I first used the SteadyGrip stock during its prototype stage on a turkey hunt in western Kentucky several years ago. I was sitting with my back against a tree with the Benelli resting atop my knee when a gobbler came in silently from behind me and stopped about 20 yards away. There was the bird and here was I with my shotgun pointed in the wrong direction. Any movement from me would have spooked the bird, so I froze until it started walking from left to right in front of me in the direction of several hens. I could see that if he continued on in the same direction he would momentarily pass behind the trunk of a small tree and that would give me a chance to make my move.

BENELLI/FRANCHI STEADYGRIP SPECIFICATIONS
	BENELLI M2 FIELD	BENELLI SBE-II	FRANCHI 912
Overall Length (inches):	45.5	45.6	45.5
Barrel Length (inches):	24	24	24
Chamber Length (inches):	3.5	3.5	3.5
Chokes:	IC, X-Full	IC, X-Full	X-Full Extended
Weight (pounds):	7.2	7.3	8.0
Sights:	Fiberoptic*	Fiberoptic*	Gold Bead*
Stock:	SteadyGrip	SteadyGrip	SteadyGrip
Length Of Pull (inches):	14 3/8	14 3/8	14 1/4
Magazine Capacity:	3 rounds	3 rounds	5 rounds
Finish:	Timber HD	Timber HD	Timber HD
Price:	$1245	$1535	$850

Just as the gobbler's head disappeared behind the tree I swiveled the Benelli around atop my knee, and as he emerged into view, I plastered the big red dot of the Burris electronic sight on his neck and pressed the trigger. When I fired, the butt of the stock was nowhere near my shoulder; I simply held onto the extended grip of the stock and fired the gun with one hand, same as I would have done had I been shooting a handgun. Harold Knight of Knight & Hale Game Calls was looking over my shoulder while all of this was happening, so when you see him tell the story in Benelli SteadyGrip advertisements, you will now know that the hunter he's talking about is me.

As I said before, you cannot beat the SteadyGrip stock on a shotgun used for aiming at and shooting a stationary target. It is presently available on three shotguns: Benelli Super Black Eagle II, Benelli M2 Field, and Franchi 912. All are very nice guns, but if I had to choose between the three I would grab the Franchi 912 and run. Its slightly heavier weight along with its gas operation makes it a bit more comfortable to shoot with heavy loads. The price of the Franchi also makes it one of the best buys available in autoloaders for the turkey hunter and for the deer hunter who shoots slug loads.

Federal's Lead Shot Turkey Loads With FliteControl Wad
Many shooters don't realize how much air resistance a charge of shot slams into as it exits the muzzle of a shotgun. To get some idea of just how great it is, you can extend your arm from the window of an automobile traveling at 60 miles per hour (88 fps) and try to imagine how it would feel if the resistance were about 14 times as great.

I go into this because the tremendous air resistance a shotshell wad runs into as it exits the muzzle is what causes the petals of its shotcup to fold back. Serving as airbrakes, the petals immediately begin to slow the wad down, thereby allowing the heavier shot charge to exit its protective shotcup and continue on toward the target. Total separation of the typical plastic wad and the shot charge has usually taken place after the two have traveled only a few feet from the muzzle of the barrel.

The FliteControl wad can be "programmed" for wad/shot separation at various distances from the gun's muzzle.

Since the introduction of the one-piece plastic wad in the 1960s, a few experiment-minded handloaders have attempted to increase pattern core density in turkey loads by using custom-made wads having a shotcup with no slits in its wall. Their experiments involved shooting the wad as it came from the manufacturer or by slitting the wall of its shotcup by varying degrees. Pattern uniformity and density at specific ranges delivered by those handloads proved to be unpredictable simply because how far downrange the wad and shot charge would travel together before going their separate ways would often vary from round to round. What was needed was a wad with a nonslitted, solid-wall shotcup for maximum pattern core density that could also be programmed to put on the brakes at a predetermined distance from the muzzle and allow the shot charge to continue on its way.