The latest offering from the Benelli Performance Shop, the Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T. adds a new feature in its Advanced Impact boring system. Intended to wring more velocity and energy out of shot patterns, the Advanced Impact combines with several other features like the ComforTech stock and BE.S.T. finish to make this the highest-tech Benelli yet. Despite its considerable price tag, it’s a gun meant for rough use in rugged conditions.
The Ethos lineup has grown from the original shotgun to now comprise nine different models, all with the two-piece receiver design similar to that of the Super Black Eagle. The Ethos was the first gun to incorporate the Easy-Locking bolt that eliminates the out-of-battery misfires you can get with an inertia gun. That bolt design has since spread to other guns in the Benelli lineup, but the Ethos was the first. While I don’t have an original Ethos, I retrofitted my Montefeltro with an Ethos bolt, and wouldn’t have it any other way. As far as I’m concerned, the Easy Locking bolt was the missing piece that perfected inertia guns.
I recently got my hands on the new Ethos Cordoba and was able to give it a thorough test, including whether or not the Advanced Impact boring system really does boost velocity in a meaningful way. Here's an overview of the new gun and how it did in my testing.
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Benelli Performance Shop Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T. Specs
Length: 49.5 inches (with 28-inch barrel)
Weight: 6 .9 pounds
Barrel: 28-inch vent rib, ventilated mid-rib, brass bead, 5 extended chokes
Action: Inertia semiauto
Trigger: 7 pounds, 2 ounces
Capacity: 4+1
Finish: Matte black BE.S.T.
Stock: Black synthetic with ComforTech stock
Chambering: 3-inch 12-gauge
Price: $3649
Benelli Performance Shop Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T. Overview
The Ethos Cordoba is named after the dove-shooting capital of Argentina, and while the gun may have originally been intended for high-volume shooting, it can serve a variety of other purposes, such waterfowling, clay shooting, and lower-volume dove hunting here. It has black synthetic furniture with molded-in dimpling in place of checkering, and matte-finished barrel and alloy receiver, along with a carbon-fiber rib. The gun's metal parts have Benelli’s BE S.T. (Benelli Surface Treatment) which protects against salt very effectively and makes this a gun well-suited to waterfowl hunting. It has a 3-inch chamber, too, and the soft butt and comb pads and vibration-reducing chevrons in the stock do a good job of mitigating felt recoil and vibration. It also as has barrel-porting to cut muzzle jump and a weighted magazine cap. And, the Ethos Cordoba has the large bolt handle and closer-button waterfowl hunters have come to expect on their shotguns.
Finally, the gun is one of the first to feature Benelli’s new Advanced Impact (AI) barrel and choke system. Through redesigning barrel contours and the choke, Benelli claims to realize higher velocities and a shorter, denser shot string, resulting in greater energy downrange. There is a lot to unpack in this claim. First of all, it is possible to realize slight increases in velocity with different internal barrel profiles. The Advanced Impact barrel has a standard 3-inch chamber, then a forcing cone that tapers from chamber diameter to an overbored section that is bigger than nominal 12-gauge diameter. Somewhere along the barrel, that overbore tapers down to regular 12-gauge dimensions before the choke section. That taper creates a Venturi effect, because any time you constrict a flowing substance—in this case, a load of pellets, which does flow—it accelerates. The simplest analogy is when you put your thumb partway over the end of a hose, and it squirts harder.
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Benelli Performance Shop Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T. Test Results
I chronographed the AI barrel and my own M2, which has the same length barrel. Two different target loads both showed a consistent, modest (25 fps) edge in velocity for the AI barrel over my M2 barrel at 5 feet from the muzzle.
We get into the ballistic weeds, though, with Benelli’s claim that this small edge in velocity actually increases as the pellets fly downrange. This is a head-scratcher, because the faster you drive a pellet, the faster it slows. However, assuming you have a barrel and choke system that deforms fewer pellets and/or creates fewer flyers, you are eliminating the slower pellets from your pattern, and so you could plausibly claim that the average pellet speed and overall velocity of the pattern was higher.
If the above doesn’t make sense, perhaps this will: I tried a penetration test at 30 yards, shooting into an old Gun Digest with Boss War Chief 4s, again comparing the Ethos Cordoba AI to my M2. I propped the book against the steel leg of a pattern plate and shot it from 30 yards. When I shot it with the Ethos Cordoba, the Gun Digest was hit hard and it fell over. I turned it around and shot the back with my M2 and it did not budge, despite being stuck by almost the same number of pellets. Pellets from the Ethos Cordoba definitely penetrated deeper into the pages. Based on the anecdotal evidence of a one-rep test, I can see that A.I. may achieve some of what Benelli claims for it.
When I shot skeet, I did very well with the Ethos Cordoba, including a 25-straight with a low-gun start, with a double at station 5 just to do it. After that, I shot the pattern plate and found, to my surprise, the gun was about 90 percent above point of aim, 10 below. My takeaways are, yes, it shoots high like many Benellis and, also, at skeet ranges anyway (which are also duck over decoy ranges) a high-shooting gun is not a bad thing.
I altered the fit of the gun with the included shims and brought the pattern down to a more field-ready 65/35 and would probably shim it down a little more if it were my gun. At a hair under 7 pounds, with the included magazine-cap weight, I thought the gun balanced very well, with the bit of weight-forward that I prefer. While it does offer the improved ergonomics of large controls, it is stiffer to load than the new M2s and Montefeltros, which are like butter with their new softer magazine and latch springs. I did sprinkle the BE.S.T. barrel with saltwater and leave it, and I was not able to mar the finish. BE.S.T. is worth paying for if you want a gun for salt and brackish water.
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Final Thoughts on the Performance Shop Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T.
Pros:
BE S.T. finish protects metal corrosion and abrasion
Good weight and balance
Advanced Impact appears to work
Cons:
Expensive
Loading is stiff
Having perfected inertia guns, and now facing a lot of competition from other inertia semiautos, all Benelli has left to do is tweak the margins. The Ethos Cordoba A.I. BE.S.T. has all the tweaks. It’s a shooter, too, and would make a fine all-around hunting/target gun. The ComforTech stock works, the BE S.T. protects the metal, the Easy-Locking bolt eliminates the “click” misfire, and the A.I. seems to help. That’s on one hand. On the other, for the price of this gun you could buy two M2s, and have $800 left over for Cerakoting or ammo or whatever. On the other hand, you want the very latest technological advantages in a very refined yet rugged gun regardless of cost, and if you do, you'll find it in the new Performance Shop Cordoba Ethos A.I. BE.S.T.
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