Benelli Super Nova Tactical

[MassMark]

I'm not here to try to change anyone's mind. I learned long ago, that many like what they like - it's part of what makes the world go round....The Mossberg 500 versus Remington 870 debate rages on in the far reaches of the internet. What I am here to try to do, is put another option in the minds of those looking for a home defense shotgun and my choice is Benelli. In this case, it's not the desired and lofty M4 Tactical, or the tried and true Super90 Tactical, but the pump-driven Benelli SuperNova Tactical. In my personal opinion, it's quite possibly the smoothest action put into a pump shotgun. From bringing the gun to shoulder, to the first pull of the trigger, this shotgun just feels instinctive to me - everything just clicks, or in this case - booms!

Out of the box, the Super Nova Tactical is ready to roll - no pistol grip stock to buy, no fancy molded fore end to look for, no ghost ring sights to add, no sling mounts to attach - it's all there. If there's any shortcoming, it's not much of one. The SNT ships with a 4+1 tube, which makes for a compact profile, but I'd like to see a longer tube available as a standard option, rather than an added accessory. Needless to say, if you're in a home defense situation, (God forbid) and you can't get it done in 5, then you're pretty much pooched anyway - your brains will be scrambled from the boom in the room. In any case, keeping with tradition, I have a Benelli +2 inbound. It's actually a +3, as Benelli's are cut for 3 1/2 in shells from the get-go. Remington and Mossberg? That would be no...

Today being just a stellar autumn day here in the mountains, I decided it was time to do some informal testing of a relatively new home defense round marketed by Remington. Noted on the box as: "Wingmaster HD Ultimate Home Defense", how could I not give it a try? To run this test, I measured out a room space of about 15-feet. Sadly, that put me into a muck-pile, so I measured to 20-feet for the purposes of this test. When I got home, I measured the distance from my bedroom door, to the entrance to my living room and low and behold: 19-feet 9-inches, so my 20-foot measurement was not too far off - at least for me...

First, these puppies are not cheap. At over $2.00 a whack, they are anything but easy on the wallet. Secondly, the "Wingmaster HD", just makes me feel like these are nothing more than 2 3/4 high-brass BB goose loads, but what do I know? Remington claims that the HD rounds will hold a tight pattern at most commonly encountered home defense distances and rate the load of tungsten BB shot at 1200fps. They do not however list energy at impact.

The shells themselves are very smooth to fire - they feel almost "low recoil", though they are not marketed this way. This due in large part to the Benelli Super Nova Tactical I just acquired being likely the lightest recoiling pump gun I've ever fired out of the box. At exactly 20-feet, I took a single shot with the Remington HD on one target and standard Remington 00-Buck on the other. The results are shown below:

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/MassMark/IMG_0265.jpg

The spread at 20-feet is troubling to me. I am no impact physics engineer, nor am I an ammunition expert. The rounds just felt "soft" to me and the pattern, though I'm sure would be troubling - perhaps lethally so to a would-be intruder, I was left wondering if these rounds were really "Ultimate HD"? The pellets impacted the berm behind the target board, (spongy pressboard), with a smattering of dust kicked up at impact. the Remington Buckmaster however, tore through the target and slammed into the berm with authority - temporarily obscuring the target in a cloud of dust. I would love to give these a try in a more controlled environment with some ballistic gel and some clothing fabric. The "Ultimate HD", just didn't feel...well...ultimate. They tag line these rounds with: "Don't Trust Your Families Safety to Anything Else"... I think I'll stick with good old 00 for now thanks anyway - I have been trusting my families safety with 00-buck for years, but am always open to new ideas and I am an ammo pig, so will likely try other fodder...

Just for fun, I took the liberty of sending some Brenneke KO's down range and was absolutely impressed. Talk about an accurate and hard-hitting rifled slug. Brenneke markets them as sabots for both smooth and rifled barrels, though their definition of a sabot in this case is more like a "pusher" rather than a dedicated separating sabot found in rifled-only rounds. Sabot means "shoe", so this is more like a sandal... :p

For this test, I went back to the firing line and shot the below group at 50-yards. Accuracy was quite good - really good if you ask me. Recoil was crisp, but exceptionally manageable out of the Super Nova tactical. This has not been my experience firing these out of a Remington 870, which highlights the Benelli's superb recoil management - even without the ComforTech stock. They absolutely slammed the 50-yard berm - obliterating it in a cloud of dust. The stats are a 1oz hunk of slug cruising at just under 1510fps - ouchie. Though I found the pushers behind the target board, the slugs were buried deep within the berm - these pups pack a wallop...

