TargetTalk

Im leaning heavily towards picking one of these up. Anyone ?

PaulTNY,

the silence is deafening. I dont' know why Benelli has never gotten a following with their pistols. I've never met anyone that uses them in any pistol competitions. I've only handled one of their 22's. Just for reference I think my FAS 603 is absolutely great. Good luck with whatever you get.

Cheers,
Robert

I got the MP95 in .32 from Larrys Guns, I also got an extra mag, Larrys custom optics mount and a Matchdot optic.
It looks exactly like my .22, no surprise, and if I can shoot the .32 as well as I shoot the .22, Im in business.
I dont have any ammo for it yet, I should have it by this weekend. I ll post a range report once I get a chance to break it in .

I got a Benelli MP 90 in .32 this spring. I love the thing! Never a malfunction in 1,500 rounds!! As much as I love my model 41, I'm thinking of getting an MP 90 in .22. The raked European grip really locks the wrist and the wide, generous sights rock.

I would caution you that the .32 is finicky about ammo. Let me first say that I'm a cheap scotsman and there's no way in hell I'm going to spend $32/box for Lapua....I ain't that good either. When i tried a bunch of ammo at 25 yards, here's the results off a rest:

Fiochii 1.25"
Magtech 5"
Speer WC bullets with BE, WST ,231 2.5-5"
H&N Bullets in .313 diameter (From Larrys) WST 2.5"
H&N With BE 1"
H&N with Win 231 1"

Since I'm trying to get away from BullesEye's filthy residue I shoot the H&N with 1.7 grains of 231. Recoil is like a .22 mag

Granted, I'm just a club shooter (putz) but in the one Police L matsh we shoot a year, my CF score went from 100 points behind my .22 score to just 3 points under!!!

Oh, need to mention that the thing flings brass over 20 feet!!!. You will need a brass catcher....the guy to your right will appreciate it ;-)

I had it zeroed in under 10 shots with the Matchdot
I shot 6 targets ( NRA 50 ft timed fire) with 5 rounds per target once I had it zeroed in.
I shot a low score of 41 and a high score of 49 on the 6 targets.
That is WAY better than I do with the .22 ~~~!!!
To say Im pleased is an understatement.
The pistol performed flawlessly out of the box thru the 40 rds fired. I was using Lapua ammo.
I think the reason Im shooting better with the .32 is due to the Matchdot, I only have the standard Ultradot on the .22
In any case I will be ready for my next match for sure, no more embarassments !!!
Can you PM me with info on purchasing the ammo you find to perform best with this pistol ???

I shoot an MP 95 in .22 so I'm a Benelli fan. I came across this MP3-S in .32. The price was right and the finish so beautiful that I succumbed. I can't readily mount a scope so I've been using it for indoor centerfire. Its angles are more 1911. The trigger is a delight. I've only shot reloads, trying to zero in on what it likes. So far at 50' everything groups closely. I need to bench rest it at increasing distances. I'll post more information when I have the data collected. I'm told .32 doesn't compete well at 50yds. If that is true, the gun will likely be used indoors or international matches. If I'm pleasantly surprised at 50yds, I may have to mount my matchdot.

I shot my first match with it.
I was nervous using an unfamiliar pistol for the first time with only a handful of rounds thru it the week before, but I was going for it !
I got setup and shot my first shot in slowfire....... Im like...... where did that shot hit ????? I stop, focus my spotting scope and study the target...... NOTHING ???? NOTHING !!!!!! I MISSED THE TARGET COMPLETELY !!!! So, now Im freaked out. What can I do ? I line up and take my next few shots, and I do OK
Move on to timed and rapid and with the exception of pulling one shot I did alright. Certainly not what I did in practice ( I NEVER do as well in a match as I do in practice) but not bad.
Once they factored in my handicap I was high scorer on my team with a 293 !! LOL !!!
Gotta love that handicap !!!!

I agree completely with Dunski. My Benelli was a real Jekyl and Hyde, 1" or less with a couple of loads and awful with most others. No longer the case. Now I have a barrel from David Wilson and all loads are good, some are excellent, and it doesn't seem to matter what bullet I use.

My last match I noticed that the .32 benelli was cycling sluggishly, almost failing to fully chamber rounds. I had only cleaned it with a bore snake and had almost 200rd thru it so I figured it was time for a complete cleaning. I attempted to take out the recoil buffer plate at the rear of the pistol to facilitate the slide assembly removal. It was difficult to remove. Once I got it out it was apparent what the problem was. the recoil buffer is made of some type of plastic or hard rubber compound. It was all shattered and in pieces. some pieces had fallen into the action, the remainder basically fell off the buffer plate. So now Im standing there with pieces of red rubber all over and wondering how Im going to shoot in my match the next day. The gun is inoperable untill I come to some kind of solution.
I have emailed and left voice messages at the store I purchased my benellis from and Im waiting for instruction on where I can get new or preferabley upgraded replacement parts.
I have not had any problems like this with my .22 benelli.

I'm a big Benelli .32 fan too (so far). It's a snap to disassemble and clean.

I think this 'buffer thing" is a common problem (I've read about it several times before), replacements are fairly cheap (so get 2 - part number is 065P) but I read today on Bullseye-L that Larry may have available a more durable replacement part made from a similar material.

I had about 600 rnds through mine before it started cracking - getting the recoil plate out is kind of a "tilt & pull" deal, it gets easier once you're familiar with it. My only concern is the material - I don't believe it is suitable for what it's supposed to withstand. I'm thinking Nylon or Delrin would be more appropriate. FYI - I fully clean after every use.

Jim

I called Larry and you are right, he makes an improved version, I ordered 4 of them !!! Thanks.
I think that the original material sucks, it should never fall apart inside a firearm. Wear out maybe, become mangled or flattened sure, but to crumble and fall apart in the mechanism of a pistol.....not good.
I like to clean my pistol after each use, but I got into a bad habit with my Benelli MP95 in .22 cal. With an ultra dot on it its hard to clean because you have to take the whole thing apart and I dont like re setting my optic ever time I clean the pistol. I know it stays pretty damned good but once I take an optic off a pistol and out of the rings I feel the need to rezero.
Now the great part. With Larrys optics mount, its a snap to pop off the optic and clean the pistol, one allen head screw and its done and then it slides back on and its right back at zero. That is the smartest mount that I can imagine for that pistol and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone shooting the MP pistols.

Good deal! I've got the LGI Mount - it works fine and feels stable, but it doesn't stop me from tinkering around a little bit. This idea I got from Greg Derr's website. It allows you to strip (pull out the buffer) without touching the sight. Definitely more delicate then Larry's - but you get the idea. What I like is the mass CG is now more backward shifted toward the wrist, which is good and bad. But it feels like heaven. I don't however anticipate or feel any increased muzzle movement. Eventually I'll lower it as much as I can and still be able to pull out the buffer support. Take a look:



Anyway thanks for the heads up - I'm calling Larry's right now to order some of his buffers.

Jim

I like that, how is it holding up ? Like you said, the only thing that would bother me is the height.
Are those the stock grips ? They look comfortable as hell !! Id like to get a set like that

I put a slight amount of the red loctite thread locker on the mount screws - seems pretty good so far. The great part is that you can completely strip everything out (buffer, bolt, etc) to clean without even touching the mount! The height is actually growing on me - but I will see how low I can get it and still be able to extract the buffer frame.

The grip is a stock Rink-Formgriffe - you can order them through Larry's. I like it a lot - direct mechanical replacement and a tad more adjustable then the Nils.

By the way - I got one of Larry's buffers last night - excellent fit and it looks much more durable then the stock part! I'm going to try it out this weekend.