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I finally found something that "works for me". Fully integrated, no funky work-arounds, etc. I wanted a 24/7 hammer for 0-100m. I wanted a shotgun that would be extremely reliable and durable, as well as functional. Almost a decade and a half, that led me here, to the Benelli M4. Back in those days you had SOCOMGUY, and Numrich replacement tubes. You used the mag spring from an M1S90 LE 7-shot gun, if you wanted it to be reliable. M4 Entry models were kindof unheard of, but "known to exist". Mounting an optic was a real pain, because the OEM rail would shred QD type mounts. Basically, if you didn't want to run the gun the way the USMC configured it, you were SOL. Wanted a light? Buy the Surefire rail and try to make that heavy setup work and trim the back of it to accommodate the barrel ring redesign. In short, it was a very tough time to turn it into an actual "fighting gun", and I eventually gave up and went over to 5.56 carbines. *My very first Benelli and I, circa Sept ,2008. Then Kip came about. Had a good rail, had a good mag tube. I bought back into the Benelli M4 (not for the first time, either). Mounting a light became problematic, as now the SF handguards, even, were very out of stock and production. Again, I became frustrated and moved on. *One of my M4's, circa 2011. Yes, those parts are exactly what they look like. The hammer was $50, the Bolt Handle was something like $80, as I recall, and the 1913 rail was similar, and the Surefire set me back around $250. Oh how little we knew! Then AVA Tactical and later IWC came about, and mounting a light was very do-able. Scalarworks came out with their integrated rail/mount systems, and mounting an optic was very do-able. In short, all of my complaints were addressed, and I ordered a 14" Benelli Entry model. Then I got into night vision. Shotguns are a beast at night, because by and large, stuff happens closer up at night. Right where the shotgun's strengths are. Most night vision matches, if run n gun, are 125m and closer, many being a max of 75m. The Scalarworks mount proved EXCELLENT, and the 15* recoil tube and sliding stock provided an added bonus...you could get the gun off your goggles AND "raise" your optic to a low NV compatible height! Still, it wasn't perfect. I ended up slapping an FFT 1913 rail and ADM Ti mount on it. now, on the mid position it is perfect height for daytime work, and on the longer stock setting, perfect for night time work under NODS. Removal of the optic allows use of the irons, which was always a complaint of mine with the SW setup. Half the reason a T1, T2, or the like would become deadlined is because of freezing condensation/water/broken lens/goop/etc. that made it unusable to see through, and thus the irons would be taken out of the fray, as well, in one fell swoop. The ADM mount fixed this concern, as well as providing just that fractional bit more height to be perfect for the mid position, height wise, and give a hair more upright position using NODS fully extended. I finally feel like the platform has 100% matured. -Benelli M4 Entry w/C Stock -Removed with acetone the glow-paint in the FSP and replaced it with fluorescent orange Testor's enamel paint. Glowing is bad under NODS. -Replaced polymer trigger guard with OEM aluminum. It went through Aberdeen and 2 decades of service un the USMC...it will hold up for me. -Replace OEM handguards with Tango Arms Benelli OEM full stippled handguards. -Replaced the rear ghost ring with blacked out, no-tabs simple ring from LPA. Less clutter. The tabs are confusing, as the dots are not meant to line up. Less is more. -IWC mount. I used 20 in-lb torque and Loctite 243 to attach the light body to the IWC, and 30 in-lb of torque and Loctite 243 to mount the IWC to the weapon. -Surefire M600V, it has nearly 20K LUX white light on fresh batteries, and does very well in the IR spectrum, as well, for use under NODS. The head has a polymer platform that flexes and braces the batteries under heavy recoil. The tail cap is machined identical to the Surefire Tactician, and made by Lumens Factory using a modified McClicky. This smooth profile prevents tearing up thumbs and thumb nails. -The safety is a TTI. It allows you to press the safety off with the belly of the trigger finger from the firing position. -The sling is an ESD. -The rail is FFT, optic is an H2 (on the M4 SBS I am building, this is changed over to a T2, as this gun is a proof of concept and has seen many revisions. It's my test bed for things. The H2 actually allows passive aiming on "0/off", with a setting resulting similar to the T2 in the 2/4 NV setting mode. The T2 will have FCD caps for easy adjustments). I used 15 in-lb of torque, and the OEM fasteners and lock washers to attach the FFT rail, also using Loctite 243. I used 12 in-lb of torque to attach the H2 to the ADM mount, and NO adhesives or lockers, as the H2/T2 series have helicoils and it is both redundant and damaging. -The weapon is liberally lubed with Forward Controls Design SGSO, a very light and well engineered, almost completely temperature insensitive grease. -My preferred ammunition is the Federal LE132 00, and the Federal LE127 RS. They are both lower flash under NODS, and plenty accurate and devastating on target.

haha i love your youtube avatar with the chiggen.

I talked to a gunsmith in a really high end shop and he said he's seen this type of corrosion in other brands as well as Benelli. He believes it is strictly due to poor surface prep by the manufacturer. Next stop was a plating shop. He confirmed that it is corrosion of the aluminum receiver under electroless nickel plating. Said while chemical stripping EN is not that difficult, the problem in this case is doing it without damaging the much softer aluminum receiver and he wasn't set up for that as it requires kind of a reverse electrolytic plating process. So I went to a plating shop that specializes in aerospace parts and has an impressive list of certifications. As it turns out, one of the owners was a former professional skeetshooter who was well acquainted with shotguns and the corrosion problem. He said his shop could do the work, but it would be expensive - probably half the value of the gun just to strip the plating. By the time I was finished cleaning, polishing and replating or Ceracoating I'd have more in the repair than the value of the gun even if I did all the disassembly and reassembly. They were also unwilling to work on a gun part. I spent some time with a big magnifier and popped a couple of the larger bubbles. Under the plating is grey oxidation consistent with aluminum. The aluminum receiver does not appear to be pitted and cleans up pretty well with just a bit of Flitz on a patch. The problem is that even if I popped all the bubbles - which would be very difficult - the edge of the remaining plating would show through Ceracoat. I don't know of any way to clean it mechanically as bead blasting or wire brushing the very hard nickel plating would destroy the aluminum underneath. Benelli customer service tells me this gun was manufactured in 2009 and had a five year warranty. They claim to have never seen a problem like this, can't offer any warranty assistance nor are they willing to try to repair it. Any ideas would be appreciated, but it looks like I'm out of ideas, out of luck and I'd better get used to an ugly gun. Hope this information helps someone else.