I have been in love with a Benelli M4 ever since I saw one a few years ago when I was in the Corps. I then did some research on it and realized I just could not justify spending that much on a shoty. Times and careers have changed and I can now afford it. I have done some research and found out it is one of the better semi’s out there. Of course with any autoloading weapon theres a lot of moving parts and the possibility for a malfunction or a prefered load. So, I do understand it will never be as reliable as an 870. With that said I will go into what I want this shotgun for. Mainly I wanted a shotgun since I dont have any right now and figured I dont need more than one so why not make it a good one. It will mainly be used for fun at the range but if something whent bump in the middle of the night and grabbed it instead of one of my rifles or pistols it would be up to the task.
The only other semi I have slightly looked into is an FN SLP 12 ga. 3" Police Shotgun, but I dont know much about these and was hoping you guys would enlighten me.
Definitely take a gander at the mossberg 930. I don’t have one so ill leave the specifics to other people, but I’ve handled them and they are quite nice.
FN SLP.
I have a lot of time behind the M1014 (Benelli M4), Mossy 500s, 870s, and a smattering of time with most semi-auto shotties. There is not a one that I would take over the SLP.
The only question with the SLP is barrel length/capacity and aftermarket parts.
I have the SLP MK1, 22" barrel 9 shot. I bought specifically for 3gun type matches. The gun itself runs very good. Relatively soft shooter. It comes with 2 pistons. One for light and 1 for heavy loads. I have never needed the heavy load piston. As with all gas guns, keeping the gas system clean and the ports open is a must for reliability. The SLP needs to be run wet. I use CLP. Its thin viscosity burns off pretty fast, so I reapply every 50 rounds or so. Hope this helps
I agree with prc77 on most of those points, having bought one (SLP Mk1) for the same 3 gunning purpose about a year ago. Best cost effective ‘out of the box’ shooter for that purpose IMHO. It has been hugely reliable, and not had any problems with the federal/remington bulk ammo I feed it along with federal LE low recoil slugs.
1200 bucks seems steep to me; I paid about 850 from CDNN a year ago; you might give them a call and see what they say.