Leaderboard

Over the years I've pulled it out to polish it, modify it, bend it and recently replace it after it broke. All this was in an effort to ease the mag tube loading process as this original post discusses. And, Tycoon above. While eating Tacos on Tuesday on cinco de Mayo with no Corona, I decided to read through Benelliwerk's awesome manual: Anatomy of the Benelli M4. I finally got to the pages that talks in great detail the interactions of the carrier control button, cartridge drop lever (shell drop button), cartridge latch (shell stop) and the shell carrier lift. Of course it shows the proper position of the spring on the cartridge latch. I grabbed my M4, unloaded all the 00 Buck and took a look. Sure enough I had installed the spring about half way between the latch pivot pin and the very end (or the back) where it interacts with the cartridge drop lever. I was almost able to reposition the spring without removing the latch but I surrendered to the PITA procedure and removed the latch completely to reinstall the spring. Once I got everything back in their proper position, I was able to hold the latch with my left hand and re-install the GG&G bolt release pad with my right hand. This held everything together while I got the roll pin started in the receiver and inserted a guide pin (finishing nail) through the opposing pin hole to keep things lined-up. Having a gun vise definitely helped. Moral of the storey -- don't be an idiot. Lesson of the story -- using your aftermarket bolt release pad, if you have one, during the process gives you an extra hand while getting the roll pin started.

What not to do is just as important as good advice, in fact it is good advice.

We are all happy to learn from your mistakes.? Actually, I had the same thing happen years ago. I suspect that the spring was installed on a slant and/or too close to the pivot pin. When I had done mine, I did not know where to put to spring on reassembly. I looked it up after that.