Saiga 12 VS Benelli M4

[Motopilot1 37]

i got a few of my friends into the saiga shotguns one of them bought 2 at the same time but is now thinking of selling his s12s to finance the purchase of a benelli m4 has anybody shot one of these which one it better i know i may get a bias oppinion being as i am on a saiga forum but and honest answer which do you like better i have no oppinion because i have personally never shot one but i find it hard to believe that it can be better than my saiga 12

[quinci956 1]

i got a few of my friends into the saiga shotguns one of them bought 2 at the same time but is now thinking of selling his s12s to finance the purchase of a benelli m4 has anybody shot one of these which one it better i know i may get a bias oppinion being as i am on a saiga forum but and honest answer which do you like better i have no oppinion because i have personally never shot one but i find it hard to believe that it can be better than my saiga 12

They are both very nice shotguns. Our SWAT team issues Bennelli's and I have shot side by side against them. My converted S12 has less recoil, holds more rounds, and is more reliable, and reloads faster. The Bennelli has trouble with low power and bird shot. Once they are very broken in they seem to function with high power bird shot. We went to Orlando for the SWAT competition and I had already tested our Bennelli's with bird shot because I knew that was all they were going to let us use. We left the Bennelli's in the van and used our old 870's. The other SWAT team in our county used their new Bennelli's for the competition and had to manually charge between each shot. The Bennelli's also require constant cleaning to be reliable. Last year a friend of mine took his unconverted but modified S12 to the Police Olympics and beat out 6 Bennelli's and came in less than a second behind the first place Bennelli. That Bennelli was heavily modified and cost a small fortune. The only real problem we have had with our issue Bennelli's is we have one that keeps losing both sights. The front sight is soldered on and I guess the heat from a lot of shooting makes it come loose. The rear sight is bolted on and the bolts broke off at the receiver (WTF).

[Ronswin 26]

The Benelli is a nice shotgun and fairly reliable once broken in. Your friend will need to add almost $400 to the price of an average Saiga-12 and he had best not be prone to flinching as the the Benelli does kick! I suggest your friend try one before purchasing and run a dozen or so slugs and #00 buckshot rapidly and then think about if he still has to have a Benelli.

[G O B 3,516]

So ....the choice is between ONE Benelli or TWO S-12's?

 

 

No BRAINER! (unless you would really rather have one less capable shotgun than two more capable ones).

[mike12345 18]

tube fed shotgun verses magazine fed........

 

<-------wonder which i'll pick

[6x6pinz 4]

I have shot both the benelli and the Saiga in hunting enviroments. If I had to choose I would use the benelli only because you don't have to mess with detachable magazines. If they were both fixed mag fed I would stay with the Saiga everytime. Now if I were into making an assault rifle the drum magazine and modified Saiga would be my choice. The benelli action when clean I felt was smoother than an unmodified Saiga's. If you had to shoot a bunch of rounds you would know you were shooting a large shotgun with the benelli, it does kick substantially more.

[Motopilot1 37]

thanks for the info guys i will have to refer him to this thread to stop him from making a huge mistake i tried to talk him out of it as of now he still has 2 new s12 though

Edited January 13, 2008 by motopilot1

[Bvamp 604]

sell one of the s12's to finance a full out conversion on his other s12.

 

I dont agree with the above hunting assessment.

 

I will also say that having only practical experience with guns my entire life, and shooting many MANY different shotguns (Ive shot pretty much everything but a couple of the newest guns, like the AA12, although I have used a usas12 and striker12 before), and I honestly have to say that I have NO DESIRE AT ALL to even touch another shotgun, for any reason.

 

I dont think there are many guns out there, let alone autoloading shotguns, that will feed you tonight, and when you return to the house in the pouring rain, find out that there is almost a glass of water in the gun and magazine, and thats what that mist cloud was from when you shot the two deer that were moving up in the back a few minutes prior.

 

nevermind not even wiping the gun off when you get in the house, and forgetting it for a couple of days when you go clean the food hanging in the back and do some beer drinking to celebrate with your friends.

 

 

I would make most gun owners cry or at least wince in pain with some of the things I have become accustomed to doing with my s12 on a normal level. Lets see guys do that with these other guns. what, got your rem 870 duracoated? hell, is the barrel chrome lined and the PARTS coated inside too? better go clean it and wipe those tears when it rusts in the safe when you miss one drop of water....its not only being proven to be the better gun for sport and tactical use, but it is the best PRACTICAL shotgun going, if you ask me, which I think you did with your first post.

 

I tell you what, if I were a guide or someone that worked the land or was in forestry or that type of thing? The saiga12 is practically the best choice I have seen for the job, as are the rifles. Its an EXCELLENT camp gun, nevermind what the others here tell you about it for competition and all the other good points brought up. I dont think it would be difficult at all if you had a misfire or jam to clear it under a high stress situation, like a bear attack, or a tastey animal that got too close to camp for some unknown reason.

