Benelli Lupo HPR in 308 Winchester

It wasn’t long ago (Rifle No. 330, September, 2023) that I had the opportunity to review Benelli’s black synthetic-stocked Lupo in 6mm Creedmoor. At the time it had been on the market a few years. This was the Italian gunmaker’s first bolt-action hunting rifle, a firearm displaying the style Benelli has become known for through its world-renowned semiautomatic shotguns. It should come as no surprise that the company would expand on the Lupo lineup, as it has been well received in the firearms community. The Lupo can be had with black and camouflage synthetic stocks, as well as in fine walnut.

The Benelli Lupo High Precision Rifle (HPR) is the latest addition. It is offered in nine popular chamberings, including requisite 6.5 Creedmoor and 308 Winchester, 6.5 PRC, 300 Winchester Magnum, 300 PRC and 338 Lapua.  

One glance tells you the HPR label is well suited, as this rifle screams precision. Unsurprisingly, the HPR shares many of the features discussed in my original Lupo review. The receiver is a cylindrical design milled from top-grade steel and includes a three-lug bolt with a fast 60-degree throw and hour-glass mid-section to reduce weight and promote smoother cycling. The bolt is easily field stripped for maintenance. The bolt head carries a plunger ejector and the extractor is integrated into the two o’clock position lug. The bolt handle brings to mind the old Remington Model 600/660 series – doglegged and swept down sharply to clear the ocular bells of modern scopes, even with its large bell-shaped target bolt knob. The original Lupo bolt knob is egg shaped.     

The test rifle chambered in 308 Winchester feeds from a five-round detachable magazine, but also includes a generous ejection port that allows quick drop-in/single loading. The flush-fit magazine gives the Lupo HPR its graceful lines, integrating into the chassis seamlessly and effortlessly released by a knurled front tab. This is a proprietary double-stack design, which includes a forward/center alignment column to keep things centered and operating reliably. The bottom bolt lug, located at the six o’clock position, strips rounds off the magazine, the cartridge then pushes up the lug slot and into the chamber slickly.  

The sharply-angled Lupo trigger guard gives the HPR a distinctive Italian touch, though it proves ergonomic and well suited to shooting while wearing gloves (which I did due to the frigid temperatures experienced during testing). The trigger itself proved remarkably crisp and is user adjustable from 2.2 to 4.4 pounds. Out of the box the trigger broke at around 3 pounds, so I found no reason to fuss with it. Doing so requires removing the action from the stock/chassis. The two-position safety – forward to fire (revealing a red dot), back for safe and to lock the bolt – is mounted on the tang and is thumb activated. A small push-down tab found just behind the bolt channel allows releasing the bolt and unloading the rifle while it remains on safe. A red tab shows behind the sloped bolt shroud when the firing pin is cocked. The bolt release is located on the opposite side of the receiver – a rocker tab allowing the bolt to be smoothly removed for cleaning.  

Benelli labels the Lupo a “chassis rifle,” though I’d call it a hybrid design combing the best of chassis stability and classic ergonomics (though the HPR is decidedly tactical in style). The HPR stock includes three main parts: the main chassis beneath the action with the recoil lug bedded into aluminum, and separate synthetic forearm and buttstock parts. The chassis portion provides a precise and rock-solid rifle base. With its 24-inch barrel the rifle’s overall length is around 46 inches.

The original Lupo included a stock geared for walkabout hunting. The HPR includes a more tactical/target-based design, finished in tan with black spiderwebbing. Its tactical nature is further evidenced through the flat base and side finger groves of the forearm. This forearm includes M-LOK slots on the base and sides to accommodate bipods or other accessories, plus checkered side panels. The buttstock holds an adjustable comb, interchangeable checkered polymer grips (thinner sloped and palm-swelled vertical) and Benelli’s shim-based Progressive Comfort system for adjustable length of pull (LOP), cast and drop. The bottom of the buttstock includes essentially straight lines to better ride a shooting bag, and a short section of M-LOK rail at the toe for a monopod or sling stud. A polymer insert can also be removed from the bottom of the buttstock to expose a bag hook. QD sling-mount sockets are installed on the bottom and both sides of the firearm, and on both sides of the buttstock. Spring-loaded QD sling mounts are provided.    

The Progressive Comfort system – perfected on Benelli shotguns – is engineered to reduce felt recoil, the recoil pad is soft but seems durable. Adjusting drop and cast requires some effort, removing the recoil pad and Progressive Comfort system, and then removing the buttstock to install the preferred shims at the stock/receiver junction. Shims for drop and cast are labeled DX and SX and are used to push the buttstock slightly left or right of center for left- or right-handed shooters, respectively. Nesting Progressive Comfort LOP shims allow creating length of pulls from 13¾ to 14¾ inches. The adjustable comb is spring-loaded and released with a spring-loaded push button to set the eye perfectly behind the scope without reaching for tools. The system proved slightly sticky, requiring some jiggling between adjustments, but should loosen up with time and use.  

The HPR’s hammer-forged, free-floated barrel is conspicuously heavier than the original Lupo I tested, measuring .86-inch just behind the 5⁄8x24 muzzle threads. The barrel is fluted to help save weight and out of the box holds a substantial three-port muzzle brake with 11-degree crown. The brake is easily removed with an adjustable wrench to allow the addition of a suppressor (which I did). Benelli’s stress-relief Crio process is still a big part — a treatment that produces even metallurgic grain and smoother bore surfaces. The twist rate of the 308 Winchester version tested

included an odd 1:11 rifling twist rate instead of the usual 1:10. The barrel is mated to the receiver via a steel barrel extension, which is anchored with the recoil lug with two screws.