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The first two hits were in the center - the last three flyers were from me giggling like a kid... [grin]

The last thing I did was just for kicks. I cranked off the four remaining rounds of Buckmaster as fast as I could cycle it - again at 50-yards. Not too shabby for a guy just grinning and cranking off some 00-buck in the autumn sunshine.

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The Super Nova tactical is everything I thought it would be, (and then some). I am looking forward to ordering a Mesa Tactical saddle/rail and finding a sling for this most excellent defensive tool...The Remington Ultimate HD left me unimpressed, though perhaps further testing lies ahead - I still have 8-rounds left anyway.... ;)

More Info Here:

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshell/home_defense/

And Here:

http://www.brennekeusa.com/

[Fang]

Great writeup, and thanks for sharing. What do you attribute the relatively light recoil to?

I have to agree with your unease regarding the relatively light HD load. Some gel tests I once saw but cannot find anymore showed that terminal ballistics for shot drops off rapidly once the pellets drop below a certain size.

[MassMark]

Great writeup, and thanks for sharing. What do you attribute the relatively light recoil to?

I have to agree with your unease regarding the relatively light HD load. Some gel tests I once saw but cannot find anymore showed that terminal ballistics for shot drops off rapidly once the pellets drop below a certain size.

Thanks for your kind words...I think Benelli is onto something with their stock design, recoil pad and most importantly, their use of polymer in the receiver. Critical points are steel - almost like a cage wrapped in polymer. I'm no scientist, but my hypothesis is that the combination of material, bolt and stock design dissipate recoil energy. A side by side comparison of a stock Remington 870 and a Benelli SuperNova tactical would seem to support this - the 870 is brutal by comparison. I may have the chance to test a Knoxx equipped Mossberg 500 Persuader side-by-side, but if my memory serves, the Knoxx-equipped 870 I spent some quality time with was softer than stock, but not as soft as the Benelli out of the box. Benelli also offers a ComforTech stock which I understand reduces recoil further. The only reason I did not choose this stock, is that it is not available in a pistol-grip, but is rather a classic-style stock - which I do not prefer for an HD environment...

As to the Remington Ultimate HD rounds - I think you are right. I feel they may be well-suited to someone who is recoil-sensitive, but can't imagine that they offer nearly the same energy on target as standard 00-buck. I suppose one could use the old adage: "Something is better than nothing", but I'd rather stake my life on something more. I would love to get together with some fellow HD shotgunners and do some more formal testing against ballistics gel and/or clothing. I'm still trying to research a "poor mans alternative" to ballistics gel, but the "Box-O-Truth" type testing seems more suited to wall-penetration than target impact energy, (which I am unconcerned with frankly). What's surprising to me is that Remington lists everything but energy in their statistics. I'm certain that at extreme-close ranges, the impact of the BB-shot would be devastating, but based on the 20-foot spread, I'll stick with 00-buck. I was doing some informal shooting last week and for kicks, I shot a few of these rounds at 50-yards and they ran out of steam well before the target board - most pellets splashing in a puddle 10-feet in front of the berm. While I understand that they were not designed for this purpose, it just left me more convinced that they may be too soft for serious home defense....I want something for both close in and standoff ranges and it would seem that so far, good old fashioned 00-buck is the way to go. Will be hopefully testing some dedicated tactical 00-buck in the future. Is it a wolf in sheeps clothing, or little better than $4.99 a box 00-buck? Stay tuned....

[Clinotus]

Great review.

Having held this shotgun I have to say that it moves the conversation quickly beyond its looks to its ergonomics. The soft grip and stock design make for a comfortable fit, move, and transition, even when sitting.
You can see that the shotgun was really well thought out past the bonus features like its ability to lock open the action with rounds still in the tube, and the sights which are heads above the standard bead for a quick target acquisition.

I would love to get this out on a range for a tactical drill.

[MassMark]

I really want to learn to employ this shotgun more efficiently. I am looking to seek out local folks who are shotgun certified in hopes of getting my certification myself. In the meantime, I am going to continue range testing ammunition for both indoor and outdoor use. I'd like to create "A Meeting of the Shotguns" and do some side-by-side comparisons, up to and including ballistics testing.

As I write this, I am unsure of how to best approach penetration/energy testing. Ballistics gel is no cheap affair and I am unsure as to how efficient the phonebook/drywall/waterjug testing is at measuring potential for individual rounds. Through basic observation, one could conclude that the "Ultimate Home Defense" is anything but ultimate. I have little faith that this round would deliver a decisive hit in a threat scenario. I'll have to do some more research, but as yet I have not found much data beyond feet-per-second with regards to shotgun ammunition. I am not equipped to do energy at target testing, (beyond lining up milk jugs), but I wonder if seeking the advice of a physics department may yield some guidance as to how to proceed...

