Impressing Michael Yardley with its novel design and aesthetics, this stylish over-and under is a testament to what can be achieved with imagination and modern engineering
Benelli 828 Silver Progressive
Both grip and fore-end are exemplary, offering good purchase and control
The Benelli 828 Silver Progressive is a most intriguing gun. With its hinged and sprung breech face and long, streamlined aluminium receiver (the hinged face is steel), there is nothing else quite like it on the market. The test gun also boasts a raised carbon-fibre sighting rib and removable trigger group. Its hammerforged, tri-alloy Advanced Impact barrels are cryogenically treated, specially bored and fleur-de-lys proofed for steel shot with 3in (76mm) chambers.
Our specimen is a 30in 20-bore weighing in at just over 6lb 2oz: light but still suitable for all-round field use (Benelli additionally offers steel-actioned 828s in both 20- and 12-bore). The balance point is about 1in forward of the hinge pin but may be adjusted by adding butt weights. The gun is imported into the UK by SGC Group, owner of the Sportsman Gun Centre shops, which also act as a wholesaler for various brands. It is priced at £2,442.99, with a black-actioned model available for £2,126.
The 828 Progressive is modernistic in form and specification but it manages to be elegant and classically proportioned. This unconventional and compelling design (first introduced as a 12-bore in 2015) suggests engineering influence from the firm’s repeaters and their computerised production. Mechanically the gun is novel, but it also succeeds aesthetically as an example of modern CNC and laser firearms manufacture. It stands as something of a testament to what can be done with ingenuity and imagination. Some might even call it modern sculpture.
On the decorative front, the Progressive’s pinless silver-finished action is particularly distinct with oak leaf engraving accentuated with subtle (and surprisingly attractive) gold acorns. This sort of bling is often unwelcome but here it works, partly because it is understated: the tiny acorns are highlighted with matt, not bright, gold. Fish-scale-like chequering, which is achieved by laser, succeeds too. It looks well and provides enhanced purchase.
The form of the 828’s receiver reminds of a modern semi-automatic with its detachable trigger group (with top-lever closed, you insert a key behind the trigger-guard to remove it) and unusual breeching. Benelli is famous for clever breech work and, in particular, rotating bolt heads. The long, slightly tapered action body is flattened top and bottom: the essential shape of the receiver is not unlike a repeater. Meanwhile, controls such as the extended top-lever and safety thumb-piece are unconventionally shaped and depart from the usual ‘Eurogun’ (or, indeed, British and US) norms.
Bringing the gun to the shoulder, one notes good stock shapes and pleasing dynamics. The grip is not too large but anchors the hand well, while the fore-end is slim yet gives decent purchase and control (it might be even better without the recessed Anson rod release, though). With the 30in barrels, it all makes the gun feel unusually controllable for something hitting the scales at just over 6lb.
The action is adorned with oak leaf engraving accentuated with gold acorns
There is also provision for considerable customisation. The 828 comes as something of a Meccano kit. You can change the long Crio chokes (five provided) and, like many recent semi-autos, you can alter the stock fit – drop and cast – by means of shims placed between receiver and butt. Balance is adjustable with weights as noted. In addition, there is the possibility of changing stock height with different interchangeable combs and length of pull with aftermarket recoil pads. As tested, the gun measured a sensible 15in. This suited the present writer well. My gunfitting rule is usually to make a smaller-bore, lighter-weight gun a fraction longer in the stock than the comparable standard 12-bore.
The barrels of the test gun warrant further mention too. Hammer forged and cryogenically stress relieved, they have exceptionally long forcing cones, stepped-bore geometry and improved choking. Benelli’s goal is ‘to minimise pellet deformation, reduce friction, shorten the shot string (for a more compact, cylindrical pattern downrange), retain higher velocity/energy farther out, and achieve tighter/more uniform patterns with deeper penetration’.
Technical
The design of the Benelli 828 is radically different: essentially an aluminium envelope for steel parts that contain the main operating stresses. The standing breech is a hinged steel plate within the alloy receiver that tilts back as the action closes and locks to the monobloc. There is trunnion hinging but the bearing surfaces are not under pressure on firing. Hinging studs are incorporated on replaceable pieces inset either side at the front of the action body. To the action’s rear, there is a shallow lug into which a rear barrel lump engages. At the top of the monobloc there are protruding shoulders into which rotary bolts from the action face engage, while the sliding automatic safety-cumselector is conventional in action but wide and quite short. Unusually, the gun is cocked by the activation of the top-lever, not by the fall of the barrels. Its ejector system uses inline extractors driven by coil springs contained within the barrels and tripped on firing by a pressure pulse via barrel bleed holes.
Shooting impressions
This Benelli 828 handled well. The 30in barrels suit and steady a light gun. I liked the slim but comfortable fore-end and the ambidextrous grip shape was excellent. The elegant long top-lever (which resets the trigger mechanism as well as opening the gun as noted) might have had a bigger thumb-piece. Similarly, the barrel selector-cum-safety could have offered more purchase with a steeper ramp. Recoil was noticeable but not excessive. The efficient Progressive Comfort pad has interlacing polymer buffers extending into the butt. Sensible stock shapes further aid control. Even with open chokes, breaks on clays impressed and suggested more constriction than present. There was some tendency to shoot high: a characteristic suited to driven game. The novel design and aesthetics of the 828 impress, meantime. This stylish gun deserves points just for being so different. It is not unreasonably priced either.