Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Retay shotguns

I had never heard of them until they were mentioned in another thread here. So I looked them up out of curiosity. An improved copy of the Benelli Inertia system. I personally never had the "Benelli click" in any of mine, but that's neither here nor there! And because of some past instances with a shotgun made in Turkey (not one of mine) I kinda balked at them being a Turkish gun. A couple reviews I read were pretty positive, but still...

Anyone here with any first hand knowledge with one? More than a little interested... maybe....

I mentioned them in another thread. I had given up the 12's and started using a 20 gauge turkey shotgun. I have 2 of the compact Remingtons, an 870 and an 11-87, both 20's. I had set the 11-87 up for the grandkids to use when they hunt, so I've been using the 870. I don't like it, and last year I ended up going back to my first turkey gun, a 1300 Winchester 12 gauge pump. I had been planning on buying another autoloader in either 20 or 3 inch 12, but I've not found one anywhere that I liked.

I was at Whittakers Guns a month or so ago and handled a Franchi 20, full camo, with a red dot. I believe it was a special run, as it was marked a Whittaker Special. I was there yesterday and handled a Retay 20, full camo, 22 inch barrel, and a very nice handling gun. Other than having picked one up and shouldered it a few times, I know nothing about them. It and the Franchi were very similar, as far as ergonomics, and overall feel were concerned. I'd take either one, but at the price, between $900-1000, it's lot to spend on a gun I'd only use to shoot a couple of turkeys with.

However..............I'll add this, I have a Benelli SBE2 that I originally bought to turkey hunt with years ago, and after hunting with it a few years, I decided I didn't need a 3 1/2 inch 12 gauge to kill a turkey. It has sit in the safe for 7 or 8 years now, and I have thought about selling it. If I did, I'd probably try either the Franchi or the Retay.

I looked at Retay and looked at a lot of reviews. The reviews seemed to be hit or miss. With that said, I passed on the Retay and went with a Benelli Montefelto. For the record this was for an upland bird gun not a turkey gun

I'm not buying a gun from Turkey that they copied and then claimed it was an improved copy....I'm not interested in any reviews.

Retay....pardon my French but I'm not into gAy sounding shotguns.

As far as the "Benelli click" goes....like I said I've owned 8 or 10 Benelli M1's and at least 3 SBE's I shot them all and never experienced the "Benelli click".....I do know a couple of people that had issue and when I questioned them about it in detail it was operator error....so bottom line is if you're not good at paying attention don't buy a Benelli.

Don't buy any gun if you're not going to pay attention!

That's true but some are not for retards.....

Sounds like one must pay attention, especially if you accidentally bump your Benelli, drag it through the brush or even crawl across a field chasing turkeys , I guess paying attention means making sure it’s in battery , Benelli has made improvements to some of their models so we don’t have to pay as much attention !

That's one I could never quite grasp.

My dedicated turkey guns cost me from $150 to well over $1K. Some are a few years old. Some are nearing 100 years old. I don't have to "pay attention" to ANY of them other than the habitual "I didn't accidentally bump the safety off, did I ?".

Beyond that....... I load them and when I pull the trigger they go off.

I've never crawled on a turkey

I've had Benelli Super Sports to Nova's. The only issue I've ever had, is the Nova came from Benelli without the ejector installed. Nothing there, not in the box the Nova came in, nothing. A call to them took care of the problem and an ejector was sent right out to me, but still! To this day, that was the only Nova. The 12ga M1 was as hard core for turkey hunting that you could ask it to be, so was the SBE. Don't ever remember dropping them, but they went through some stuff and never once didn't do what they were supposed to do. Had 1 dealing with their Performance Shop. They were so arrogant I ended up cancelling my order with them.

Anyway, the more I compare the Retay to the Benelli, Benelli has just proven itself to me too many times.

I got a riddle for you YoderbOy...

What do you call a guy that claims he's been paid by the turkey hunting and choke tube industries for two decades and won't tell who paid him and hides behind a bogus user name on the internet ?

All good. I won't trash any gun I never even owned.........even though I tease my kid and my buddies that do own "Italian Mossbergs". But I've just heard enough about the "Benelli click" and SBE's not shooting to POI that I scratch my head at the price point.

I will say......... My kid shoots a Super Nova and it (and the other couple I've shot) is one of the very best patterning guns I've papered. I'm not a fan of how cheap and loose feeling the pump on the Nova feels. But it's not a high dollar gun, either.

Again we're back to different strokes for different folks! Lol!

And no answer to the riddle....

EXACTLY !!!!

Gun shops would be pretty boring places if it were any other way.

Not just gun shops! I imagine how boring it would be, if we could notice it!

I think the only answer to the Retay question is for you to buy one, use it, and report back your findings.

Lol!

I would spend the money on a Franchi before a Retay. But that's just me. Franchi is made in the Benelli factory and essentially the same as a Benelli just with the a recoil spring in the forend. Heck, mine is even stamped Benelli on the side of the receiver.

I owned a Retay Gordion Turkey model last Spring and have zero complaints, it was nice and light with a slim forend that i liked, it patterened great and shot straight ( more than I can say for my high shooting M2's) but I sold it to a buddy that liked it more than me. he has torchured it since shooting a pile of squirrels and ducks and i doubt if he has ever even wiped the gun down much less cleaned it and the Retay has never let him down so they must be pretty good shotguns..I think for the Money I paid $799 they are hard to beat. I recently saw a Gordion Upland model on the shelf at Bass Pro that had a beautiful piece of wood ($849) and I was tempted till i shouldered it and remembered they have a flat rib which I dont care for.....Good luck..Hb