Introduction
Benelli shotguns are well known by both sport shooters and hunters all over the world. Whether it be the company’s famous tactical shotguns or their sporting models the general consensus by most is that you can’t go wrong with the brand. The Ethos line of shotguns has been around for a decade now, and today we are taking a look at the Benelli Ethos Cordoba 12 gauge. The Ethos uses most of Benelli’s features made famous by the extremely popular Super Black Eagle. Including the Inertia Driven operating system as well as their Comfortech Plus recoil reduction system. The Ethos also incorporates the companies BE.S.T. surface treatment for advanced corrosion resistance in the wilds of nature, all of which I would be eager to put to the test.
Benelli Ethos Cordoba Features and Specifications
The Benelli Ethos Cordoba is a fully synthetic shotgun with an obvious pitch towards the hunting public. Regardless of your feathered quarry, the Ethos would be an excellent tool for taking into the wooded forest after turkeys, or in my case the muddy wetlands chasing waterfowl.
The Ethos is available in 12, 20 and 28 gauges, all of which come with the same basic features. Chambers are all 2-3/4 and 3 inch magnum. An anodized black receiver is matched by the BE.S.T. finished steel parts, which is a proprietary coating that sounds similar to DLC coatings used by other manufacturers. The twenty-eight-inch barrels feature a dual port pattern up front, as well as a carbon fiber channeled-sight-rib with dual beads. Sling attachment points would also be very handy for those looking to carry the gun for long periods of time between stands.
The very popular Benelli Crio choke system is also incorporated to the Ethos shotgun, which will allow you to customize your shooting experience. And Benelli’s shell view system is also another very handy feature to visually inspect how many shells remain in the magazine tube. Magazine capacity for the Ethos is 4+1 for all but the 28-gauge model (2+1). The lightweight of the Ethos is very apparent with models weighing between 5.4 lbs and 6.9 lbs. Length of pull for the Ethos is fourteen and three-eighths inches, and an overall length of forty-nine inches.
Shooting the Benelli Ethos
Because it had been a while, I decided to get me a duck stamp to take the Ethos out for a duck hunt here in my local duck marsh. All the great features of the Ethos would make a great companion to the cold and wet shooting I hoped to do.
Shooting clays
But before that happened, I wanted to shoot the gun a bit and get comfortable with it. For that we shot a few boxes of clays just to break myself and the gun in. On a particularly cold and snowy day, my kids and I burned through a case of clays with great success. I was shooting a few lighter 2-3/4 inch loads from Federal, I am not sure if it was the ammo or the gun but we did have more than one failure to eject. Perhaps it was neither and the gun just needed to be broke in a little, but that was the only malfunction I ever noted.
Despite the cold, I quite enjoyed shooting with the Ethos Cordoba. I really liked the dual beads that lined up nicely in the channeled carbon rib. The fiber optics bead contrasted nicely against the mid-rib bead, and the channel created a nice line that naturally leads to your focus on the beads. The ported barrel is designed to reduce muzzle-rise, I’d like to think it helped keep me on target for follow-up shots. The gun felt great as we shot through boxes of ammo, I suppose the Comfortech features of the Ethos were helpful at mitigating some of the recoil. The soft gel-filled recoil pad was a big part of that.
Hunting
After plowing through a few different ammunition types, and a case of clays, I figured i was ready to hit the duck marsh. And as the sunlight slowly peaked over the mountains that morning, my dog Benson and I sat in the smelly mud between cattails awaiting shooting light.
Ducks of all kinds would occasionally zip past us as the wind whistled through their feathers. And in a typical turn of events, just before shooting light, all the ducks found a great place to hide. But I wasn’t about to let Benson down, so we stuck it out for a while waiting for the occasional errant duck to give us a shot. Just because I wasn’t going to get skunked, I had the Ethos loaded with three-inch shells and #2 shot. I figured once we had a bird in the hand, I could go back to the more economic shells.
As the humidity in my waders continued to stew, I caught the movement of a low flying duck in front of us. Perhaps in an act of pity, he turned slowly banking towards Benson and I squatting in the weeds. I pushed the safety on the Benelli and slowly raised it to match the flight pattern of what was obviously a drake Pintail. When the moment was right, I let the Benelli off the chain and in a puff of plumage the drake tumbled from the overcast sky into the water below.
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Perhaps confused by my success, Benson was unsure what to do with the bird. We continued our trudge through the marsh enjoying the time and challenge of duck hunting. It was nice not to have to worry about the Ethos getting rained on, and despite having to clean it thoroughly afterward it functioned flawlessly in the marsh. The bright fiber optics bead was easy to pick up even in the low light, and despite the miles we walked the Benelli never felt heavy.