I wanted a semi for just shooting clays and the occasional duck hunt. I had been looking for a Mossberg 930 as I'm a Mossberg guy, but the more I held the M3000 and the more I read, the more I realized it was probably for me.

I had a 3500 that I sold to fund another purchase, and it performed great. Since the 3000 is basically a 3500 that only shoots 3", I didn't have to think long.

The finish is ok, typical matte affair that all field grade guns now seem to wear. Everything fits just perfect and I'm going to smooth up the action in front of the tv this week.

I love inertia guns - they stay so clean and smooth out great over time. I hope this gun shoots well. If it does it will do everything I need it to.

I'll keep everyone posted on my results. The quality on this gun seems to be a step up from the 2000's I've looked at in the past. I think Stoeger is getting much better with Benelli's influence.

I paid $449 plus tax, so it didn't hurt too bad.

Shot it today after turkey hunting, fired a few duck loads, low brass 1 oz loads and about 15 low brass 1 1/8 oz 8 shot loads. Not a hiccup with anything.

In a couple weeks I'm going to take it out to pattern, but so far so good.

Congrats!

I've been looking for an affordable inertia gun and it sounds like this might be a good option since the quality (read fit and finish) has stepped up since the m2000.

Do you know if any Benelli parts will interchange? Maybe a Briley bolt closer our a c-tec stock?

Don't think so on interchangeability. It's probably a "no".

I will say fit and finish has definitely improved over the early 2000's. I really have nothing at all to complain about. It has all the improvements of the 3500, and seemingly none of the weaknesses of the 2000. Everything fits great and seems to be well made. No roughness that I can find at all. The barrel extension is massive and locks in tight. The stock and forearm are snug with no play. Action is still tight but it's brand new. Cycled the light stuff without break-in.

This is definitely a field gun. There's nothing fancy or refined about it. For a weekend clay buster, dove or waterfowl gun, it seems to be a great choice. I love steel and walnut, but this falls in to the harsh use category. For $450 I don't regret it so far.

Orion6,

If you don't mind saying...where'd you get the 3000?

I've been looking but can't find one locally.

I just bought one as a back up to my Urika 2 yesterday. Of course, being excited I raced home from work and ripped it open for a good cleaning. Everything was as expected. The magazine tube was PACKED with grease. Got all that gunky funk off amd threw some oil on it.
Blew the styrafoam chunks out of the crevices and grabbed a handfull of 2.75" high base steel loads and headed out the door. Functioned flawlessly. Ran another handful of 3" mags through it and it spit those out too.

The 26" barrel was LOUD but I do plan on throwing a Pattermaster (unported) on it to extend the barrel to about 27".

I plan on running the gun with light trap loads this weekend. Ill give it a cleaning cleaning when the bolt starts to slow down when cycling.

So far, I really like it!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII

I got mine at Sportsman's Warehouse locally. Buds gun shop has them in 28" right now.

Glad to hear you had a good experience so far. Mine was pretty greasy on the mag tube as well. Couldn't get to the inside.

Shot a box of Remington Gun Club 2 3/4in skeet loads. Not a hiccup.

This gun is really light and feels nice in the hands. It doesn't have quite the lively feel of a Vinci or a Montefeltro, but it's not bad at all.

These guns clean up so quickly to boot.

So far it's been a great experience. I'm happy as can be for the price.

We shot a box of OLD shells through mine on Saturday. Not a single malfunction. I seem to hit REALLY well with it, too.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII

Awesome. I haven't shot a ton through mine but so far it's worked 100% with 4 kinds of ammo from light to heavy.

Mine seems to shoot straight too. It's definitely a keeper!

Put some low brass Remington 1oz loads through her today. She just keeps eating anything I stuff in her. Patterns very well. Still impressed!

Shot a couple rounds of skeet today. Not a hiccup. Used 1 oz Remington dove loads and Winchester Universals. Gobbled them up like they were going out of style.

I'm sold on this gun. I truly think they're worlds better than the 2000 model (this new 3000 has the 3500 bolt head and operating system). For $450 it has shot everything I put in it so far. Patterns very well on paper.

With the exception of the Mossberg 930 it's got to be the best deal going, and it IS the best deal in an inertia gun.

Shot another 200+ rounds through mine this weekend. 1 oz 1275 fps Winchester loads. I had one load hang up on its way into the chamber. Other than that it ran perfect. I'm chalking the jam up to a bad shell.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII

These are great guns. I was admiring mine just today, it will get a run at the dove field in a couple of weeks.

Best deal going in autoloaders, in my opinion. For an inertia gun there is nothing out there in the ballpark on price. I have zero regrets on this one!

Crushed a few geese this morning. Paired with a Carlson' s BC Mid Range choke, and Federal BB's, the geese were dead by the time they hit the ground. My cousins Nova is in the picture...

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII

I wanted to throw in my 2 cents with cupped and orion (my Tennessee brethern) on this gun. I purchased mine a couple weeks ago as a christmas present to myself and couldn't be more pleased with the gun.

The first thing you'll have to do is clean the cosmolene off the magazine tube. It will be CAKED on there
and it has the consistency and stickiness of pine sap. You can imagine that this would not be helpful in
making your gun function right out of the box but will sure enough keep it from rusting on the boat ride over. Warmed up the spring with a box of 2 3/4" 1-1/4 oz remington field loads. Cycled all flawlessly. After shooting that box grabbed some 2 3/4 1 oz remington dove loads and it cycled all three of those too even though the manual said it wouldn't be able too.

Then came the duck load test.

Since we were in the middle of the duck season I grabbed some of my Kents and headed off to see
how they patterned before I hunted with it. At 35 yards it threw a 75% pattern out of the stock improved with Kent 3" 1-1/4 oz #3 and a 90% and 83% pattern at 35 yards with kent 3" 1-1/4 oz #1's also with the improved. Both more than acceptable for taking down ducks. Actually pulled a double with the 1's on Sunday even though it's a little tighter than I like to hunt with normally. Still have to shoot them since I have them . Both ducks hit the water and never flinched as you could imagine.

The only load I patterned that this gun didn't like was the Kent 3" 1-1/8 oz #2's. I got a 60 and 63% pattern with the two shots I took with it.

Overall this gun has cycled everything from 1 oz Remington dove loads to 3" kent 1-1/4 oz duck loads without a hitch and I couldn't be more pleased with it. If something happens it comes with a 5 yr warranty. That helped push me towards trading in my old Mossy 935 for this gun. The fact that Benelli
makes all their Stoegers come with 5 yr warranties now says something about how many improvements they've put into their Stoeger line. I would be interested to hear how Cupped and Orions are holding up so guys, please feel free to chime back in.

"A Christmas present to myself". You'd be surprised how many guns I've acquired that way!!

Both of mine are plugging along perfectly. It's been really cold up here in MN, so shooting is limited. Snow goose hunting opens in a little over a month so they will get some shells cycled through them. A M3020 is next on my list!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2