So if you recall, I am the guy that posted a couple weeks ago about how I had bought my first M4 and right away had to send it back to Benelli due to it grinding and not to spec. The update to that M4 btw is that it went back to Benelli, and has been there for 2 weeks so far. Sigh. Well, my plan had been to eventually get a collapsing C-stock, but as you know, they are unobtainable right now, or just crazy expensive. Sooooo, impatient me struck on the idea of buying a second gun, an M1014, then once i get the M4 back from Benelli, swap out the recoil tube to get a fully functioning C-stock! I will then sell the extra M4 to a buddy of mine who has full disclosure that it no longer has the three position tube and is fine with it. Win win- I get the full collapsing Cstock, and he gets a M4 for a greatly reduced cost from me.
ANYWAYS, so while my first M4 is at the shop, I found and bought a M1014, and have been decking it out. I had purchased one of the Briley carbon fiber mag tube, but had been very scared to tackle the job, fearing all the horror stories about how you had to heat it forever, and be prepared for gobs of red locktite everywhere. So got everything together, stripped down the M1014, took a deep breath, and started heating with a heat gun. I started a timer, settling in for the long haul.
Around 4 minutes in, again impatient me thought Ehhhh lets give it a test, knowing it wasnt going to budge and I was just being silly. Imagine my AMAZEMENT when IT TURNED!!! I was completely caught off guard, quickly grabbing my oven mitts, and started turning. LO AND BEHOLD, it screwed right off!!! I was like WHAAAT??? Inspecting the threading, there was NO residue on the reciever. There was a TINY bit of red locktite on the mag tube threads, and that was IT! SO I gave it a couple of minutes for the receiver to cool, although it really wasnt that hot, screwed on the carbon fiber tube, and reinstalled everything. All said and done, maybe less that 10 minutes! The carbon fiber tube is AWESOME btw, makes the front end way lighter. I had ordered a Carriercomp TI tube which is still on order, and will test it when it arrives, but man the Briley tube is very nice. Anyways that’s my story, happy to have a win after the hell of having to send a brand new M4 to Benelli. Maybe I just got lucky, maybe Benelli is taking pity on the American market knowing we are all going to change out the tube, or maybe they are just being lazy/cutting more corners, but I WILL TAKE IT!