Edited January 13, 2008 by Bvamp

[MCASgt New River 10,036]

Not a Benneli but my Beretta 1201FP is basically the same thing. The 1201FP is recoil operated vice gas operated. If I shoulder the weapon tightly and lean WAY into it I can get Universal #4 shot to rapid fire out of it. How ever it does beat you up fairly well, and God forbid you play with 3" magnum slugs OOOUCH!!!!! I double tapped that story once and NEVER AGAIN!!

[THE_HUNTER 2]

I have 1 Benelli M1 Super 90 and 2 Saiga 12s,1 unmodified and one modified.Neither of my S-12's have choke tube systems,but overall I like the S-12's better.My Benelli shoots low brass birdshot no problem.S-12 is way easier to clean,more weather proof and will be the first imported to Alaska when I move there,along with my 2 .44 mags and my .357 snubby Ruger.Everything else will then come on up!

[6x6pinz 4]

bvamp

I forget sometimes that some places shoot large game with shotgun. I don't know a lot of people in AZ that use shotgun for large game. I use mine exclusively for birds and waterfowl. I wish you would have been with me yesterday to fish my magazine out 4' of water when it fell in (man that water was cold). I have used my Saiga 410 to hunt javelina and had the game and fish officer ask about it. With rifled slugs I did not see a problem but he thought different using a shotgun during regular rifle season (his loss). I really like my saiga's for hunting just a bit cumbersome loading magazines. Best part though was standing next to my buddies when I fished out the mag and stuck it back in the gun while water dripped from the bottom of the mag. They were in shock when started shooting at the incoming ducks with a wet magazine.

Got to love the Saiga design.

[Twinsen 86]

Other people here have skirted around just saying this... but I'll do it.

 

I don't see the point in buying the Benelli M4. Is it somehow different than a Rem 1100? It just seems to be the same as all the rest of the complicated gas system guns, except costs hundreds more.

[topmaul 42]

Saiga all the way, I bet if you asked the same question on a Benelli board you would bet votes for the tube feeder.

 

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57777 Very Pro Benelli,

 

http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?showtopic=22192 Gabe said this better than I could.

Edited January 14, 2008 by topmaul

[loki0629 55]

I had a Benelli M4 in Iraq (aka M1014).

The Benelli gave me 9 rds (with 2 3/4 shells-8 with magnum) and a recoil buffer in the stock. There was a rail system and a fully adjustable rear ghost ring sight. It was reliable and never failed on me in that dirty environment.

Details and pics here:

http://www.usmcweapons.com/articles/M1014/M1014NF.htm

 

Now, having said all that, I would take the Saiga any day, even in stock format. Two reasons: Shorter barrel, detachable mags.

 

With the Saiga (and the proper paperwork) you can shorten that barrel. You can't do that with the M4 because of the tube. Although the stock was collapsible, it was still a pain having such a long barrel sticking out when clearing structures. I mostly short stocked the weapon (even with a collapsed stock) and learned to aim low using the front sight post alone.

 

Using detachable mags I can switch from buckshot to slugs without having to expend three rounds before finally getting to the slug I inserted into the tube. I finally opted to keep the first two rounds as slugs if I was on a convoy or all buckshot if I was on foot.

 

The recoil from the Saiga isn't that much more than with the M4 and it's recoil buffer in the stock. Recoil though is one of those things where it is entirely how the shooter experiences it. I can only speak for myself. I would say the trigger on the M4 is a lot smoother though and the entire system does allow for quicker follow up shots. However, I think I could probably be just as quick on the trigger with the Saiga as I was with the Benelli once I get used to it. I've only put about 50rds on my S-12 so far.

 

If I had my choice between the two I would keep the Saigas. They are less expensive, just as reliable, and quicker to do a full reload than the Benelli. If he lives in a state that allows more than the 5rd stock mag then that's even better. He is always going to be limited to 9 or 8 max with the Benelli (depending on standard or magnum shells).

 

Just my two cents.

[Twinsen 86]

Great points GunnyR, I'd like to answer your question on how fast the Saiga-12 fires by telling you that the very first time I fired my Saiga-12 I had 10 shells in the air at one time.

 

Also, I forgot that the M4 has really nice sights. The Supernova has very similar or identical ones (I know the rear is the same) and they're fantastic. They were even sighted in perfect at 25 yards when I got that gun. First shot was dead center when I went to sight it in. That's just luck, but it was funny.

[loki0629 55]

Great points GunnyR, I'd like to answer your question on how fast the Saiga-12 fires by telling you that the very first time I fired my Saiga-12 I had 10 shells in the air at one time.

That would be supremely badass if you had a mag change in there!

 

I can't own 10 rounders in NJ.

 

But yeah, the only thing I really miss from the M4 is the sights and the integrated rail. I think the S-12 can make up for that with a side rail mounted optics rig. The trigger just needs some breaking in for me.

[Twinsen 86]

There are optic rails made by Cobra here on the forum that mount on the gas tube area, if that would work for ya.