09 June 2023

BE.S.T. the anti-corrosion coating: fine and functional

When the extreme effectiveness is combined with the precious esthetic value, great inventions are a natural consequence, able to change the concept of functionality itself applied to hunting, just like BE.S.T. the anti-corrosion coating

It is the BE.S.T., an anti-corrosion coating that is just beyond the usual, challenging the common laws of nature and giving life to a diamond-comparable surface, for solidity and beauty. This innovative coating combines aesthetic preciousness to a higher hardness as well as resistance to corrosion, wear and atmospheric agents unparalleled to any other coatings on the market. Despite technological developments in the era of industry 4.0, a coating like BE.S.T. was yet to be found. A technological lack for the whole of the world's weapon industry, until Benelli came up with this exclusive anti-corrosion coating product of state-of-the-art hybrid technology, developed in recent years and still undergoing further development.

The result is an anti-corrosion coating with features similar to the most precious of jewels: higher hardness, aesthetic value and corrosion resistance, needing no maintenance with protective oil.

That's what the highest sense of technology is about: the art of making something for others to use, simplifying and improving the quality of life. Let's dig more into some technical details, BE.S.T. (Benelli Surface Treatment) is a treatment consisting of several carbon layers, “welded” to each other thanks to covalent bonds which, in addition to giving very high resistance to corrosion and wear in general, has anti-adhesion properties (which reduce the accumulation of deposits). On top of that, an unbeatable aesthetic value. Indeed, the finished surfaces treated with BE.S.T. have what can be defined not simply a color, but rather a non-color: Pure black, deep, with no chromatic shades and recognizable among thousands of “black” finishes applied on similar surfaces. Absence and limitation of the entire chromatic spectrum, BE.S.T. works by subtraction presenting a face that is absolute black, the cancellation of every reflection of light, to further enhance the pure elegance of the forms it covers.

Benelli has applied this anti-corrosion treatment to several of its semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic rifles, and bolt actions.

Benelli Lupo

The products that have marked the history of BE.S.T. in Benelli production are certainly two: semi-automatic Raffaello Be Diamond and the semi-automatic rifle l'Endurance BE.S.T. ComforTech 3, smooth barrel and rifled barrelrespectively.
The first is certainly the “most technological” Benelli semi-automatic shotgun Benelli “più tecnologico”. It belongs to the Be Diamond model gauge 12 of the Raffaello series, top of the range, with BE.S.T. coating protecting both barrel and breech. The Be Diamond barrel comes from the Raffaello Power Bore Crio, from which it differs for the BE.S.T. anti-corrosion coating.
In Benelli Endurance BE.S.T. semi-automatic rifle this coating is used to protect barrel, gas system rod, receiver, bolt and relative handle. The lower receiver is made of light alloy of aeronautical type and is finished by hard anodic oxidation. In addition to the high resistance to corrosion and wear, BE.S.T. significantly reduces the friction coefficients between the parts in reciprocal sliding, improving the weapon operating cycle. This is why Benelli applied BE.S.T. coating also to the bolt slide and the rod the short stroke piston slides on. This component, being treated with BE.S.T. coating, significantly improves the reliability of the weapon by having a higher resistance to corrosion due to the contact of the exhausted gases. For all these reasons, Endurance BE.S.T. is more reliable, more durable, finer and much less subject to the aggressions of the hunting environment.

The recently updated Benelli Endurance series features the BE.S.T.-treated gas system rod in all the rifles. The BE.S.T. coating on this component increases resistance to exhaust gases and ensures maximum reliability, shot after shot.

Endurance series:

• Endurance BE.S.T. ComforTech 3
• Endurance ComforTech 3
• Endurance ComforTech 3 Battue
• Endurance Pro Wood
• Endurance Wood

Benelli has also implemented its Lupo bolt action with this coating, where the perfect mechanical combination between the heat-treated rigid steel upper receiver and fluted bolt treated with BE.S.T. coating, ensures the maximum precision and makes the armament cycle fluid and fast, giving the hunter a feeling of absolute smoothness.

BE.S.T. is definitely an anti-corrosion coating resulting from an industrial process of cutting edge technologies, where nothing is left to chance.