Guns & Loads© Lee Kjos/therawspirit.comBenelli’s Super Black Eagle series,
now led by the SBE3, is one of the
most popular waterfowl shotguns
in the world. Probably second
only to John Moses Browning’s
Automatic 5 that was introduced
in 1903. That same year a Danish
gunsmith, Christer Sjörgren, put
his Normal shotgun on the mar-
ket. Both guns operated using the
recoil of the fired shell, but in dif-
ferent ways. Jump ahead 116 years
and Sjörgren’s masterpiece is still
alive and kickin’ in the SBE3, while
Browning discontinued the long-
recoil Auto 5 in 1998. So why is the
Inertia, indeed! Since its introduction the Benelli system
has never stopped gaining momentum. By John M. Taylor
The Spartan Simplicity of
The Super Black Eagle 3
SBE3 so popular? Simplicity!
When a shotgun is fired it kicks,
Ouch! But if some of that energy is
redirected it can cycle the action in
the blink of an eye. The SBE3 is fast,
but if you want fast, try the German
Army’s MG3, with which I qualified
during my soldiering days. It can fire
between 800 and 1,300 rounds a min-
ute. Now that’s really fast!
Why is the SBE3 so fast and reli-
able? It all starts with its innards and
a rotating bolt head that turns into the
locking notches in the barrel exten-
sion. Used by many military rifles and
nowadays other semi-auto shotguns,this lock up is lightening quick. When
you pull the trigger the gun begins to
move backwards, but the bolt’s mass,
and gun's weight, holds it steady
while a very strong and carefully cali-
brated spring inside the bolt pushes
the bolt head into an even more tight
engagement. By the time the shot
has left the muzzle—a 1,450 fps shot
charge is going 988 mph—the spring
trips over and releases the bolt, and
the still recoiling gun pulls the bolt
back shucking the fired shell out of
the chamber with its hook extrac-
tor and flings it free when it hits the
ejector nub. If there’s a fresh shell in