A.I. has infiltrated every area of our lives. We knew it was only a matter of time before the world of shotguns would be affected. Luckily, this new technology isn't artificial intelligence. A.I. stands for Advanced Impact and Benelli has some big claims about how this A.I. technology will improve shotgun performance. Let's dive into this review, see what Benelli has to say about their A.I., and ultimately put the Ethos Sport A.I. to the test.

If you have experience with Benelli A.I. shotguns please let us know your thoughts on the TFL COMMUNITY!   

Benelli Performance Shop Ethos Sport A.I. 12 Gauge Shotgun Review

The following is what Benelli claims their Advanced Impact new technology will do:

Those are some big claims by Benelli.  In short, they say that their new A.I. barrel and choke system will deliver faster, more true shots downrange. We certainly want to put these claims to the test but that is a lot to unpack in one video so today we're going to treat this as a typical shotgun review so stay tuned! We will have a follow-up video where we dive deeper into Benelli's A.I.

A handful of Benelli shotguns are sporting this new A.I. Today we're looking at the Performance shop Ethos Sport.

• Specs

  • 12 gauge semi-auto inertia system
  • 3" chamber.
  • 30" barrel 
  • Comes with 5 HUGE Crio extended chokes, and 2 Briley Chokes. Looking for aftermarket chokes? Check out Carlson's Chokes Use Code "targetfocused20" for 20% off.
  • The length of pull is 14 3/8" - No spacers to adjust LOP
  • Drop at comb is 1 3/8"
  • Drop at heel is 2 3/8" - Drop is adjustable with provided shims
  • 7lbs 1.5oz
  • We got an average trigger pull weight of 5lbs 11oz
  • The trigger has a decent amount of pre-travel or 'sponge' before it breaks.
  • MSRP is $3,399 - The non-performance shop, non-A.I. Ethos Sport is $2,399

• Ergonomics

  • Standard Benelli progressive comfort butt-pad.
  • Comfort tech cheek pad.
  • This is a slick-looking shotgun. The wood is standard but looks very nice paired with the black barrel, silver receiver, and red accents throughout.
  • Benelli always does a great job with ergonomics. 
  • The pistol checking is perfect.
  • The nickel-plated receiver is very clean with nice lines - Very modern looking.
  • The trigger guard is ramped for efficient loading.
  • Basic cross-bolt safety behind the trigger.
  • Since this is the performance shop version, there are a couple of non-typical additions ergonomically. This shotgun comes with an oversized paddle bolt release (From Briley) and an oversized red bolt handle in addition to the standard handle. Other Briley additions include: A red, weighted forend cap, and two additional choke tubes.
  • The forend sits in the receiver like a glove. Very good fit and tolerances.
  • Blued barrel with a gloss finish. This 30" barrel is ported on both sides.
  • Stepped up carbon rib. The rib is vented and wider than normal. They've cut a channel down the middle of the rib for increased visibility downrange. The rib has a silver mid-bead and a small red fiber optic on the front.
  • This is a slightly forward-heavy shotgun (Due largely to the Briley weighted forend cap)
  • This is a good-looking gun with some unique features.

• Recoil and Reliability

  • This is a 7lbs inertia gun. With that comes a bit of added recoil. However, mounting this shotgun up and shooting felt very very natural. 
  • This shotgun shoots very nicely. The recoil was straight back and very manageable.
  • If you wanted to lessen the recoil even more,  A  Falcon Strike recoil pad would make this Benelli hard to put down.
  • Recoil is hardly worth mentioning. This is a sporting gun. Target loads aren't going to give you any issues. The bigger question is how reliable this inertia gun will cycle these light loads as inertia systems sometimes struggle to cycle lighter loads.
  • The more we shot, the more we realized that the light loads did not cause any trouble for this shotgun. It cycled reliably every time we shot and pumped out shells very fast... Much faster than your typical inertia shotgun.
  • If you can speak to the reliability of a Benelli A.I., please let us know how it's held up on the  TFL COMMUNITY!    
  • Overall, shooting this shotgun was a breeze. It crushed clays very naturally.

• Breakdown/Quality of Build

  • As we all know, Benelli shotguns are very simple to break down.
  • The forend and barrel come off together by simply screwing off the forend cap.
  • The top part of the receiver also comes off independently.
  • The trigger group pops out very easily with a single-pin design. There you have it: Three easy steps and this shotgun is broken down.
  • We took the breakdown a step further to check out the inside of the stock. What we found was a unique recoil pad set-up - Typically the pad would simply snap to the end of the stock and that would be the end of it. This recoil pad has two parts with an internal part that sits about 3 inches into the stock. This acts as the mount for the external pad and has some squish to it as well.
  • There is no doubt that this is a high-quality shotgun. Benelli does a great job. The only lack of quality we found was a loose locking washing bouncing around in the stock.
  • The most unique aspect of this build is the A.I. tech found in the barrel and the chokes. One element of this is that the barrel is over-bored (10ga diameter)
  • We have no reason to believe this shotgun won't hold up over time if properly cared for. Very solid.

• Speed Shooting 

  • In every review, we typically do a speed shooting test where we hand throw 3 clays and record the time it takes to get on the clays, and shoot all of them. This test reveals a lot about the functionality of the gun such as mountability, target acquisition, trigger, recoil, and reliability. 
  • Before we got it on the clock, we shot some sporting clays-style targets. We had a lot of fun, and great success in this. Every shot was spot on. This gun mounted very well. Missing with this shotgun was difficult. A large part of this was the balance and ergonomics coming together to create a 10/10 shooting experience. Not to mention it cycled reliably as well.
  • When it came to speed shooting, our first attempt may have had a minor false start, but we recorded a .99 second time to crush three clays. This shotgun shoots much quicker than other inertia guns.
  • The fastest split time we achieved was a .18
  • We consistently shot all 3 clays in around 1 second. (This includes the throw time). This is phenomenal for an inertia gun.
  • Regardless of shot times, we were able to consistently hit the three clays with no issues. We shot this gun better than most. Maybe it was just a good day... Or maybe Benelli is actually on to something with their new A.I. technology.
  • Just for fun, we put in a full choke to see how hard we could smoke clays with as tight of a pattern as possible. This did not disappoint. 

In conclusion, this is a very nice shooting gun. Putting this shotgun on paper and putting Benelli's claims to the test is top of our list to determine whether or not this shotgun will do all they say it will. But as of now, this shotgun is working flawlessly. The ergonomics really stand out on this gun. It looks awesome. But most importantly, it shot exactly where I was looking 99% of the time. This is a shotgun worth checking out.

Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we will only hit what we are focused on, so live the #targetfocusedlife