Mesa Tactical

Sadly, the Benelli shotguns have two strikes against them regarding optic rails: 1) The receivers are aluminum, and 2) There is very little material through which you can cut the threads. This doesn't mean it is impossible to reliably mount optics or other accessories on the receivers, it's just that there is a greater likelihood of failure if everything isn't done right. The most common problems are not torquing the screws enough (18 inch-lbs), something I am often guilty of myself as I am reluctant to torque too tightly and strip the aluminum threads. One way to mitigate this is if you are getting your receiver tapped for the first time or re-tapped, have STI (steel thread insert) taps cut so you can install steel Heli-Coils in the holes. Heli-Coils don't solve all your problems, but they do allow you to more reliably add and remove accessories and torque them down a bit tighter than spec. We have had several customers install Heli-Coils in their Benellis and so far the results seem to be good. In addition to getting the torque right, be sure to use blue Loctite on the threads.

I have used a Pachmyr Decelerator pad on an M4 during a three-day combat shotgun course. It's wonderful. No fancy mechanical or hydraulic system required. We have discussed stock projects with Simms in the past. They are good people and their stuff really works. I have a Limbsaver pad epoxied onto the butt of the M4 SOPMOD stock on my favorite 870 Police (recoil absorption is a lot more important on a pump gun). This would definitely be worth it and would be a feature of any system we ever came up with. The military is using these shotguns with optics, and the cheek weld is simply lousy with optics with the factory stock. I know where you can get these. Naturally any system we devised would include these as well. For anyone working on a home project, we would be happy to make drawings of the SureShell yoke mount screw holes pattern available.

Hmm, we will be talking to the Benelli USA people at the SHOT Show and will see if they think an aftermarket stock for the M4 would be of interest. We don't make things out of plastic, so I'm guessing that any Mesa Tactical stock system will be investment cast aluminum, like the factory stocks.

The radius is the same, but the M4 rail is much longer than the distance between the M1 rifle sight (if you have one) and the front of the receiver.

Send us an e-mail and we will send you a few Heli-Coils. Just get a gunsmith or machinist to EZ-out the snapped screw and re-tap the stripped holes with M4 STI threads for the Heli-Coils.

We shortened the stock on our M4. First, start with a solid pistol grip stock, not the skeleton kind. Then remove the stock and butt pad and fill the back of the stock with Bondo or something like that. Now you have a solid stock like a wooden stock. We took the Bondo-filled stock down to our nearest gunsmith who charged us $85 to cut 1-1/2" off the back and fit the shortened stock with a Pachmyer Decelerator pad, all ground down and neat and factory-looking. It worked very well, but now after a few years the bad seems to be getting loose. That can probably be fixed with longer screws or even some glue. This is easy to do with an M4 because there is never any need to access the hardware inside the back of the stock.

Fasteners just came in. We are now shipping!

We finally got our brackets in this week for our SureShell shotshell carriers with integrated Picatinny rails for the Benelli SuperNova. These feature all-aluminum construction and will be available in four-, six- and eight-shell configurations. Due to the location of the forend, we expect the six- and fours-shell versions to be the most popular. Here is how they look on the weapon: We'll also have some Picatinny rails for the SuperNova: We are waiting on the M4x12mm flathead Torx mounting screws, which should be here within two weeks, at which point we'll begin shipping. Here are SKUs and MSRP for the new items: 92000 Aluminum 4-Shot SureShell Carrier and Rail for Benelli SuperNova $ 90.00 92010 Aluminum 6-Shot SureShell Carrier and Rail for Benelli SuperNova $ 95.00 92020 Aluminum 8-Shot SureShell Carrier and Rail for Benelli SuperNova $110.00 92400 Aluminum Picatinny Rail for Benelli SuperNova $ 45.00

Try a church, since the people who are banning its importation are Christians (or so they tell us), not Muslims.

You must not be aware of 922®, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27, Volume 1, Part 178, Section 178.39: http://www.atf.treas.gov/regulations/27cfr178.html BATFE has the authority to determine what is meant by "sporting purposes." People tell me we have had a pro-gun Administration since 2001. I am still waiting for the Administration to behave in a pro-gun manner.

