By Phil Bourjaily

Last month I traveled to Urbino, Italy, home of Benelli, to tour the factory. Urbino itself is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, an almost perfectly intact walled renaissance town on a steep hill in Italy’s Marche region. The building behind me is the palace of the Duke of Montefeltro, begun in the mid-15th century.

The old part of the city is made of brick and full of narrow, medieval streets and views of snowcapped mountains around it. There is a university in Urbino, so it’s a lively place with many sidewalk cafes and gelato shops. Deer and boar live in the woods and there's a very nice gun club nearby with international trap bunkers.

Urbino lies off the beaten path today. I couldn’t help thinking it was fortunate Urbino was situated well north of Rome 70 years ago, because if the Germans had dug in artillery and a few 88s inside the walls the only way to get them out would have been to flatten the town.

The city is nowhere near Italy’s gun-making center of Brescia in the north, home of Beretta, Guerini, various Rizzinis and others. Benelli—then a manufacturer of racing motorcyles—relocated from Pesaro on the Adriatic coast to Urbino in the 60s. There the Benelli family, all avid hunters, met an engineer named Bruno Civolani who had an idea for a semiautomatic shotgun built on the inertia system. Civolani’s design turned out to be very reliable and it would shoot a long time between cleanings. Benelli now sells 20-some percent of all semiauto shotguns in the world.*

Down below the city walls, tucked into the side of a hill, the very modern Benelli factory hums 24 hours a day. Engineers model every aspect of a gun’s operation, often in sophisticated animation programs, then their pictures are turned into guns in the clean and highly automated factory by machines working to very tight tolerances.

Benelli’s Andrea Luini told us: “In the factory we don’t make Benellis, we clone them. That’s how precise we are.” Robots do the milling and part making. People assemble the guns. In fact, people only work first and second shift in the factory. The machines run supervised only by other machines on the third shift. They will make gun parts all night unless one of the measuring machines finds a part out of spec in which case the whole line shuts down until the humans arrive in the morning to start it up again.

We were also there to preview a new model. I am not allowed to talk about it until SHOT 2014, although I can say I shot it and liked it. I can add that the engineers and robots have collaborated to make an improvement to the basic Benelli design that I am excited about. You will have to wait until next January to find out what it is.

*Benellis are very popular in Russia, specifically the Optifade camo version of the Super Vinci with a 30-inch barrel. It sells for about $3000 in Russia.

Comments (9)

from jay wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

I have been wondering what would happen to the Benelli line after it was acquired by Beretta. Nice to see them continuing to churn out new models.

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from duckcreekdick wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

Now I better realize why Benelli's do not appeal to me. They are "clones", in Andrea Luini's words. Perfect shotguns without individuality, character or soul. Yesterday I worked on a British Enfield No.4, Mk. 2 rifle put together new at Fazakerly in 1955. The inletting lamp black was clearly evident on the flats of the stock furniture, reminding me of the skilled workman at his bench, making this rifle as good as he knew how. I guess I'm just old-fashioned when it comes to firearms.

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from Mark-1 wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

Cold, Phil, Cold. Last week we were singing praises to the 1100's 50th B-Day. This week it's Benelli.

Have to admit there's a reason Benelli and Beretta semi's owned the target clays field.

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from tygh98 wrote 7 weeks 20 hours ago

So Jay's comment brings up something I have wondered for a while. Does Beretta own Benelli, or does Beretta USA just import them?

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from Tim Platt wrote 7 weeks 19 hours ago

I'll keep my 1100. Don't need a $1,500 SBE.

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from Longhunter wrote 7 weeks 18 hours ago

Despite what some shooters say about the Benellis they made the other manufacturers make their own semi autos more reliable. I remember back in the day when the semi auto shotguns jammed quite a bit. I have never experienced that with my SBII regardless if it was a light 1oz trap load or a 3 1/2 turkey shell. I love my doubles and over and unders but I always seem to shoot better with that semi auto.

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from Amflyer wrote 7 weeks 8 hours ago

We need a new $1700 camo-stocked clackenloader about as much as we need Thoreau to rewrite the first 100 pages of "Walden" to include the importance of social media.

New and Improved, I guess.

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from Zermoid wrote 7 weeks 7 hours ago

And you get paid for this????

Where do I sign up for this gig?

Hell, I'd PAY to get that tour........

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from Zermoid wrote 7 weeks 7 hours ago

BTW, I'll still stick to my pumps, just never liked the idea of a auto shotgun, course I grew up when most were maypop's......

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from Mark-1 wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

Cold, Phil, Cold. Last week we were singing praises to the 1100's 50th B-Day. This week it's Benelli.

Have to admit there's a reason Benelli and Beretta semi's owned the target clays field.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Tim Platt wrote 7 weeks 19 hours ago

I'll keep my 1100. Don't need a $1,500 SBE.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Amflyer wrote 7 weeks 8 hours ago

We need a new $1700 camo-stocked clackenloader about as much as we need Thoreau to rewrite the first 100 pages of "Walden" to include the importance of social media.

New and Improved, I guess.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jay wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

I have been wondering what would happen to the Benelli line after it was acquired by Beretta. Nice to see them continuing to churn out new models.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from duckcreekdick wrote 7 weeks 1 day ago

Now I better realize why Benelli's do not appeal to me. They are "clones", in Andrea Luini's words. Perfect shotguns without individuality, character or soul. Yesterday I worked on a British Enfield No.4, Mk. 2 rifle put together new at Fazakerly in 1955. The inletting lamp black was clearly evident on the flats of the stock furniture, reminding me of the skilled workman at his bench, making this rifle as good as he knew how. I guess I'm just old-fashioned when it comes to firearms.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from tygh98 wrote 7 weeks 20 hours ago

So Jay's comment brings up something I have wondered for a while. Does Beretta own Benelli, or does Beretta USA just import them?

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Longhunter wrote 7 weeks 18 hours ago

Despite what some shooters say about the Benellis they made the other manufacturers make their own semi autos more reliable. I remember back in the day when the semi auto shotguns jammed quite a bit. I have never experienced that with my SBII regardless if it was a light 1oz trap load or a 3 1/2 turkey shell. I love my doubles and over and unders but I always seem to shoot better with that semi auto.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Zermoid wrote 7 weeks 7 hours ago

And you get paid for this????

Where do I sign up for this gig?

Hell, I'd PAY to get that tour........

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Zermoid wrote 7 weeks 7 hours ago

BTW, I'll still stick to my pumps, just never liked the idea of a auto shotgun, course I grew up when most were maypop's......

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.