Cynergy Feather vs Benelli Featherweight

[DRH1175]

I am looking at of these two. For pheasant hunting. reviews if any please. Which way to go?

[gspman]

For pheasants I'd go with the autoloader if it holds 3 shells and if it fits you. That 3rd shot is oftentimes important to anchor a bird. One concern I have is the weight of the Benelli. IMHO a 6 pound 12 gauge is too light. It'll kick the heck out of you with heavy loads. You might also look at the Montefeltro if you like the Benelli guns. It's a little heavier and a holds more shells.

[charliepete2]

I shoot the Beretta Ultralight for pheasants. It's a 6# gun and I don't have any trouble shooting 1 1/4 oz of 5's at 1400 fps out of it. It's not like your cracking off 25 shells a day at pheasants. It's a dream to carry, no fatigue at the end of a hard day. I actually like o/u's better than than auto's because for the most part they are lighter, balanced better and you know you are going to get 2 shots every time you pull the trigger. I don't feel I'm giving up much by only having two shots. It's pretty unusual for me to miss twice at a bird thats in range.

As far as Benelli's go the ultralight has been getting a lot of good reviews. I know quite a few guys who are making them their main grouse gun because you can get pretty nice patterns with 1oz load out of a 12 gauge and they are nice to one handed cary. The carbon fiber rib makes the gun balance nice as well. The mechanism is pretty reliable for an automatic. It's the same mechanism as my Montefeltro, and I've always had better luck with it than other automatics I've tried. One thing to keep in mind is that the intertia driven design doesn't suck up as much recoil as lets say a gas operated auto like a browning or a beretta. If you end up going with the Benelli, make sure bolt face is full engaged after you've walked through cover. Sometimes you can bump the bolt back and the gun won't fire. I've also had it faile to cycle on the second shot after spending a day on a dust bowl of a wind swept prairie. All it needed was a little more lube, but you won't ever have that problem with a over under.

I've never shot a synergy feather, but if it still looks like Buck Rogers shotgun I think I'd pass on it.

[benelli_dude2002]

I shoot a Montefeltro for roosters in SD. This is my favorite gun and I use it for everything. Even taken a few geese with it. I can take the plug out and get 6 rounds out of it but its that much more weight in your gun. I thought this was a light gun until I got to try out some other Benelli guns this weekend. I shot the Ultralight in 12 and 20 gauge. I loved how light the Ultralight was and it did kick a little more in 12 ga. but like as mentioned above you arent shooting a box of shells a day for pheasant hunting. And if you are that sounds like alot of missing to me. 3 shells is enough cuz if you cant hit a bird in three shots, anymore rounds out there you are wasting ammo and gives your fellow hunters something to bug you about later on. I even tried the M2 and SBE 2 both with the Comfort tech stock. of course this was using light target loads. The Ultralight is next on my list. A little more recoil aint gonna bother me. Look forward to SD roosters every year. My 2 cents.

[DRH1175]

Really like the fit of the Browning cynergy Feather. I currently have the SBE and it does great on the pheasants. But wanted to get something else esspecially for Pheasants. Is the OU worth the extra $700?

[ccarlson]

I'm in the market for a new 12 guage and was planning to get the M2 (I've shot an M1 for years with great luck but that is going to my oldest daughter this fall.) But then I shouldered an Ultralight and really liked the balance and fit for me.

My downsides of the ultralight are the wood stock (I'm not easy on my guns and I have concerns about marking it up in the grouse brush etc.) and the second concern would be for the waterfowl hunting. I mostly hunt grouse and pheasant but do enough duck and goose shooting that I don't know if I really want a 6 pound gun for that use. If I could get an upland gun only, the ultralight would get my vote.