We get this comment constantly. Every time we post a video showing a tight group — whether it's a bolt gun at 100 yards or a field shot at 500 — someone in the comments asks if the manufacturer cherry-picked the rifle, or if we got to hand-select the best shooter from a crate. It's a fair question. We understand the skepticism. So with this video, we decided to answer it as directly as possible.
Four Benelli Lupos. Four calibers. Never fired by anyone on our team. No prep beyond checking them in when they arrived. We pulled them out, mounted Zeiss optics, grabbed Federal ammunition, zeroed each one, and shot three-round groups. Here's exactly what happened.
We use Benelli Lupos exclusively for our field-to-table events and they're a core part of our long-range shooting schools. I personally hunt with a Lupo regularly. When Benelli makes a sub-MOA accuracy guarantee — three rounds of premium match-grade ammunition at 100 yards — we've had the volume of experience with these rifles to know it's not an empty marketing claim. But saying that and proving it on camera with four random, unfired rifles are two different things. That's the whole point of this video.
The four calibers we tested were the 6.5 Creedmoor, the 6.5 PRC, the 7 PRC, and the 300 Win Mag. Each one represents a different use case for hunters and long-range shooters, and together they cover a huge portion of what people are actually running in the field today.
For optics, we went with Zeiss across all four rifles, two different models. The 6.5 Creedmoor and the 300 Win Mag got the Zeiss V4 6-24x, which is what we run in our long-range classes. The two PRCs each received the Zeiss S3 first focal plane, a natural fit for calibers that run flatter and extend well down range. We leveled each rifle with a bubble level during the mount process, verified base torque, and checked action screws before moving to the range. All four rifles also ran Dead Air suppressors the Nomad TIXC on the 6.5 Creedmoor keeping things manageable during back-to-back strings in our classes and events.
For ammunition, we kept everything Federal. The 6.5 Creedmoor ran Federal Gold Medal Center Strike 140 grain. The 6.5 PRC was shot with Federal Terminal Ascent 130 grain, the only ammo we had on hand for that caliber. The 7 PRC got Federal Fusion Tipped 175 grain, a load I've been genuinely impressed with across multiple calibers for tightening groups at distance. The 300 Win Mag ran Federal-loaded Swift Scirocco II 180 grain, which I had honestly never shot before this session. The 180 grain Lupo combination in 300 Win Mag has been a sweet spot I've confirmed over many hunts, typically with Barnes TSX , but I was completely out. The Scirocco II zeroed in two rounds, which told me something.
Before we get to groups, I have to talk about the 300 Win Mag we pulled out for this test, because it stopped everyone at the range. This particular Lupo came in a wood stock — deep, figured walnut with a finish that photographs beautifully but does not remotely do it justice in person. Paired with a deep black barrel carrying a protective coating, this is one of the most visually striking production hunting rifles I've ever seen. Synthetic stocks are the standard now because they perform in all conditions and most of us have several of them. But there's something about a wood stock Lupo in 300 Win Mag that makes you rethink whether a rifle is meant to be hunted with or displayed. I'm genuinely undecided. I posed the question to our viewers — hunt it, or shadow box? I'd love to hear what you think too.
We bore-sighted each rifle first, then moved to the bench. Three of the four rifles zeroed in three rounds. The 300 Win Mag, the wood stock, zeroed in two. Whether that's familiarity with the caliber, the sweet spot of the Lupo at 180 grain, or the Scirocco II doing something right, I can't say for certain. But two rounds to zero with a rifle I'd never fired is a good sign.
I want to be honest about what I'm about to describe. I shot from a bench using a front bag and rear bag, and on some of my early groups I had my front bag turned sideways, habit that hurt my stability more than I realized in the moment. That contributed to a few pulled shots and is worth acknowledging, because the rifles didn't make those errors. Here's what the calipers showed.
The 6.5 Creedmoor came in at 0.967 MOA on the first group, barely under a minute, but it's under. My second group with that rifle tightened to 0.80 MOA once I corrected my platform. The 6.5 PRC first group measured 1.24 MOA, which is the only first-group result that didn't hit Benelli's sub-MOA threshold. I came back for a second group and shot 0.695 MOA, just under three-quarters of a minute. The Terminal Ascent 130 grain is the ammo I had, and I believe different ammunition would likely pull that first group under. The 7 PRC measured 0.58 MOA — just over half a minute, one of the better groups of the day. The 300 Win Mag, shooting the Swift Scirocco II 180 grain for the first time, measured 0.44 MOA on the best three-round group.
To summarize: three of the four rifles went sub-MOA on the very first group. The 6.5 PRC didn't on the first attempt, but came back under on the second. Every single caliber, on a fresh unfired rifle, demonstrated what Benelli claims on the box.
I've been shooting Federal Terminal Ascent across multiple calibers for a while now, and something consistent keeps showing up in my data. At 100 yards, Federal Fusion Tipped will often outgroup the Terminal Ascent even though the Terminal Ascent carries a higher ballistic coefficient. Once you get out to five, six, or seven hundred yards, the Terminal Ascent starts to earn its reputation and the groups tighten up. But at the bench close in, the Fusion Tipped has been stacking rounds in calibers from 6.5 Creedmoor to 7 PRC to the 7mm Backcountry. If you're testing a rifle at 100 yards and your Terminal Ascent groups are acceptable but not spectacular, don't count the rifle out try a different load and stretch it out before drawing conclusions.
We have a follow-up video in production that I am genuinely excited about. Steve and Jimmy are going to zero and shoot three-round groups from 26 Lupos possibly 30, with a mix of 6.5 Creedmoor and 308 at a single event we're putting on for Benelli. Every rifle. Every group on camera. We're going to measure them all and find out how many hit sub-MOA once they're settled in. My prediction: every one of them. Mark that video and watch for it.
Four Benelli Lupos. Four calibers. Straight from the box. The results speak for themselves. Three of four sub-MOA on first groups, all four sub-MOA by the end of the session. These aren't hand-selected rifles and nobody cherry-picked the groups. This is what the Lupo does. When we bring 26 or 30 of them out for the next video, we expect the story to be exactly the same.
If you've got questions about the Lupo, the calibers, the optics, or any of the ammunition discussed here, drop them in the comments. And if you have an opinion on whether I should hunt with that wood stock 300 Win Mag or put it in a shadow box — I genuinely want to hear it.
Greg Ray is the Founder of Outdoor Solutions, which he established in 2004. Over the past two decades he has trained alongside some of the best shooting instructors, guides, outfitters, and chefs in North America, and now hosts the Outdoor Solutions Hunting YouTube Channel.
Learn more about our long-range schools and field-to-table events:www.outdoorsolutionscorp.com | www.fromfieldtotable.comContact: info@outdoorsolutionscorp.com | 918-258-7817
