Monkey

I would stay away from the XRail for a Benelli: - Benellis are recoil operated and you are adding over 2 pounds of recoild-absorbing weight to your Benelli with a fully loaded XRail. Even RCI, maker of the XRail, somewhat disclaims the reliability of Benelli shotguns using their product. Check out the website. - For the price of the M2 and XRail, you are very close to getting yourself into a Salient M2, which is more or less the end-all 3-Gun shotgun. - Mag capacity is no substitute for knowing how to reload your shotgun.

Meant to ask about FFT trigger and disconnector with GEISSELE hammer, sorry.

Anyone foresee any issues running the FFT trigger and disconnector with the hammer?

922r does not provide the specific exemption, but it does focus its applicability so specifically as to imply an exemption for NFA. 18 USC 922®: Section 922 Paragraph R states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925(d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except that this subsection shall not apply to-- (1) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for sale or distribution by a licensed manufacturer to the United States or any department or agency thereof or to any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof; or (2) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for the purposes of testing or experimentation authorized by the Attorney General. " You'll notice the prohibition is on the assembly of a rifle or shotgun that is identical to one prohibited from importation as not being suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purpose. "Suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purpose" is actually one of three specific categories of imported firearms defined in GCA 1968. The other two defined categories are Mil-Surp firearms and NFA firearms. If 922r had any applicability to NFA firearms, congress would not have been so specific in the category of firearm you cannot create and would have added "NFA". In simpler terms, the law defines imported firearms to be either and only Yellow, Blue or Red. 922r says you cannot build a rifle or shotgun that is identical to a Yellow firearm. Your Form 1 creates a Blue firearm, not yellow, so 922r does not apply. Legally speaking, it really is that simple. "NFA" and "suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purpose" are two legislatively defined and mutually exclusive categories of imported firearms, so there really is no question as to 922r's focus. While I'm aware of the contrary letters from NFA Branch, this issue in particular is so clear that I am wholly comfortable ignoring 922r in any NFA build.

922r does not apply to NFA firearms, period. Read the actual text of 922r and you'll see why. The GCA of 1968 creates three categories of imported firearms: Military Surplus firearms, NFA firearms and firearms "suitable of readily adaptable to sporting purpose." 922r text defines it's applicability very clearly, specifying only firearms "suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purpose." NFA is not mentioned in 922r and would have to be in order for this law to apply here.

Sorry, I think it needs the front sight. Looks unfinished.

This is a VERY good thing. AOWs made from a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 are not shotguns at all since they do not and never did have a buttstock, making them decidedly not "designed or redesigned to be fired from the shoulder". It's easy to call them shotguns since they look, act, feed and fire like a shotgun, but they are considered "smooth-bore pistols" thus AOWs under the NFA. The practical distinction is thin, but the legal distinction is enormous since any federal law or regulation pertaining to a "short-barreled shotgun" does not apply to an AOW of the same pedigree. And any state law or regulation that mirrors federal law pertaining to an SBS also does not apply. This means in such places like California (and Indiana) where the Remington 870 SBS is prohibited, the Remington 870 AOW is not.

Getting caught is always the other practical matter. We all drive faster than 55, some are more lucky with it than others. The vast majority of these cases are not the result of an ATF investigation of you resulting in a search warrant issued for your house. In most cases, firearms violations are discovered incidentally to an otherwise unrelated 911 call. For example, you have a house fire or medical emergency, call 911 which triggers responses from Fire, Police and Para. A firefighter sees a scary looking gun in your bedroom closet and alerts the police officer on scene and there it goes. Unless you are really involved in some criminal activity, you won't be the subject of an ATF investigation. That's not something you should worry about.

Actually, this scenario is exactly the condition decided by US v. Thompson/Center: An aggregate of parts that can be used to build both an illegal configuration and a legal one. For this hypothetical, the registered SBS M4 is your pathway to legality for the spare 14" barrel, despite also possessing a Title I M4. You are legal in this scenario. Basically, you need to establish a legal use for the offending part or parts. The registered SBS is your legal use, even as a spare part just sitting around.

If your Form 4 or 1 has not been approved, then your NFA firearm or device is not yet registered to you. Nothing short of an approved and returned Form 1 or 4 should be considered safe to possess the NFA firearm, assembled or not. If you are discovered with the device before you are approved, in the eyes of the law it is no different than not submitting the application and paying the tax to begin with. In court, it's immaterial that you applied or were approved the very next day because at the time of the arrest, it was unregistered. That fact would likely not even be allowed presentation as evidence in your defense. The fact that you did have an application in the pipeline may weigh in your favor when the US Attorney in your area decides whether or not to prosecute you, but you certainly do not want a prosecutor's mood to decide this. Separately, FFL/SOTs, oddly, tend to be the most uninformed people in this community regarding laws and regs. I've heard more garbage and FUD come from FFLS than anyone else. If you have an NFA-related question, best bet is to call NFA Branch and ask either an examiner or Tech Branch.

