck!
 
If you mean the Franchi Affinity, I bought one for a young friend who lives in SD and he really likes it. He lives on a farm and they also host hunters, He shoots a lot and it is working fine. I shoot an older Franchi AL-48 20 gauge and like it just fine. I plan to use it in SD in a couple of weeks.
 
Chestle the pad on my m2 gummed up like that. There is a sleave the pad goes into. Pulling the pad off destroyed the pad and pulled the sleave out. I ending up having to hot glue the sleave back in and replace the pad. The tolerances aren't near as tight now and have some gapping between the stock and sleave/pad now
 
I did a bit of research on your problem: try baking soda and water. Make a paste and scrub the stock. Apparently this works.

Good Luck!

Thanks JonnyB! Will give that a try today! Hadn't thought of that one. Do you recall where you saw that? I'd like to read their experience.
 
Chestle the pad on my m2 gummed up like that. There is a sleave the pad goes into. Pulling the pad off destroyed the pad and pulled the sleave out. I ending up having to hot glue the sleave back in and replace the pad. The tolerances aren't near as tight now and have some gapping between the stock and sleave/pad now

BrownDogs, when I went through the sunflowers, it just pulled the pad. The cage/sleeve stayed in tight. When the replacement pad crumbled and I went to remove it, the sleeve/cage was still tight and the pad split a bit where it gets wide outside the cage.It finally popped out.

When I got the new gel pad, it was still tough to get the sleeve/cage out. I had to use a thin screwdriver blade on each side to compress it off the "notches" on the inside of the buttstock that hold the cage in. Started at the top of the stock where it is thin and eased it out from there.

The new gel pad fits tight in the sleeve/cage and the sleeve/cage popped back into the notches pretty tight as far as I can tell.

You might get Benelli to send you a new sleeve/cage and see if that one fits into the notches more tightly.

BTW, the new gel pad is really nice. Shoots even softer than before. They charge $100 for one though! Glad they gave it to me free.
 
Looking at new 20 gauge semi from Mossberg Sa20 and weatherby sa08 and Franchi element. Looking for some feedback, particularly long term reliability.

I’ve got a TriStar labeled version of the Mossberg. Same gun. Same as the Weatherby in 28 guage also, but the Weatherby is different in 12 and 20’if I remember correctly. Mine is the Bronze version. I’ve only got 300 rounds through mine with no issues. TriStar gives a 5 year warranty. I bought mine from Buds where I also bought a “lifetime” warranty for $29. If they can’t fix it they’ll allow the cost against any gun they sell. I bought it purely as a Turkish experiment and curiousity. I’m going to buy a 28 for my kids after shooting it.

The trigger sucks. Online they say to buy a trigger spring from mcarbo.com to cut it in half. Mine was 7+ lbs from factory. Mcarbo spring dropped it to 6.75 lbs. Time for polishing stones.

All the reviews of actual owners versus keyboard commandos on shotgunworld and uplandjournal speak very favorably on them.
 
Another recommendation here for the Tristar Viper. My wife has the 20 gauge walnut stock youth model and loves it. Just bought her the 12 ga synthetic stock youth model, she hasn't had a chance to try it yet.
 
I have the Mossberg SA20. Used it during Dove season. Soft shooting and reliable. Heading to S.D. next week. Will see how it does with 3" shells. If I had a "do over" would buy the Tristar Viper G2. Reason is, Tristar will sell you parts, Mossberg won't.
 
I noticed in your response that your comfortech stock was getting "sticky/tacky". Although I don't know much about this product, I have a Browning Maxus with a synthetic stock that did the same thing. It had a "duratouch" finish that became sticky/tacky within the first year of owning it. A friend has the same gun that did the same thing. Earlier this year, after Browning was taken to court in a class action lawsuit, they began replacing and fixing all of the Maxus stocks that were affected. You may want to reach out to Benelli and see if it is a widespread issue.
 
Thanks for feedback on 20s. I have an old Beretta al 303 that I might just use instead. She’s got beautiful furniture on her and no dings. Been a safe queen for some time.
 
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