[matt]

I really want to learn to employ this shotgun more efficiently. I am looking to seek out local folks who are shotgun certified in hopes of getting my certification myself. In the meantime, I am going to continue range testing ammunition for both indoor and outdoor use. I'd like to create "A Meeting of the Shotguns" and do some side-by-side comparisons, up to and including ballistics testing.

As I write this, I am unsure of how to best approach penetration/energy testing. Ballistics gel is no cheap affair and I am unsure as to how efficient the phonebook/drywall/waterjug testing is at measuring potential for individual rounds. Through basic observation, one could conclude that the "Ultimate Home Defense" is anything but ultimate. I have little faith that this round would deliver a decisive hit in a threat scenario. I'll have to do some more research, but as yet I have not found much data beyond feet-per-second with regards to shotgun ammunition. I am not equipped to do energy at target testing, (beyond lining up milk jugs), but I wonder if seeking the advice of a physics department may yield some guidance as to how to proceed...

This could be fun... let me think about the energy on target bit. It should be easy, but I don't think it tells the whole story. If you've got a chronograph we can measure velocity at the target with some shielding (for the shot that would otherwise go through the chrony!), count the number of pellets in the target area to get the mass, then it's just E=1/2MV^2.

The harder part is energy absorbed by the target. You really want all the energy of the load to end up in the target and the bullet/pellet to fall out the back of your attacker with no horizontal velocity. So the pellets that go 5 water jugs deep don't dump much energy into the "subject" (first jug). They pass through (making a wound track of some dimension and efficacy) and have tons of energy left over - energy that you'd rather dump into your attacker - with projectiles that expand better and make more damage, or excess recoil depending on how you want to view it.

We can do this...

[Fang]

I think kinetic energy provides a good rule of thumb in rifles, where it's roughly proportional to the amount of work that the projectile does on tissue due to viscous drag. But for shotguns and handguns, does it translate to any significant degree into a measure of wounding potential?

[matt]

I think kinetic energy provides a good rule of thumb in rifles, where it's roughly proportional to the amount of work that the projectile does on tissue due to viscous drag. But for shotguns and handguns, does it translate to any significant degree into a measure of wounding potential?

for shotguns, it's more difficult. The factor has to be something like the sum of the damage of each individual pellet (unless they are so tightly grouped they act somewhat like one shot). For handguns it should directly translate.

The wound track and expansion of the projectile has a huge effect. If for instance you take a .38 cal projectile and it cuts a clean hole through the target (say 12" thick) you get a cylindrical wound with an area to bleed from of about 14 in square. If that same projectile linearly expands to 1" at the exit that area will be 26 square inches. Knowing how the projectile expands in the wound track matters.

[Clinotus]

for shotguns, it's more difficult. The factor has to be something like the sum of the damage of each individual pellet (unless they are so tightly grouped they act somewhat like one shot). For handguns it should directly translate.

The wound track and expansion of the projectile has a huge effect. If for instance you take a .38 cal projectile and it cuts a clean hole through the target (say 12" thick) you get a cylindrical wound with an area to bleed from of about 14 in square. If that same projectile linearly expands to 1" at the exit that area will be 26 square inches. Knowing how the projectile expands in the wound track matters.

Wow. :eek:

[glox]

All the mega technical info is interesting :mad:I mean , if you look that deep into things. I guess thats how a real enthusiast thinks. I keep it simple . I even learned of a new load i have'nt heard of. Thanks. You might want to try a few dixie slugs in the snt. A real flat flying round. All i will say is my SNT is my favorite SG. Definately not in the same class as my moss 500 or rem 870 marine magnum. I do not include my m4 because it's nib in mothballs waiting for that infamous day when the SHTF. Thats in a class by itself.
The SNT is ultra reliable and very accurate. I bought one as soon as it hit the market back in 07 .The full stocked pistol grip is very comfortable and pointable. I put a heat shield on it and started blasting immediately. more than 1000 rds later i have not had one problem with it.
Now if Benelli would just come out with a platform for my 230grain hp stash.
Either that or maybe glock could come out with a 12 gauge platform.

[Snarlbuckle]

I bought a Supernova (not tactical) a while back, and I have to agree with you that it is an excellent weapon. I've fired plenty of rounds through it including the 3.5" 2oz. turkey loads. Even the biggest shells I could get my hands on didn't kick all that much. I have to attribute this to the comfortech system because everyone I talk to says that those shells should be turning my shoulder black with a giant bruise.

On the flipside, the gun doesn't shoulder as naturally for me as an 870. I found this out long after I had bought it, but the gun is here to stay.