The Lupo HPR comes with a factory-installed 30-MOA Picatinny rail, secured with six screws. All those taps provide security, of course, but also allows compatibility with a variety of bases should you choose to add something else, like Remington Model 700 bases, for instance. Tally’s one-piece ring/base system is also available for the Lupo.

The barrel and receiver include Benelli’s BE surface treatment to guard against wear and harsh elements. This appeared on Benelli waterfowl shotguns in 2018 and has proven hugely effective to standing up to even extended saltwater exposure. Benelli applies this rugged finish using physical vapor deposition (PVD) and plasma-enhanced

chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technologies. BE.S.T. isn’t just a surface finish — it actually tenaciously etches into the metal surface and is applied at lower temperatures to maintain the integrity of all metal tempering. The BE.S.T. finish is so good Benelli warranties it for 25 years.

The Lupo HPR weighs 9.4 pounds bare in 308 Win, which might be considered on the light side for a target rifle, and making it acceptable for many forms of hunting where backpacks and/or vertical terrain is not involved. Benelli provides a ¾-inch/5-shot/100-yard guarantee, with the usual stipulations, obviously.

I added a Burris XTR III 3.3-18x 50mm scope, set with Leupold four-screw steel rings, bringing the finished weight to 13.63 pounds while unloaded. This is a scope

I’ve put through the wringer over the years on a variety of hard-used varmint rifles, without the tiniest glitch or complaint. This 34mm-tubed optic includes exposed MRAD elevation and windage turrets, fine crosshairs and crystal-clear glass.   

Publishing schedules being what they are, shooting the Lupo HPR occurred during a mid-January Idaho winter. This meant brutally frigid conditions with biting breezes and the necessity to wear gloves while shooting – not ideal for accuracy. In any case, I felt I could have shot better.   

Despite the cold and heavy gloves, the HPR’s controls posed no operational difficulties. The rifle fed flawlessly with a variety of bullet types from 150 to 180 grains, and the non-standard 1:11 rifling twist I puzzled over stabilized all bullets adequately. The Progressive Comfort system and muzzle brake made the HPR a pussycat to shoot, though the 308 Win cartridge isn’t exactly a notorious kicker. That said, the brake proved a bit obnoxious for my tastes, and anxious to try my newly-acquired Dead Air Silencers Nomad Ti XC Xeno Black suppressor, shooting became much more pleasant after it was installed.       

I had four factory loads on hand: Nosler’s new 165-grain Whitetail Country (using soft point Solid Base bullets), Winchester’s 168-grain Expedition Long Range (using Nosler’s AccuBond Long Range bullet), Remington’s 172-grain Premier Long Range (using Speer’s Impact BT) and Federal Premium’s 175-grain Terminal Ascent (using the bullet of the same name). That represents a solid cross-section of contemporary 308 Win rounds. At least two groups were ruined by frustrating fliers while the first two bullet holes overlapped. The two best groups assembled by factory rounds included the Winchester load, which printed near ¾-MOA, and Federal’s offering, which assembled a sub-1-MOA group.   

The six handloads consisted of a mix of hunting and target bullets. Holding the 150-grain spot was Hornady’s InterLock flat-base soft point, paired with 44.5 grains of Hodgdon Benchmark. Sierra’s 155-grain MatchKing was combined with 45.5 grains of Vihtavuori N140. The 165-grain GameKing hollow point from Sierra was seated over 43.5 grains of IMR-8208 XBR. Hammer Bullet’s all-copper 166-grain Hammer Hunter was combined with 45.5 grains of Ramshot TAC. Forty-six grains of Accurate 4064 was chosen for Northern Precision’s 174-grain ULD target bullet. Finally, Nosler’s 180-grain Ballistic Tip Hunting and 42.5 grains of Shooters World Precision Rifle made up the heaviest hunting load.                                        

Handloaded ammunition started off well with a ½-MOA group firing Hornady’s 150-grain InterLock soft point and 44.5 grains of Hodgdon Benchmark. The 155-grain Sierra MatchKing/45.4 grains Vihtavuori N140, 165-grain Sierra GameKing/43.5 grains IMR-8208 XBR, 166-grain Hammer Hunter/45.5 grains Ramshot TAC and 180-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip Hunting/Shooters World Precision Rifle loads fell short of Benelli’s ¾-inch promise. The Hammer Hunter/TAC load did break inside an inch, while 46 grains of Accurate 4064 beneath Northern Precision’s ULD shot very close to ¾-MOA.

I generally dislike accuracy guarantees because I then feel obligated to live up to those expectations. This isn’t realistic given the fairly random loads chosen here, all based on good performance in different rifles (which included different rifle twists) and subjected to more ideal atmospheric conditions. That said, the Lupo HPR showed real potential and I have no doubt that given more time and if subjected to a full load workup I could coax some ¼-MOA groups out of this rifle. As it is, I’m off to the SHOT Show tomorrow morning and working to beat a deadline.

Like the original Lupo, the HPR is well-built, functionally flawless and aesthetically pleasing (for those who don’t mind a modern esthetic). Save a youth or petit woman shooter, the HPR includes the ergonomic technologies needed to provide a custom fit for nearly any adult male shooter, while also mitigating annoying recoil in the more powerful chamberings. Stock geometry provided a straight-back push largely free of muzzle rise. The action ran buttery smooth and fast with all ammunition tested, while all controls proved straightforward and intuitive, even while wearing cold-weather gloves. The HPR’s mass, though meant for target shooting, isn’t substantial enough that it would discourage me from toting it on a good sling while hunting, even while chasing high-country elk.

There is a lot to like in the Benelli Lupo HPR, and considering its features, it’s $2,949.99 MSRP means it competes favorably with similarly-equipped rifles carrying higher price tags. If I needed a 308 Win (which I certainly do not, in any rifle model), I would seriously consider purchasing this rifle.