This week on #SundayGunday, we test-fire the Lupo HPR, a bolt-action rifle from Benelli with a host of proprietary, high-performance features that drop it in the gap between long-range competition rig and custom hunting rig. We like this gun, not least because it shoots well. The fact is its lines, its ergonomics … everything about this rifle begs a hunter looking for something special to pick it up and carry it afield.
The HPR is part of the Benelli Lupo series, a bolt-action rifle platform the company introduced in 2020. The Lupo HPR, the High Precision Rifle, was released in early 2024. The foundation is a proprietary forged steel receiver split in two. The upper is a cylindrical steel receiver that houses the bolt and mates to the barrel. The lower receiver, made of machined aluminum, forms the sidewalls and magazine well. A one-piece, 30-MOA Pic rail is factory-mounted atop the receiver, ready for your riflescope. A full-body bolt slides in the upper without the need of raceways, with scallops providing escape for grime. The gun is operated by a nice fat bolt handle and a, short, 60-degree throw. The bolt head features three steel locking lugs, an extractor and a plunger ejector. The magazine is a double-stack box, and it’s removable. The trigger is adjustable from 2.2 to 4.5 pounds’ pull. It’s crisp. It’s great. We like it.
The heavy-contour, fluted barrel is mated to the upper receiver with a barrel extension with a nut that adjusts headspace. The 24- or 26-inch barrel is crafted with Benelli’s Crio System, which crafts a barrel frozen to minus 300 degrees with cryogenic treatment.
Metalwork is matte black and most of it is treated with BE.S.T., the Benelli Surface Treatment renowned for protecting your firearm from corrosion. This proprietary coating doesn’t just protect your rifle against rust, it prevents rust. It’s difficult to scratch let alone corrode. It is applied using nanotechnology and diamond-like carbon particles using vapor deposition with electricity, radio frequencies and plasma in a vacuum environment.
The two-piece, synthetic stock displays a lot of modern trends hunters and target shooters like. It’s molded in a tan color with black webbing. The fore-end is kind of a modern beavertail. It’s flat across the bottom but a hunter shouldn’t feel awkward gripping the fore-end in field positions, not least because there are finger grooves running along either side. It’s surrounded by MagPul M-Lok attachment points to accept a sling, a bipod and more. The deep pistol grip includes two inserts: one for hunting and one for target shooting. The comb adjusts between eight positions by depressing the button visible beneath the cheekpiece. Anyone can find his or her sweet spot behind a scope. An included five-shim kit allows for drop and cast. Stock spacers adjust length of pull from 13.8 to 14.75 inches. The black pad that runs along the belly of the stock, what looks like a cheekpad turned upside down, is a bag rider, and it’s removable so the gun may be used with or without it.
Inside the stock, hidden from view but absolutely delivering noticeable results with every shot, is Benelli’s famous Progressive Comfort recoil system. It self-adjusts for recoil based on the power of the load fired because its three polymer leaves each embody three different elasticities.
Overall length is 46.75 to 48.75 inches depending on barrel length, and overall weight runs from 9.5 pounds to 9.8 pounds. MSRP sits at $3,199. That may sound high if you’re price-conscious. But the Lupo HPR offers a host of highly desirable features and benefits every rifleman seeks these days, and it does so at a factory price anyone looking for a dedicated long-range rig chambered in .338 Lapua or .300 PRC should notice.
We’d like to see Benelli offer a 20-inch barrel, but other than that we can’t find a thing wrong with the Lupo HPR. And let’s not forget, it carries Benelli’s sub-MOA guarantee: it will shoot three-quarter-inch groups at 100 yards with factory ammunition.
Learn more about it at benelliusa.com, and of course, for more great #SundayGunday videos, or to join the ranks of the world’s largest gun club and help us protect the Second Amendment, click the "Join" button in the upper lefthand corner and join the NRA.
