Benelli A.I. Tech Tested — Game Changer or Gimmick?

What Is Benelli’s A.I. Technology?

Benelli’s new Advanced Impact (A.I.) barrel design isn’t about artificial intelligence — it’s about barrel geometry. Benelli claims this new design increases both velocity and penetration energy as the shot travels downrange. The company says its testing shows up to 4% higher velocity at one meter and up to 50% deeper penetration downrange than traditional barrels.

That’s a bold claim, so we had to know — is it actually advanced ballistics, or just advanced marketing?

The Test Setup

To see what was real and what was hype, we lined up four 12-gauge shotguns:

• Benelli Ethos Sport 30” A.I. Barrel
• Beretta 694 (32” Steelium Plus)
• Century 3 (30”)
• Mossberg 935 (28” Overbored)

We used the same 2¾” Federal Top Gun 1⅛ oz loads across all four guns. Each test looked at three things: muzzle velocity, 40-yard patterns, and penetration in ballistic gel.

Velocity Test

Using a chronograph, we fired 10 shots through each gun to measure muzzle velocity. The Benelli A.I. barrel averaged 1,226.7 fps — the fastest of the group. The Mossberg 935 came in second at 1,214 fps, followed by the Century 3 (1,211 fps) and the Beretta 694 (1,210 fps).

So yes, Benelli’s A.I. barrel was the fastest — but by about 1% difference. That’s measurable but hardly game-changing. Now, to be fair, Benelli's claims of higher velocity started at one meter from the muzzle, and we were measuring at the muzzle. We do not have the ability to measure speed down range, but if Benelli is going to be faster down range, it would also have to be faster leaving the barrel, and it was. Does that actually lead to a meaningful difference down range? We'll see.

Pattern Test

When it comes to pattern, Benelli only claims that the shot string is shorter; they do not claim a tighter pattern. Since pattern performance matters, we wanted to take a look at how the A.I. barrels pattern. The results were eye-opening:

• Beretta 694: 68.7% of pellets in a 30" circle
• Century 3: 66.1%
• Mossberg 935: 64.3%
• Benelli A.I. Barrel: 57.8%

The A.I. barrel patterned the widest of the four. The reason likely comes down to the large bore diameter and the wider choke exit diameter (.7625). It simply shoots more open. When we re-shot with tighter chokes, the A.I. tightened up noticeably — so a quick fix for owners is to choke down one step more than usual.

Penetration Test

For penetration, we used gel blocks set at 40 yards — where Benelli says A.I. should shine most. Both the Mossberg 935 and Benelli A.I. barrels were fitted with full chokes for this test. The Mossberg averaged 2½ inches of penetration, while the A.I. barrel reached about 2⅝ inches — roughly 5% deeper, but that difference required a second shot to confirm.

In short, the A.I. barrel did edge out the others, but not by anywhere close to the 50% deeper penetration Benelli claims.

Final Thoughts

Benelli’s Advanced Impact barrel does what it says — just not to the level the marketing suggests. It’s a real design change with a long forcing cone and overbored geometry, and it did deliver slightly higher velocity. But in the real world, that 1% increase doesn’t translate to dramatically better performance downrange.

If you buy a Benelli with an A.I. barrel, know you’re getting Italian craftsmanship and solid performance, but not a magic barrel. To get the most out of it, tighten up your choke a bit. In the end, it’s a clever evolution, not a revolution — and Benelli’s marketing team deserves as much credit as their engineers.

What do you think — advanced impact or advanced hype? Join the discussion in the TFL Community.

Whether our targets are in the field or in life, we’ll only hit what we’re focused on — live the #TargetFocusedLife.