The carbon-fiber ventilated rib is striated on both sides and topped with a white, Bradley-style front sight. The 828U Sport’s 30″ barrels (32″ also available) are separated for all but the first five inches of their lengths and at the muzzle to provide increased cooling surfaces and, perhaps more importantly, lighter barrels for faster response to feathered or clay targets. In addition, using the supplied 1.5-mm Allen wrench, the positioning of the trigger can be adjusted either forward or backward to best position it to fit the shooter’s finger length. It can be inserted into a hole just to the rear of the trigger guard-the tool is specifically contoured to follow the shape of the rear of the guard-and upward pressure will release the trigger assembly. The trigger assembly is removable for cleaning and lubrication by means of a supplied wire tool. One nice feature is that the two barrels are indicated on the selector with recessed dots, with the first barrel to be fired highlighted in red, with the second in white.

The Italian-style safety, with a barrel selector, is mounted on top of the rear tang. It swings to the right, and about 80 percent through the stroke meets fairly stiff resistance that is felt until the breech unlocks. The action is opened by a traditional lever that is faintly checkered on the left side. and on many fine Italian over-under shotguns. It’s the same locking system currently used by the great Boss & Co. The actual lockup is by way of a pair of cylindrical studs that project from the breechface above the locking plate and engage holes on each side at the top of the barrels. It is this plate, machined to fully cover the breech end of the barrels when in battery, that receives the forces of firing upon ignition, minimizing the strain imparted onto the receiver itself. Lying at the rear of the action is a vertical steel plate Benelli calls its Lock Plate System, with a curved notch at the base that engages a lip on the rear bottom of the barrels. The 828U Sport comes with a set of tungsten balancing weights that can be stacked inside the buttstock to tune the gun’s balance to suit the shooter’s preference.

Benelli 828u sport review