Last updated August 2026 · By Nick Hall, has run a Benelli M4 and an inertia-driven M2 side by side through enough shells to have a view on both
Quick take: Benelli has launched the M2-G1, a tactical version of the M2 that swaps the inertia system for a new rear piston operated gas action. Capacity is 7+1, sights are ghost rings, MSRP is $2,049. It is Benelli answering the one criticism the inertia guns have never shaken off.
- What it is: The M2-G1 tactical semi-auto, an 18.5 inch 12 gauge with a rear piston operated gas system, telescoping five-position stock and pistol grip.
- Price: $2,049 MSRP for item 11612 in black synthetic, with a camo variant also catalogued.
- Where: Benelli dealers now, in 2 3/4 inch and 3 inch chambering with a 39.5 inch overall length.
- Why it matters: Benelli built its reputation on inertia driven actions. A gas gun under the M2 name is a genuine departure.
Inertia guns are light, clean and famously reliable with full-power loads, and famously less enthusiastic about the soft, low-recoil defensive ammunition a lot of people actually keep in a home defence shotgun. Benelli has spent twenty years explaining that. This is a different kind of answer.
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Table of Contents
What Rear Piston Operated Actually Means
Benelli’s inertia system uses the recoil of the gun itself against a spring and a rotating bolt head. It has almost no parts, stays cleaner than a gas gun, and keeps the weight down. The tradeoff has always been at the bottom of the power range, where light target and reduced-recoil loads do not always generate enough rearward movement to cycle reliably.
A gas system taps propellant gas to drive the action, which makes cycling far less dependent on how hard the shell recoils. Benelli’s rear piston layout puts that mechanism behind the chamber rather than out under the handguard, which keeps the forend slim and the balance closer to what M2 shooters expect.
For a tactical shotgun that distinction matters more than it does on a duck gun. Home defence buyers load reduced-recoil buckshot precisely because it is faster to shoot accurately, and a gun that will not cycle it is a gun with an asterisk.
The Numbers That Matter
Item 11612 is the black synthetic version: 12 gauge, chambered for 2 3/4 and 3 inch, 18.5 inch barrel, 39.5 inch overall length. Capacity is 7+1. Sights are ghost ring, with a Picatinny rail on top for an optic.
The stock is a telescoping five-position unit with a pistol grip, giving an adjustable length of pull from 9 1/4 to 14 inches. Drop at comb is 1 3/8 inches, drop at heel 2 1/4 inches. A camouflage variant is catalogued as item 11622.
Seven in the tube plus one in the chamber puts it ahead of most factory tactical semi-autos without an extension, and the adjustable stock covers a range wide enough to fit a shooter in a plate carrier and a much smaller shooter in a t-shirt, which is the actual use case in a household where more than one person might reach for it.
Where It Sits Against the M4
The obvious internal comparison is Benelli’s own M4, the gas-operated gun that has been the benchmark tactical semi-auto for two decades and the one that got adopted by the Marine Corps. The M4 is heavier, uses a dual piston ARGO system, and costs considerably more.
The M2-G1 reads as a lighter, cheaper route to gas-gun ammunition tolerance under the M2 name. Whether it displaces the M4 or sits below it will depend on how it holds up to a genuinely high round count, and nobody has that data yet because the gun is a week old.
What the Ghost Rings and Rail Signal
Factory ghost ring sights plus a Picatinny rail on a tactical shotgun is not a specification decision, it is a statement about who the gun is for. Bead sights are for shotguns pointed at moving targets. Ghost rings are for shotguns aimed at stationary ones, and they suggest slugs as much as buckshot.
The rail says the same thing in a different way. A red dot on a defensive shotgun has gone from unusual to close to standard in about five years, largely because it solves the problem of shooting a long gun from awkward positions with imperfect cheek weld, which is exactly what happens indoors at three in the morning.
The Home Defence Case
Strip away the mechanism argument and this is a gun aimed squarely at one job. Eighteen and a half inches of barrel, seven in the tube, ghost rings, a rail, and a stock that adjusts across a fourteen inch range is a specification written for a shotgun that lives in a safe and gets grabbed by whoever is closest.
The competition in that space is mostly pump guns at a third of the price, and the honest answer is that a pump gun does this job well. What a semi-auto buys you is a faster second shot and materially less felt recoil, and what it costs you is a mechanism that cares what you feed it. Which is precisely the problem the gas system exists to solve.
What to Wait For
Two things. Round count reliability across a genuinely wide ammunition spread, because ammunition tolerance is the entire justification for the gas system and a launch-week claim is not evidence. And a real-world street price, since $2,049 MSRP on a Benelli settles lower once dealers have stock.
But the concept is sound and the specification is honest. Ghost rings and a rail as standard, a capacity number that does not need an aftermarket extension to be respectable, and a stock that adjusts far enough to matter.
Benelli built its name on not needing gas. Then it built a gas gun and put the M2 badge on it. That tells you what the market asked for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the MSRP of the Benelli M2-G1?
$2,049 for item 11612 in black synthetic. A camouflage variant is catalogued as item 11622.
How is the M2-G1 different from the standard M2?
The standard M2 uses Benelli's inertia driven action. The M2-G1 uses a new rear piston operated gas system, which makes cycling far less dependent on the power of the shell being fired.
What is the capacity?
7+1 in 12 gauge, chambered for both 2 3/4 inch and 3 inch shells, with an 18.5 inch barrel and a 39.5 inch overall length.
Does it come with sights?
Yes, factory ghost ring sights plus a Picatinny rail on top for mounting a red dot or other optic.
Will it cycle reduced-recoil buckshot?
That is the entire point of moving to a gas system, and Benelli has designed it for a wider ammunition range than an inertia gun. Verify with your chosen defensive load before you rely on it, as you should with any semi-auto shotgun.
How does it compare to the Benelli M4?
The M4 is heavier, uses the dual piston ARGO system, and costs more. The M2-G1 is a lighter and cheaper route to gas operation. Long-term durability comparisons will need round count nobody has yet.
What is the length of pull?
Adjustable from 9 1/4 to 14 inches on a telescoping five-position stock with a pistol grip.
Related Reading
- The Benelli M2 review
- The Benelli M4 review
- The best Benelli shotguns
- The best home defence shotguns under $500
- The best semi-auto tactical shotguns
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