Sounds like several people here don't know much about the NFA. A short barrel is just a part, yes. Completely unregulated. However, if you also possess a compatible firearm and no path to the legal use of that short barrel, then you are in violation under Constructive Possession. A disassembled short-barreled shotgun and an assembled short-barrel shotgun are precisely the same thing under the law. See US v Thompson/Center Arms Co. This case affirms Constructive Possession for NFA firearms, however it clarifies that CP does not apply if there is a legal pathway for the use of the NFA-specific part. In other words, hypothetically, if you owned a complete M4 shotgun and bought and possessed this 14" M4 barrel, then, without an approved Form 1 for the SBS, you would have no legal path to the use of that 14" M4 barrel and would therefore be in violation under CP. Your actual intent behind possessing and using the barrel is irrelevant to the charge. This applies to NFA firearms across the board, to include full-auto fire control parts and a compatible semi-auto firearm. If they catch you with a semi-auto AR15 and a set of M16 fire control parts in your possession, even if not installed in the rifle, CP allows LE to disassemble your AR, install those M16 parts and try to make the rifle fire a second round with a single trigger pull (which is easy to do). When they are successful, you can be arrested and charged with possession of an unregistered machine gun. That's how it works. The only exception to this are "silencers", which have no CP applicability simply because an individual suppressor part (tube, baffle, end cap, etc) is defined as a "silencer" by itself. And there is plenty of case law to back up CP as it pertains to NFA, both state and fed. Seek it out and read it before concluding it's not real.

What you are suggesting is a felony under "Constructive Possession". A disassembled SBS that is in your possession is the same condition as an assembled SBS under this legal doctrine. Leaving the barrel at your friends house would avoid the CP issue, but unless you are planning to Form 1 the SBS, then what's the point?

I'm going to assume you're joking because that's mildly funny.

In this day and age of numerous options for picatinny rails, rail mounts and smaller, brighter lights, the dedicated light that takes over the the whole handguard function is quite outdated. Not for me.

Is there a better hardware option than reusing the factory slotted screws? Really don't like the slotted screw heads...

I received mine today and noticed the warp, but the installed fit is perfect with no play or gaps whatsoever. I wonder if there are variations within the M4, old vs. new.

I picked on up a new 2-port 18.5" on Gunbroker for $300. These go for $900 from Numrich, so I was very happy. Keep looking there and be patient, but when you find one for sale get double confirmation from the seller that it's a 2-port version and not a 4-port. You don't want that one.

I have a line on a used M4 barrel, but I want to make sure it is the current 2-port model and not one of the older 4-port models. Is there any way to determine this without looking into the barrel itself? The barrel is a fixed choke model, not screw-in. Thanks.

A couple comments in no particular order: 1) 922r was enacted Nov 1990 to close a legal loophole created by the Bush import ban of 1989. For that full year, it was perfectly legal to import a banned firearm as separate parts and assemble it after importation. The original importers of the Chinese Polytech and Norinco AKs used this to great effect. This is why the parts list reads like a disassembled AK. 922r applies only to firearms imported after Nov 1990. 2) Registering any rifle or shotgun as a "Short Barreled Rifle" or "short barreled shotgun" through the ATF Form 1 will alleviate the applicability of 922r since the gun would then fall under the National Firearms Act and thus would be non-sporting by definition. The Gun Control Act of 1968 created the concept of sporting purpose by defining three categories of imported firearms: NFA, military surplus and firearms "suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purpose." The text of 922r only avails itself to firearms "suitable of readily adaptable to sporting purposes" since it was only this category being circumvented by importers of banned firearms. Nowhere in the text 922r does it specify NFA or military surplus firearms as being applicable since NFA firearms are not importable and military surplus firearms are only importable if C&R. In this case, MILSURP guns are not sporting firearms, but collector guns and their collector value is wholly derived by their remaining unmodified per ATF Ruling 85-10. Since you cannot import an NFA gun for civilian use and you cannot modify an imported C&R military surplus gun, there was just no reason to include these two categories in 922r. 3) 922r prohibits the act of modifying the gun, it does NOT prohibit possession of the modified gun itself. It is not a 922r violation to simply possess the improperly modified imported gun, they would need to prove you did the actual modification, as opposed to someone else, before there is a 922r charge. The gun would be confiscated regardless, but 922r charges are another matter entirely.

What makes you think it's a prototype? The 1014 LE is not a particularly collectible gun, not sure a prototype would mean anything to anyone.

That's not 922r you're quoting. You've posted the definition of a shotgun-based Assault Weapon from the defunct AWB. 922r its entirety reads as follows: ® It shall be unlawful for any person to assemble from imported parts any semiautomatic rifle or any shotgun which is identical to any rifle or shotgun prohibited from importation under section 925 (d)(3) of this chapter as not being particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes except that this subsection shall not apply to— (1) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for sale or distribution by a licensed manufacturer to the United States or any department or agency thereof or to any State or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof; or (2) the assembly of any such rifle or shotgun for the purposes of testing or experimentation authorized by the Attorney General. Notice it does not define what an imported firearm is. Notice also that it prohibits the actual modification, not the possession of such a weapon. The resultant weapon is contraband, but the weapon is not a violation of 922r itself.

They are not correct. Unfortunately, the State Police in any state are not very knowledgeable about anything not involving moving violations. Texas has some of the best laws in the country regarding NFA. You should go to a local C3 dealer and ask them about the process, they'll direct you properly.

The commercial sale of a Benelli barrel begins in Euros, so by the time they reach these shores and Euros are converted to dollars at current exchange rates, they become 30%-50% more expensive.

Unless you live in a ban state, there's really no premium on a pre-ban gun. It doesn't mean anything anymore. $900 is too much.

The barrel is the single most expensive component on the gun. A new 18.5" barrel is $850. Benelli does not make anything other than the 18.5" barrel for the M4, so unfortunately you are stuck. You could have one custom made, but it would require destroying your 18.5" barrel to get the gas assembly and barrel extension off. Not worth it.