Looking to purchase a decent semi shotgun. Want it mostly for hunting. Anything from grouse, turkey to geese
Have done a decent bit of research between these two to understand the benefits to inertia vs gas and the overall differences between them. No local place to lay my hands on one here
This isn’t an immediate purchase but wondering what your preferences are especially if you’ve handled and shot both
Mostly looking for any reason to stay away from one or the other
So, I suggest you may need to resolve your requirements a bit more.....water fowl to turkeys to grouse and other uplands are very different environments.
I live in Maryland, I'm a long time former skeet shooter and I have a number of shotguns, and I hunt waterfowl mostly.
I own a Benelli SBE II for waterfowl. Unlike some others, I don't particularly feel that this is a great pointing and fitting shotgun but it has the very desirable advantage of being able to paddle a duck boat with it and then shoot birds. There ain't much to it at all which is good when out in the ice and freezing rain sort of thing. I find the finish of the barrel to be....well, compared to other shotguns I own, it sucks. But it for the duck boat and goose pit and I didn't buy it for looks and I don't worry if it gets beat up a bit.
Now, all shotgun combs are too low for me and the SBE II was no exception. I note a fella above says that the comb was too high for him. So yes, in a shotgun fit is everything. With that said, Benelli does make different replaceable soft combs for the SBE and that fixed my sit problem which was greater than could be compensated for with shims
ComforTech Gel Comb | ShopBenelli
www.shopbenelli.com
Benelli shoots 3.5" shells which may be a factor to you. Me....I wouldn't shoot those mortar shells for nothing. I do mostly shoot 3" 1 1/4 oz but if all I can find are 3 1/4" shells, well...its nice to know I can shoot them.
Also, as an inertial system, you won't be shooting light target loads very well out of an SBE II. They don't cycle well with light loads.
Cleaning an SBE is stupid simple as it has no gas system to get grunged up.
I also have a Beretta gas gun...mine is an older 390 and in my opinion, for general shooting its superior to the SBE II in comfort and versatility and for turkey and grouse I would def go that way. Beretta has 400 series shotguns that have soft combs but I can't find that they are replaceable with various comb heights like the SBE.
The Beretta gas guns will cycle lighter loads and have less recoil. But, they don't care for freezing rain or dirty gas systems which the Benelli doesn't even have as an inertial system (can you say a few drops of brake-free for icing/dirt...yes, you can! haha)
Most of the A400's only shoot 3" shells but the A400 Extreme shoot up to 3 1/2".
If I was to chose a single gas gun today for general hunting and, in particular, waterfowl, it would be an Extreme but they are not inexpensive...well, but neither is the SBE and looking at it you wonder WTF you paid so much money for.
For upland birds I FAR prefer a break action OU and FAR prefer to hunt upland with others who also use an OU as its easy to see when the gun is safe (cause the action is open). But, I'm not trying to suggest you buy 3 different guns.
I hope this meandering dump provided some helpful information for you.
Best of luck.