Hi everyone. Last year was a tough year for Mesa Tactical production-wise. Our main machining operation spent about half the year trying to change locations, during which time worked backed up. Finally, we settled into a new location in November, and seven months later we are still catching up. Here's our new machining facility in Anaheim, CA, with a CNC mill in the foreground and a CNC lathe behind it: One of the problems with a new facility is that for a few months everything takes longer to do as you iron out the bugs and procure support equipment such as grinders, Cincinnati mill, compressor, etc. As we mentioned before, we ran into a problem with the FCAM design during the prototyping stages, not least because Benelli changed the barrel dimensions on us. We think we have solved the problems, but can't get new prototype units out of the shop until we catch up on the machining backlog (this has to be done in-house because it's such a short run). Frankly, in light of the main production requirements we have had during these last few months, the FCAM prototypes have simply taken a back seat. We are still eager to complete the project, however. We have already invested quite a lot on extrusions, injection mold for the nylon grip, Picatinny rails and SureShell brackets, to say nothing of time and effort. We think we have a good design on our hands, especially as it can be broken down without the need for tools. We can't provide a ship date now as we still need some breathing space in our production shop before we can roll up our sleeves and get started again. Of course, we will try to keep everyone informed. Thanks for your continued interest.

We just started shipping these: These MIL-STD-1913 compliant rails are based on the same pattern we use for our SureShell shotshell carriers. They are machined from 6061-T6 aluminum and feature a tough Type III Class 2 anodized finish. The SKU is 92390, Aluminum Picatinny Rail for Benelli M2 Tactical, and the MSRP is $45.00.

Thanks for your patience. We finally found a home for our CNC machines and after we work through our production backlog we will jump onto this again.

We lost our domain name for 48 hours earlier this week. The M4 SureShell will not fit on the SuperNova. The SuperNova receiver is too wide. We have designed a new SureShell bracket for the SuperNova, and we hope to be selling SureShell assemblies for this platform sometime in the next quarter.

Since the Nova receiver is made out of plastic, I suspect rust will be much less of an issue with it.

AR15.com's GD is a sewer. But the source of the information M4Madness posted (in the Shotgun forume) wasn't anyone on AR15.com, it was the BATFE!

M1 is also an imported semi-auto, so yes.

Has nothing to do with the 1994 law. Here's a thread to read: http://www.benelliusa.com/forums/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/3129.html

Well, we are going into production with these. Why not? Pursuant to GV00's concerns, we are not sure how these will work on an M4 stock. Our own M4 stock is filled with Bondo from a stock shortening exercise, but we do recall that the bracket did jiggle around back when the shotgun was new. At the moment we don't know whether it can be tightened. However, we do know this SureShell carrier can be used just fine with M1s and M2s.

Hmm, we no longer have a representative M4 stock to play with, but with our M2 stock we tighten the rear nut against the bracket and can make it fit very tight and secure. No movement at all. We'll play with our Benelli Nova a little later, after the NTOA show. An extruded T shape is not hard, just a lot more ambitious and expensive than this simple bracket. We'll keep it in mind if this current idea takes off.

The point of this exercise was to take advantage of the modularity of our SureShell design to very quickly produce a simple but practical new shell mounting solution. The limitation on the number of shells is because we simply run out of room. As you can see from the photos, if a 6-shot SureShell was used you would be unable to remove the frontmost shells (they would be just above the firing hand). The bracket angles upward along the axis of the stock because that was the only way to make it ambidextrous. If you made a bracket that angled downward on one side of the stock, it would angle upward on the other. Also, the more horizontal the angle was, the closer the shells would be to your firing hand and thus harder to remove. In fact, keeping the bracket at the same angle as the axis of the stock makes the assembly more usable. The only practical way to add more shells and to move the SureShell carrier further back on the stock would be to make the bracket out of a T-shaped extrusion, a much more ambitious approach that will have to wait for more market enthusiasm for stock-mounted SureShell carriers.

Last week we were speaking to a Benelli owner on the phone (maybe one of you guys) and he suggested this as a new idea for mounting a Mesa Tactical SureShell shotshell carrier on a Benelli shotgun. It was a simple idea, easy to execute, and this morning we lashed this up: Basically, we made a bracket that replaces the sling loop plate in the Benelli stock. The bracket accepts a 4-shot SureShell yoke on one side, and retains the sling loop on the other. Best of all, it's completely ambidextrous. You can mount the assemby on either side of the stock. Because of the location of the bracket, there is room only for a 4-shot SureShell carrier. The bracket is 11 gauge steel and the shell yoke is aircraft aluminum. The production brackets would be black oxide or manganese phosphate finished (though the unfinished bracket is easier to see in the above photo). The complete assembly would retail for $60. Whaddya think? If people like these, we can have them available by the end of the month. [ 09-05-2006, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: Mesa Tactical ]

That's funny, around here we say the Nova is the Glock of the shotgun world: it's made out of plastic.

We have decided to go with a nutsert fastener and for that we will need a nutsert install tool to complete testing. Once we procure one we will be able to finalize the design and begin production of the FCAM. We apologize for the delay.

The M4 rail is too long to fit in front of the sight on the M1. If you want to cut it down, it will work (note the hole pattern is different too, but shoudln't matter if you are going to tap your own holes).