Building on the success of its Super Black Eagle evolution, Benelli USA is set to offer its SBE 3 platform to waterfowlers, target shooters and upland-game hunters, which is scaled and tuned for 3” 20-ga. shotshells. American Rifleman’s Mark Keefe met with Benelli USA to get hands on with new Super Black Eagle 3 shotgun, so check out our video above to see it in action.
The new Benelli SBE3 in 20 gauge is the trimmest and lightest of the guns in Benelli’s SBE 3 lineup. Like its 12-ga. cousin, the new 20-ga. SBE3 delivers all of the best features adapted from the ETHOS line and ones that you’d expect to find on a Benelli shotgun.
With the SBE 3 20 gauge, you’ll get the Comfort Tech 3 recoil-absorbing stock system, an inertia-driven action and a barrel that is cryogenically treated. Furthermore, Benelli includes oversized controls, an enhanced loading port and carrier system, and a soft new Combtech cheek pad to soften recoil.
At time of launch, users have the choice of 26” or 28” barrels, all topped with a ventilated sighting rib and a red fiber-optic bead front sight. Benelli supplies its CRIO choke tubes for this new 20-ga. SBE 3 shotgun. The new SBE 3 20 gauge will come in a variety of finish options, including matte black, Mossy Oak Bottomlands, Optifade Concealment Waterfowl Timber and Realtree Max-5 camouflage.
This feathery iteration of the SBE 3 drops the scale down to 5.8 lbs., empty, which is a significant weight savings when compared its 12-gauge counterparts. Depending on barrel length, users will expect to find the gun’s overall length to measure between 47.5” and 49.5”. Magazine tube capacity is set for three rounds, though users can chamber an additional round, making for a full capacity of four rounds held onboard.
Benelli USA’s new SBE 3 in 20 gauge just might be the next top contender in the waterfowl blind this coming fall. To see the gun in action, check out our New For 2021 video above. For more information on the Benelli USA SBE 3 shotgun in 20 gauge, visit the company website HERE.
New for 2021: Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 20-Ga.
More like this from around the NRA
Latest
Review: Ruger American Gen II Patrol
Ruger's American rifle line represents a good balance between cost and performance, and the latest generation offers many welcome upgrades, as seen on this Gen II Patrol model in 5.56 NATO.
SOG Knives Celebrates 40 Years in Business
SOG Knives, which was established by Spencer Frazer in 1986, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2026.
The History of Repeating Arms Gun-Control Groups Don’t Want the Courts to Know
This episode of NRA’s The Armed Citizen Podcast refutes one of the biggest false claims gun-control groups and the politicians they support repeat ad nauseam by asserting that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined the AR-15.
Rifleman Review: Springfield Armory Kuna
Initially designed by Croatian manufacturer HS Produkt to fulfill a military contract, the Kuna has since arrived on U.S. shores through Springfield Armory as a semi-automatic, large-format handgun chambered for the 9 mm Luger cartridge.
All-American AK: The Bear Creek Arsenal BC-47
North Carolina’s Bear Creek Arsenal makes AR-15s, 10/22s and handguns, but new for 2026, it is introducing its first AK-pattern firearm with the BC-47.
Review: TNW Firearms ASR 1911
Reliable pistol-caliber carbines, especially with quick-caliber-change capability, are fun, and the ASR 1911 from TNW Firearms is one of the most unique of the bunch.
Interests
SECTIONS
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
EXPLORE MORE NRA PUBLICATIONS
