Benelli’s ETHOS line proves they are nearing perfection in a semi-auto.
“Back in the day,” when we were just beginning to discover the incredible number of gamebirds in South America, gunmakers worldwide were competing to see who could develop shotguns that could take the punishment dished out by repeated thousand-bird days. As tough as most American-made repeaters already were, the prospect of having to go 50 to 100 thousand rounds with little or no breakage was a real challenge.
One of the big winners was the Italian maker Benelli. Benelli developed a series of guns that were brutally tough and reliable. At the time, most folks who took their own gun to Argentina or some similar locale, chose to take a Benelli 20 gauge. If they elected to avoid the hassle of South American import laws and shoot their outfitter’s guns, they’d likely be paired with a Benelli when they got there. Outfitters bought them by the thousands to provide to their clients, and many of those clients went home and bought one for themselves. After all, there are few better ways to get really familiar with a shotgun than shooting it a thousand times a day for a week or more.
I can speak from experience because I was one of those guys. Even though I already owned several American repeaters that I was perfectly satisfied with, I wanted to have one of those wonderful, absolutely reliable guns in my safe. “Just in case.” Even after I developed my well-documented affection for side-by-sides, I still hung on to the old Benelli for about 20 years. Even then, there were still times and places and conditions that demanded a reliable gun that wouldn’t drastically reduce my net worth if I exposed it to inclement weather or dropped it over the side of the boat.
Eventually, after I began writing extensively about shotguns, I reached the point where I had a continuous supply of test guns that I could use for such work and the Benelli languished in my gun safe. One day in a fit of weakness, I let a supposed “friend” talk me out of it. That was about 30 years ago, and I still wish I had let go of the “friend” instead.
Several years passed before I had the opportunity to use a Benelli again. Then, one day a couple of months ago, the folks at Benelli asked me to evaluate one of their newer models and sent me a new 20 gauge ETHOS. I was genuinely curious because it had been so long since I had used one of their guns and their new models don’t look like the old ones. Somewhere along the line they had become “stylized” for the lack of a better word. I can’t say with any authority whether the new look is Italian or European or perhaps just “modern,” but they definitely look different! I guess I wondered if anything else had changed over the years, or if the qualities that made us love the old guns were still there.
The 20 gauge ETHOS is noticeably slim in the hand and carries nicely. It comes in several different configurations and finishes. Of course, the traditionalist in me chose the wood stock and blued steel barrel. The dark, European walnut stock didn’t disappoint. It’s well figured and has an attractive satin finish that contrasts nicely with the nickel-plated alloy receiver and medium-gloss barrel. The general fit and finish are exceptional for a repeater and the finely cut checkering is outstanding. There are a good many doubles being toted around the uplands that don’t have the over-all eye appeal of the test gun.
Speaking of the uplands, the test gun is slim as a willow switch and weighs in at a paltry five pounds, 10 ounces with its 28-inch carbon-fiber ribbed barrel. And it carries just as nicely as you’d expect at that weight. Any gun that’s as light as this one needs to have its balance point a tad forward, and the little 20 gauge ETHOS does just that. The slight forward balance allows the gun to be quick for flushing birds, but still carry through nicely on passing birds. Not many makers of semi-autos have a really keen understanding of this aspect of balance, but the folks at Benelli got it just right.
The ETHOS comes equipped with shims to allow you to adjust drop at comb and heel, which is essential if you want to shoot the gun well. I can’t testify as to how easy they are to use because the ETHOS came with a length of pull of 14 ¾ inches, coupled with a drop at comb of 1 ½ inches and drop at heel of 2 ¼ inches. That’s about as good as you can get for an average-sized male, and the gun fit my very average-sized frame perfectly. As a result, it shot very well for me right out of the box.
Feeding and ejection were absolutely perfect. I couldn’t get it to malfunction even when I tried. Clean or dirty, wet or dry, for days on end the thing just kept on running, just like my old Benelli did. It shot anything that I fed it without so much as a hiccup, and that included everything from ultra-light 2 ¾-inch shells to heavy 3-inch shells. The full complement of Benelli’s proprietary CRIO choke tubes gives it the capability to put all of those loads to use and make the gun incredibly versatile. I’d guess that the ETHOS 20-gauge would be as comfortable gunning woodcock as it would on high plains pheasant.
Recoil was lighter than expected, and I honestly didn’t detect any perceptible muzzle rise over extended shooting sessions with the lighter loads. As a result, repeat shots were quick, whether I was gunning covey rises of bobwhite or fending off multi-bird “charges” on a dove field. For that, I’d have to give credit to their unique short inertia operating system coupled with their proprietary progressive recoil reduction system and soft cheekpiece.
As I was wrapping this up, I had to wonder if our readers would suspect that I was over-doing the praise, but I guarantee that I wasn’t. The little Benelli is just that good.
In the end, I can’t tell you whether the ETHOS 20-gauge will last for 50 or 100 thousand rounds, but I can say that it’s extremely well made. It carries, handles and shoots extremely well. It’s considerably refined compared to my old Benelli, and yet it’s still as rugged as a box of rocks. If you roll all of that into one package, the result is an impressive shotgun that gets a big gold stamp of approval.