Benelli Kite


The Benelli Kite is a single shot.177 inch calibre pre-charged pneumatic air pistol designed for the 10 m Air Pistol ISSF shooting event. It is manufactured by Benelli Armi SpA of Italy.
The Kite was used by Francesco Bruno to win a gold medal in the Italian Championship 2008. It is also used by Tanyu Kiryakov, who won gold in the 10 m Air Pistol at the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.

Design details

Like all air pistols designed for the 10 m Air Pistol event, it has fully adjustable sights, a mechanically adjustable trigger and an anatomically adjustable grip available in three sizes and for left and right-handed shooters. The model pictured here is fitted with a stabilising balance weight, designed to further improve stability of the pistol during firing and to minimize recoil.
The barrel is manufactured by Lothar Walther with 12-twist right-hand rifling and 450 mm pitch. Air power is supplied from an under-barrel cylinder, available in four different capacities: long, intermediate, medium and short. It uses atmospheric air compressed to. A pressure gauge on the end of the cylinder allows for constant monitoring of the pressure.
The Benelli Kite features micrometric rear sight adjustment with four settings:
1 click = 1 mm windage at 10 metres.
1 click = 2 mm elevation at 10 metres.
The sight aperture is adjustable by lever and screw.

Performance

The following tables show the results achieved by competitive shooters using the Benelli Kite in major competitions:

Gold medals

CompetitionLocationDateCompetitor
Italian Championship MasterSeptember 2003Alberto Cardinali
Italian Championship StudentSeptember 2003Elena Ruan
European ChampionshipNovember 2003Mikhail Nestruev
Finnish Championship2004Teemu Lahti
Intershoot Den HaagFebruary 2004Joao Costa
European ChampionshipMarch 2004Mikhail Nestruev
ISSF World CupAugust 2005Mikhail Nestruev
Mediterranean Games2005Francesco Bruno
Italian ChampionshipSeptember 2005Francesco Bruno
Finnish ChampionshipMarch 2006Kai Jahnsson
European ChampionshipFebruary 2006Tanyu Kiryakov
Italian ChampionshipSeptember 2006Francesco Bruno
Italian ChampionshipSeptember 2008Francesco Bruno
Italian Championship JunioresSeptember 2008Andrea Scafa

Silver medals

Bronze medals

Picture gallery