Benelli Nova Pump Shotgun in 20 Gauge, by Thomas Christianson

The Benelli Nova and Supernova series of pump shotguns utilize steel-reinforced polymer receivers. This makes the guns strong, durable, and weather-resistant.

Polymer-framed handguns are as common as flags on the Fourth of July. Polymer-framed shotguns are much less common. After testing the Benelli Nova Pump Shotgun in 20 Gauge, I am surprised that this is the case. I was highly impressed with its balance, fit and finish, and silky smooth operation. I am surprised that the Nova has not carved out a commanding share of the shotgun market since its introduction in the mid-1990s in the way that Glock has established a commanding position in the handgun market. I am surprised that shotguns with polymer receivers have not become more or less the industry standard.

Perhaps shooters are not as open to innovations in shotgun design as they are in handgun design. Perhaps pleasant memories of youthful hunting experiences have frozen us in time, binding us to fixed ideals of what a shotgun should be like? If so, that is a shame, because the Nova is superior in almost every way to the shotguns of my youth.

With a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $499 at the time of this writing, the Nova represents an outstanding value for the money.

Background

I was recently preparing to test the Warne Shotgun Rib Reflex Mount. The testing process would involve firing a significant number of slugs. I was not enthusiastic about the idea of shooting a large number of 12-gauge slugs. I did not enjoy firing a large number of 12 gauge slugs even back when I was young and strong and thought that I was tough.

Now that I am older and wiser, I decided that a 20 gauge would be a kinder and gentler solution for firing a bunch of slugs. As I looked at potential test platforms, I ran across the Nova. It looked like an interesting design. I contacted Benelli, and asked if I could borrow a Nova in 20 gauge for testing and evaluation. They were kind enough to agree. In less than two weeks I received a message from the gun store that handles my firearm transactions. They indicated that the Nova had arrived.

First Impressions

The model that I borrowed is #20030. The box contained a couple of smaller boxes. One of the smaller boxes contained the barrel in a plastic bag. The other smaller box contained the extra choke tubes and the choke wrench. The main product box also contained a tag with information about the 10 year warranty, the manual, and the shotgun in a plastic bag.

The receiver and buttstock are made of a single piece of steel-reinforced polymer. The barrel has a simple, unadorned ventilated rib with a fiber optic front bead and a brass bead halfway down the rib.

Initial assembly is very straightforward. It simply involves unscrewing the magazine tube cap, inserting the barrel, and replacing the magazine tube cap.

There is a cross-bolt safety on the front of the trigger guard. This placement of the safety has felt natural to me ever since the Crossman 760 Air Rifle of my youth.

Reading the Manual

The manual is 44 pages long including the front and back covers. It contained a number of interesting tidbits:

The rules of safe firearms handling come right after the warranty at the beginning of the manual. The rules are well-illustrated.
The magazine follower is orange to be easily distinguished from the base of a shell.
There is a magazine stop button on the bottom of the forearm. Pressing this button allows a shell to be removed from the chamber without loading a round from the magazine. This would allow a different type of shell to be loaded through the ejection port.
The manual recommends waiting one minute before ejecting a misfire.
There are some minor errors. For example, the directions for cleaning the bolt assembly say, “Disassemble as described previously.” The directions for disassembly actually come later.
The manual includes cleaning instructions for the barrel, trigger assembly, and bolt assembly. This is more detailed than the cleaning instructions for many pump shotguns.
The magazine tube cap is used as a tool to remove the trigger assembly group. This is very clever. Benelli engineers are to be commended.
The manual recommends removing the firing pin from the bolt for routine cleaning. That is more extensive than the routine cleaning process for many shotguns.
The manual is well-illustrated.
There are excellent function testing directions for after reassembly.
Drop and cast adjustments of the stock are possible.
The manual recommends not using steel shot with the full or the improved-modified choke tubes. This seemed like it might be create difficulties for waterfowl hunting in areas that do not allow lead shot. In light of the extremely tight patterns that my later testing revealed, using the modified choke tube for shooting waterfowl would seem appropriate.
There is a storage compartment inside the buttstock of the Nova.
The manual contains a good series of exploded diagrams and parts lists.

At the Range

I took the shotgun to the improvised range behind my pole barn. It was a beautiful, sunny day in mid-May. The temperature was 80 degrees Fahrenheit. There was just a hint of a breeze from the west. I was wearing shorts. The mosquitoes quickly showed themselves to be quite voracious, so I returned to the house to put on long pants, socks, and a bug jacket.

I had previously installed a Warne Shotgun Rib Reflex Mount and a generic reflex sight on the Nova. The Warne mount is explicitly not designed for use with Benelli 20 gauge shotguns, but it seemed to function adequately for short-term use.

I set up a target in front of the backstop, and set up a table with a Lead Sled 25 yards away. The improved cylinder choke tube was installed in the Nova.

