About a year ago we were writing about Benelli Argo in its most rude version, rude in the sense of the ability to adapt and overcome without the slightest uncertainty even those hunting situations where the climate, the lack of care of the user, the hostile environment require resistance no ifs and buts, together with ballistic performance which this product has accustomed us to. At least we found it curious that Benelli could coexist the different souls of refinement and roughness necessary to bring out from the virtual pencil of the designer and from the production machines a similar shotgun with all the characteristics that form its ideal backbone. Today we resume, thanks to the availability of Dr. Paolo Silvano of the Berrone armory in Alessandria, a very recent Argo and looking at it we appreciate its qualities and characteristics with the enthusiasm that the remarkable and profound peculiarities arouse, regardless of time. .
The appearance and the technique
The Benelli line, especially in its first rifled semiautomatic, could not be conventional so, at the first releases, it aroused some doubts among the most conservative: however a certain formal stylistic kinship with the shotguns of the same House immediately paved the way for the new buyers. Familiarity of style is always a driving element, especially when the leading horse, the smooth one, has won sales and customer satisfaction laurels, making it the most copied in the specific genre in a short time after the expiry of the patents. We come toArgon whose project rests on some technical peculiarities starting from the open castle, obtained in the shape of an L lying down from an extruded aeronautical aluminum alloy: in the long arm there is the release package, which can be defined as the control unit of the weapon with hammer, trigger, safety to which the shutter release lever is added from the rear end travel block and the magazine release button, also inserted in the lower part of the castle. The shaping of the caseback is a characterizing part of the line and we underline how a certain style that at first we had defined at the Flash Gordon, remembering the weapons of the comic book hero, he was then followed by the competitors who were more attentive to variations in customer tastes.
Let's move on to the barrel and reset system complex. The barrel has rotomartel rifling and subsequently undergoes cryogenic treatment with temperature reduction to around -164 ° C with programmed and controlled tempering: the resistance of the material is thus greatly increased together, obviously, with the useful life of the barrel itself. A steel sheath with a rounded section accommodates the barrel acting as a base for the support and the joint in the castle: inside it slides the shutter with a rotating head with three front wings that close in as many mortises practiced in the breech extension of the barrel itself.
The reset works by recovering gas with the nozzle placed under the barrel, just ahead of the cartridge chamber and therefore exposed to gases with high temperatures and not yet perfectly burned. This solution creates a good balance of the speargun, but required a refinement of the original system: the short stroke piston extends into two prongs, similar to those of a Y, and the complex is now exquisitely made in a single steel block. stainless steel, rather than in two separate pieces, so as not to undergo oxidation even if the apparatus is modestly cleaned. We said modestly which means that the past season at the end of the season is not enough when maybe tens and tens of cartridges have been fired: a tap with the oiled rag at each return would be definitely desirable, otherwise if we miss a jam it is incorrect to rail against the weapon, better stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself everything that goes into your mind, thinking back to the train of wild boars that got away with it.
To finish the motion transmission chain we specify that the two prongs, moved by the gases, collide with two small pistons, the impulsors, inserted floating in the front part of the castle which in turn hit against the base of the shutter carriage which from here begins the cycle with retraction, extraction, ejection of the cartridge case through the window obtained in the sheath, compression of the spring inserted in the stock, rearming of the hammer, return to the stop by taking a cartridge from the magazine ready for a new shot. The sights see a notch inserted in the half batting rib and a finely adjustable front sight at work: two green translucent plastic points and the red section of the same material allow you to sight quickly in all light conditions. Holes are drilled on the scabbard of the castle, closed by screw grains, for the quick assembly of one of the many very practical optical aiming systems.
The stock of the type Comfortech, superficially finished with the film Real Tree® includes the system patented by Benelli for the dissipation of the recoil through a series of angled rubber inserts and the possibility of the stock to flex within a certain angular range. The back plate and the butt pad are also added, always with energy absorption, the last one then with a directional effect to maintain the position within the hollow of the shoulder. The deep knurling obtained in the molding of the two parts of the stock ensure an extremely firm grip even with muddy hands: at home or in the first stream, a good wipe washes the ends of the hunter together with his rifle.
The Benelli Argo E boasts many guarantees and titles, in particular we underline what concerns safety where the Urbino product stands at the top among the titled competitors. First, do no harm: the old rule of medicine applies, with good reason, with a rifle in hand when a shot inadvertently fired due to a collision, a fall or anything else that could happen during the hunt would really be a disaster of enormous proportions. Always pay the utmost attention to what you do, assisted by rifles with the utmost intrinsic safety: Benelli has deservedly proven itself at the forefront.
Benelli Argo E | Data sheet:
Manufacturer: Benelli Armi Spa via della Stazione 50, 61029 Urbino (PU) - Tel. +39 0722 3071 - Fax +39 0722 307207 - www.benelli.it - [email protected]
Model: Argo E camo APT
Type: semi-automatic rifle with rifled barrel
CALIBRO: .30-06 Sprg. (alternatively: .308 Win.)
operation: gas intake under the barrel - short stroke piston
Castle: open in light alloy
canna: in cold hammered carbon steel with Criobarrel treatment - length 51 cm with four right-handed principles
Breech: semi-cylindrical breech sheath in hardened steel firmly connected to the barrel
Shutter: in treated and chromed steel - three fins on the head and rototranslating movement
Percussion: hammer with coil spring and floating firing pin inside the bolt
Supply: removable packet magazine of 4 cartridges (optional of 5)
Triggering device: assembly mounted in the castle - single-trigger direct type release
Extractor: nail inserted in the right wing of the shutter - orthogonal movement and internal spring
Ejector: elastic pawl in the bolt head
Line of sight: raised carbon half rib with green point-shaped rear sight - red fiber front sight on base adjustable in elevation and offset - alternatively adjustable rear sight - holes in the castle for attachment of a base for optical sights
Safety: two-position with striped button in the guard - locks the trigger
Stocking: in two pieces printed in polymer and with film real trees - Comfortech stock - pistol grip and shaped under barrel - grip fields with non-slip Air Touch effect - Tecnogel backplate (3 interchangeable) and Air Cell recoil pad (3 interchangeable + plates to change the edge and inclination)
Finishes: polished bluing of the barrel and breech sheath - anodizing of the castle - camo polymer stock real trees
Weight: 3.450 g with 51 cm barrel (variations based on component tolerances)
You May Also Like ..
