Barrel split open

I have a 10 yr old nova and in the middle of shooting a timber hole this morning, my barrel cracked. It split wide open at the base of the choke tube along with the choke tube splitting as well. Called Benelli, warranty doesn't cover split barrels, they said it was the rounds fault. Anyway, been shopping around looking at replacement barrels and they're not much cheaper than a new nova. Benelli guy said they'll replace my barrel for distribution cost, anybody have an idea what that is? He couldn't remember. Any suggestions? If their barrel is expensive too, I might as well pony up and get a nice one. That nova has seen its fare share of lake, slough, and tank bottoms. Also been ran over by a 4-wheeler and it was still kicking. Bad round got her, rest in peace Betsy...

Barrel splits are always because of Ammo, shooting steel through a full lead shot choke, or an obstruction.

I would imagine a barrel at distributor cost is about 200.00.
You could have a gunsmith cut the split part out if it is right in the end and rethread it.

Curious, were you shooting Black Cloud?

Nova not expensive gun. Get a new one- I have one in black will sell u. Fired 1 round thru it. Won it in a shoot. PM me. Will save u taxes if interested

When you buy a gun you'er buying the barrel, they throw in the rest of the gun

Shooting Winchester Xperts 3" 2s

I'd buy a whole new gun and just keep the other one around for parts, maybe bring it to a gunsmith and have the barrel cut down like mentioned above as a backup.

I would buy another gun but I don't think I would buy a Nova. Pump gun should have lasted way longer than 10 years, just my

what choke is in the gun

Same thing happened to me a few years back on a Winchester 1100. Instead of spending the money on a new barrel I had my gunsmith cut the 2 inches off, went from a 28 inch barrel to a 26 inch, and then re-thread it. Think its cost me about 100 bucks. Just giving you options

Not trying to be a blame the shooter guy here, I am asking because I could see myself doing this.

You said Betsy has been at the bottom of tanks, sloughs and lakes. I am wondering if you pulled the choke tube and cleaned/oiled the choke threads each time after getting her soggy.

I might have missed it/forgotten to do it after a dunk a time or two and unknowingly had some rust build up around the threads thus weakening the barrel. Just asking. Hope you got close to filling a strap before the failure!

Hey bud before you make any moves call the ammo manufacturer. A buddy of mine had something similar happen w his Nova, and called Kent and they bought him a new shotgun. IDK what the procedure was, but it was last season. Good Luck!

She gets a good cleaning at the end of the season every year and anytime it's been in the water or mud. Not accusing you or anything, but I'm not an idiot. I take care of my stuff. I'm somewhat mad at myself that I didn't notice this particular round going into my gun, maybe it had some rust or corrosion on it. It was early in the morning though.

Get a Beretta

I don't know if it was mentioned previously, but some of the factory benelli chokes will not shoot steel. I know the stock benelli full is one of them that says not to.

Some of the after market chokes won't accept delayed wad shells (black cloud) or shells that shoot over a certain FPS (HVSS), so you have to watch out for that too. Winchester makes a high velocity steel shot that shoots about 400 more FPS than their standard steel shot.

I'm not saying you did that, but something to consider if you are trying to determine what may have caused it.

I run a Carlson modified out of a super nova and shoot primarily Hevi-Metal in most situations. Really good pattern on the #2's and #4's for standard decoying bird range.

I agree with the rest, they are cheap enough... just buy a new gun. No telling what else may have been damaged... takes a lot of backpressure to split a barrel.

Buy a new one and make a sawed off for home defense of the old one.

this

Saw it off, stick new BB or sight on end and go hunting. I called my version the Blunderbuss. I hunted with mine until the new barrel I ordered was installed. Went from 28" to 24" barrel with a wide open shot pattern. My gun was fired underwater and split. "long story" Just be careful during the test firing stage!

nova? Screw in Chokes

I wish you hadn't said that. I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I dunked my Beretta Extrema II in the bay around Port A. Took it apart in the blind and cleaned the best I could. It made it the entire hunt and got a proper cleaning when back home. I never thought about the choke

Good luck! Hope you dodge a bullet, BP. [see what I did there?]

Carlson Chokes makes aftermarket barrels for the Nova

Been looking at automatics all morning. Liking what I see in the Montefeltro and Franchi Affinity. If I was rich, I'd buy a SBE 2 or a Super Vinci.

A buddy had this happen last year to his old SBE. He called Benelli and gave them the information on the shells he was shooting and they sent him a new barrel no questions asked.

They did not do this with me. I even have the spent shell and he said they do not cover shell malfunctions.

kemon86,
No disrespect or accusations meant...but what choke (factory, brand, restriction, etc.) were you shooting?

I ask b/c I also have a 12ga. Nova approaching that age and almost exclusively shoot BC #2.

Thanks.

A factory choke that came with it.

Benelli.....

SBE II Classic is $1060 in camo

You've already seen a Benelli fail so you might as well upgrade to a Beretta

Also witnessed the Benelli get run over by a 4-wheeler and the trailer it was pulling and kill ducks 45 minutes later. Fished it out of a pond with a 1 oz. slab by pure luck catching one of the barrel rib vents on top and killing ducks in the same morning. That gun has been tested, and a bad shell is the only thing it couldn't handle.

The same thing could be said about other shotguns but you implied that you were looking to upgrade. Benelli is a fine manufacturer and so is Beretta.

I have heard good things about the Franchi Affinity and the Montefeltro is proven. IMO you seem to be locked into a Benelli mode, you should expand your horizons and look at some of the Beretta options too. Sounds like your focus is semi auto with a synthetic stock either black or camo. I think you may have better options in the price range you are looking at if you consider both Beretta and Benelli.

Thanks for the input. I like the Beretta Outlander 3000. Any experience with that gun?

No experience with the Outlander

You might look for deals on the

390
391 Urika
A400

Benelli, Beretta or Browning...you cant go wrong with any of these auto loading duck guns, in my opinion.
All very good guns

No experience with the outlander. I have a Franchi I-12 that is on the way back from benelli. Has some wear that can be expected from a duck gun. Sent it in for failure to eject that was happening pretty often. Benelli replaced the action spring (warranty) and gave it a deep cleaning. It will be for sale as soon as I get it back. PM if interested.

Also, I picked up a Beretta A350 extrema from BPS this season. 3.5" capable. 28" Barrel, Max-5. $999 brand new. I haven't seen anything about it on Berettas website and there are very few reviews out there. But I love it. The guy at BPS behind the gun counter (I know, I know) told me its exactly the same as the A300, but its not. Has a rotating/locking bolt, has the silver chamber, blink gas system. I compared it to my buddys Extrema 2 and as far as I can tell its almost the same save the crio coat, kick-off, and rubber inserts on the stock. This one is very light (just over 7lbs) for a duck gun, kick is very light, and has held up to some hard use this season, including getting beat to hell on a day that we shouldn't have been running 30 min over open lake in 25 mph wind. I'd highly recommend it. In fact, im about to head to BPS and Cabelas to write a review.

I'd take the barrel to a competent gunsmith and get their opinion, photograph and document the damage, then contact Benelli and explained what happened. Benelli has excellent customer service, call them, explain what happened, get an RMA, then ship them the barrel. Good chance they'll replace the barrel.

my vote is to marry a rich woman and then just go buy a whole new gun

Before or after the airboat?

before of course, seems silly that I even need to explain that

Good to know there are still forum members who would not stoop to shooting ducks with a sawed off shotgun from an airboat

Very sporting of you

X2