I began by chambering a single Winchester SuperX 2 2/4 inch 3/4 ounce slug and firing it from the lead sled. It struck close enough to the point of aim that I loaded 2 more slugs and fired them. The entire group was close enough to the point of aim that I loaded and fired a number of additional 3 shot groups without adjusting the sights. As my familiarity with the Nova improved, my groups steadily improved from 3.9 inches in size for the first group to 1.9 inches in size for the last. I found that degree of accuracy to be more than adequate from a smooth bore.

Patterning

Next, I loaded a single round of Federal Game Load High Brass 2 3/4 inch 1 ounce #4 shot. I patterned it from 10 yards. It produced an 8-inch pattern. That was an astoundingly tight pattern for improved cylinder. According to the table on page 298 of Jack O’Connor’s 1961 classic The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, improved cylinder would be expected to produce a 15-inch pattern at 10 yards. Even full choke would be expected to produce a 9-inch pattern at that range.

I cleaned the bore with EnviroClean FA Gun Cleaner, ran a dry patch through, and then a patch with some Breakfree CLP. This was to prevent getting carbon grit on the threads when I changed the choke tube. I then installed the modified choke tube and removed the reflex sight and rib mount.

A couple of days later, I patterned the Nova with the modified choke tube from 15 yards, once again using the Federal load. It produced a 9-inch pattern. I then patterned some Monarch 2 3/4 inch 7/8 ounce #8. It produced an 11- to 12-inch pattern. Once again, these were astoundingly tight patterns. Mr. O’Connor’s table would typically expect 16-inch patterns for modified choke at that range, with 12-inch patterns for full choke.

Once again I cleaned the bore, and then installed the full choke tube. I then patterned the Nova with the full choke tube from 20 yards. The Federal load produced a 10-inch pattern, while the Monarch load produced a 14-inch pattern. This continued the trend of tighter-than-expected patterns. Mr. O’Connor’s table would typically expect 16-inch patterns for full choke at this range.

So this particular Nova at least seems to produce tighter-than-expected patterns. The Federal load in particular seems to produce astoundingly tight loads in this particular shotgun.
Depending on how a particular load patterns in this gun, a shooter may decide to use modified choke where he would normally use full, or cylinder bore where he would normally use modified.

Final Cleaning

Field stripping the Nova for final cleaning gave me the chance to get better acquainted with the gun at the gut level. I was impressed. Some older guns in particular are works of art. The Nova, by way of contrast, is a work of engineering genius. Diverse materials like the cast metal of the bolt body, the stamped metal of the action bars, the milled metal of the firing pin and bolt face and the molded polymer of the receiver are fitted together into a smoothly and effectively functioning whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. The design is elegant in its simplicity and amazingly efficient in its operation. The designer of this firearm is to be commended for a job well done, and the manufacturer is to be commended for executing the design so effectively.

Field stripping involves unscrewing the magazine tube cap and removing the barrel. The peg on the end of the magazine tube cap can then be used to start pushing the trigger guard pins out from the right side of the receiver. The inside edge of the opening on the cap can then be used to hook the heads of the pins and pull them from the receiver.

The trigger guard assembly, bolt assembly and forend assembly can them be removed from the receiver. The firing pin can them be compressed, the stop pivot pin removed, and the pressure gradually released from the firing pin. The firing pin and firing pin spring can then be removed from the bolt.

With the Nova field stripped, I scrubbed the bore with a brass brush followed by patches dampened with EnviroClean FA Gun Cleaning solution. When the patches began to come through clean, I ran a final dry patch through the bore. I then used a solvent patch followed by a dry patch on the accessible metal parts of the receiver, trigger guard assembly, forend, bolt assembly, and firing pin.

I then applied a light film of Breakfree CLP to the bore, outside of the barrel, and the other accessible metal parts of the Nova.

Next, I put the firing pin and spring back into the bolt and secured them with the stop pivot pin. Then I reinstalled the bolt assembly, forend assembly and trigger guard assembly into the receiver, secured them with the trigger group pins, reinstalled the barrel, and secured it with the magazine tube cap.

Finally, I function-tested the assembled Nova by cycling the action and verifying the proper function of the action lock and the action release lever. Then I verified the effectiveness of the safety and the proper fall of the hammer when the safety was disengaged and the trigger pulled.

Conclusions

The action of the Benelli Nova Pump Shotgun in 20 Gauge functioned as smooth as silk through the testing period. The fiber optic front bead was easy to acquire. The Nova balanced well, and recoil was significantly easier to cope with than the recoil from a similar 12 gauge shotgun. This is an excellent design, and extremely well executed. If you are in the market for a pump shotgun, I recommend that you give the Benelli Nova serious consideration.

Disclaimers

Benelli loaned me a sample of their Nova Pump Shotgun in 20 Gauge. Warne provided me with a sample of their Model 6108M Shotgun Rib Reflex Mount for testing and evaluation for a future review. OGRE Manufacturing had provided me with a sample of their EnviroClean FA Gun Cleaner for a previous review. I tried not to let the kindness of these vendors interfere with my objectivity, and I believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.