TargetTalk

All,

I have a friend that has a Benelli KITE and he really likes it.

Does anyone else have any experiences that they could share about this gun?

Seems like a nice mid-range gun.


Thank you,



John

I've had one for nearly a year and have been very impressed with it. Please PM and we can exchange thoughts.

I understand that Nestruev shoots a Kite.
He looks happy with it, but so would I if I had just shot 585!

Naturally this does not necessarily mean the gun is right for you. Try a few if possible and than make a decision.

Cheers,

Bob

Obviously he is an Olympian of some nature? 585 makes him heroic in my book.

But who is he and where is he from, etc?


Sorry, I just crawled out from under a rock and don't know who he is! ; )



John

Hi John,
Just follow the link and be amazed!

http://www.issfnews.com/shooters/whoisw ... trid=17193

Bob

Rapid wrote:Hi John,
Just follow the link and be amazed!

http://www.issfnews.com/shooters/whoisw ... trid=17193

Bob

Well I am truly amazed. I have known for several years that he is a brilliant shooter but, according to the ISSF News link, he managed to shoot twice in each match (with the same score each time).

Sorry, being frivolous. There are very few current shooters whose abilities are so well respected as his.

I think he used the Benelli mainly for the Euro Champs in Stockholm some years ago; that would have been after the episode of the AP40 with the steel barrel :-) If my memory's right, he's been using a Steyr the last few years. There may even be a mention of it in the interview, about his work on the absorber. I think the only international top shooter nowadays using a Kite regularly, at least accoring to the pictures in the ISSF journal, would be Tanyu Kiriakov.

Benelli maybe, but his aint got nill grips, and it has a different comp, shorter cylinder and barrel weight.

But it shows the basic gun works well!

I have one, and I really like it.

I dont have anything to compare to, but it is very light, little or no movement on firing, and excellent trigger for half the price of a morini or steyr.

Over all construction: I'm quite a bit dissapointed for an 800 dollar gun. Little scratches under bluing, a couple of machining marks, and some finish missing. Cylinder, and barrel finish is not what you would expect from such an expensive gun. It seems attention to detail is poor, but all in all however, its a very nice looking gun. I just expected more from something almost a grand.

Comes with one cylinder-bummer, have to pay more.

Excellent case, lots of room for pellet boxes targets etc. Comes with a set of tools, case has combo lock on it.

Trigger is fully adjustable for tilt etc. Grip is Not adjustable for angle and rake. It has a strongly raked european grip.

So far function is flawless. Sights adjustment could be better, izh 46m has more secure feeling adjustlment.

Has dryfire mode.
Ported Lothar walther barrel

If your looking to get started, with out buying a used pistol, or a new one, I think the kite is your best bet.

Only thing close in price is the czech pistols, and their quality dosn't impress me.

I have to say, the italian flavor and looks of the kite are impressive, but a pretty gun dosn't shoot 10's

What was the incident regarding the AP40 with the steel barrel?

The AP40 was first put on the market with an aluminium barrel only. This works quite well, despite early scepticism, but gives you a very light gun. So one day Nestruev shows up at a world cup with an AP40 with a silvery colored barrel - that turned out to be steel, and as far as I know was not made or installed by Hammerli. Naturally everybody and his cousin started to ask Hammerli about that steel barrel (Nestruev shoots 590 with it, so it has to be the greatest thing on earth - or not? :-) until they had to offer it as factory option to the alu version...