Can anyone give me the skinny of the true diferences between the two. I have been lusting for a M1 Field 26" cammo and have discovered that Franchi makes a "similar" shotgun. I have never paid close attention to Franchi and havnt held one up for close examination. Yet. Is the Benelli worth the $ diff ?  I belive you get what you pay for usually but if its just the name,,,

I've been told by several shotgun dudes that the Benelli is vastly overrated. They claim the Beretta is better & the Franchi is as good as the Benelli.

Is it gospel? Nope. Is it true? I believe them.

My .o2

Is it Beretta that owns Benelli or Benelli that owns Beretta? I know that Beretta and Benelli shotguns have the same barrels. The recievers are different, but they are the same company I belive.

thats a bit mixed up. i think the connection may be HK and benelli (the old ones had HK logos)

personally my benelli was the best gun buy i ever made. never doubted it for a second. and the benelli vs beretta stuff is apples and oranges IMO. beretta is gas operated, and benelli recoil. now benelli and franchi may be a more reasonable compairison. they are similar (i got franchi lit. with my benelli stuff when i bought my M1s90) i have no experance with them, but they seem to make more light sprting type guns, at least thats what i see around here.

mattsd, Benelli's M-1S-90 and Beretta's 1201 are the same shotgun. The Benelli has more dodads. screw in  chokes, ghostrings, pistol grip stock(which bolts right on to the Beretta), the sidesaddle from my Benelli also fits the Beretta! The Beretta 1201 is recoil operated. You might be mistaking another Beretta product that is gas operated. HK originally imported the Benelli's. I think Beretta owns Benelli and Benelli makes some products for beretta.

Even the bolts in the benelli and the beretta are interchangable. Benelli makes a damn good shot gun and I love my preban M3. I would say they are worth the money but I have never played with a Franchi

If I am not mistaken...

- HK imported Benellis for a while but Benelli now has a USA arm and bringing in products themselves
- Beretta owns Benelli

Let me throw in another vote for Benelli.  My two M1S90 Tacticals run flawlessly, and they are very fast.  As for Franchi, the only one I am remotely familiar with is the SPAS model that a friend had.  It was very finicky and sometimes would not feed reliably.  Could have been just his shotgun, I dunno.  I can just speak to my own Benellis, never a hiccup.  Will have to own an M3 some day, and maybe an M4 if that ever makes it to the civilian market.

 

The Spas site is neat but doesnt exactly help me in my quest concerning hunting style shotgun diferences between the Benelli and Franchi.

Beretta own both Benelli and Franchi. They also own SAKO, who makes some nice sniper rifles, and the AR70/90 assult rifle.

www.berettadefence.com/INGLESE/default_tabella_impieghi_speciali.htm