Benelli Legacy (12ga)
Kim du Toit
June 23, 2003
11:00 PM CDT
Legendary shooter Tom Knapp is as famous among shotgunners as Jerry Miculek is among pistol-shooters. Anyone who’s ever watched Tom perform on the American Shooter TV show will have marveled at his skill. With a full tube, he’ll toss seven clays up into the air by hand, then effortlessly shoot all seven out of the sky long before they reach the ground. His world record, incidentally, is nine clays in 2.3 seconds—and yes, he tossed them all up himself.
The only shotgun Knapp will use is a Benelli, either pump or semi-auto.
Here’s one example of a semi-auto, the Legacy model, which comes in either 20ga and 12ga:
Secondhand, these go for about $1,100, and about $1,300 new. In other words, unless you break yours, it won’t lose any value.
Incidentally, you can tell whether it’s a 12- or 20ga just by looking at the carving on the receiver. If it’s a pair of pheasants on the left side of the receiver, and ducks on the right, it’s 12ga. For the 20ga, the carvings are a quail on the left and a pair of doves on the right. It’s a big-bird/heavy gauge, small bird/light gauge thing.
The Legacy line celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Benelli company, which owns the Stoeger and Franchi companies—and is owned in turn by Beretta. Yep… just one big happy family of shotguns.
One day when I grow up, I’m going to buy a Benelli, just because Tom Knapp says I should. And because it’s absolutely beautiful.
Gratuitous Gun Pics
