Gold & Silver Forum - benelli 121 m1... questions

I've owned a couple of these early Benelli shotguns since '86. The M1 is the 20" barrel and 7 round magazine configuration whereas the straight 121 aka the SL80 is a sporting shotgun. The one M1 I currently have was originally owned by Charlie Beckwith of Delta Force fame, and I'm thinking that he shot slugs through it because I ended up shearing the pin on the recoil link at the rear of the bolt carrier on that particular one. I had only fired a handful of slugs through that gun and by appearances the gun has not been shot extensively, so the pin on that recoil link took a beating somehow and I didn't administer it.

The 121/SL80 is faster than the Super 90 because it is straight blow-back and the Super 90 has a rotating bolt. Because of the lack of a rotating bolt the 121 M1 has lower recoil than the Super 90 from my experience with the two, as I've also owned a Super 90. I prefer the 121 over the Super 90 because it's faster with less recoil.

There are some tricks to operating the 121. As you've noted by now, the only way to get a round into the chamber on the 121 is to pull the bolt carrier back, drop a round into the ejection port, and then release the bolt carrier. There is a mod that can be done with an aftermarket extended button for the bolt carrier release button which you manipulate to release a round from the mag by stroking in a forward motion, then you can cycle the bolt carrier with the round in the receiver and it will chamber the round. This set-up provides for a secret combination by which only someone familiar with the 121 can chamber a round and make it fire, giving someone extra time if a gremlin gets his hands on it. While it's unlikely there are any of these so-called Benelli button aftermarket extensions still available, a good gunsmith could easily fabricate one.

As for unloading the magazine, it's simply a matter of depressing the feed spoon, then depressing the device on the inside of the receiver which retains the rounds in the mag, just like you can on any tube fed shotgun. Once one is accustomed to emptying the magazine in this manner a full magazine can be unloaded in short order.

I don't recall ever shooting any 3" rounds in mine, but I don't recommend it due to the one failure I had with the recoil link pin shearing. I don't see the point in shooting 3" magnum rounds anyway as from my experiments with the 2 3/4" and the 3" demonstrated to me that the 3" blows out into a very irregular pattern vs. the 2 3/4". Then there's the issue of increased muzzle flash with the 3" magnum rounds. Also, I took my 121 M1 in a couple of years ago to get a full going over and found out that parts are impossible to find for 121 now, so I have secured it until I need it for serious work and won't be shooting it any until such time. Need spare parts? Get an extra 121.

$500 isn't bad for a 121 M1 in great condition, but due to parts availability I would not consider it a frequent shooter, and without a competent gunsmith going through it and replacing the recoil link pin I would NOT trust it in a life or death situation without back-up simply because you have no idea to what degree slugs have been fired through it and therefore how hard it's been run. As much as I love the 121 M1, the FN SLP or Saiga 12 is a better value, even at a couple of hundred more, and then the additional cost for mags, IMO.

And FWIW, Benelli is owned by Beretta. If you look at the bottom of your trigger guard on your 121 M1 you will see the very same logo as on the bottom of the Beretta shotgun trigger guards.