unkamartin

Not being judgmental, but when I notice a thread titled, “Best Hearing Protection”, and then went on to read a little further you didn’t want to consider, “electronic stuff”, your explanation of what you were looking for seemed a little at odds with the subject of the title. There are many good choices in the marketplace for hearing protection, as well as explanations of the interpretation of sound measurements. Personally, I enjoy the "electronic stuff" (Swat-TAC II) as I use my M4 and other weapons outside. However, I understand your needs are different. The following link by the folks who distribute, “Peltor”, (my first choice of product lines) in North America may be helpful to you in sorting things out: http://www.e-a-r.com/hearingconservation/faq_main.cfm Regardless I wish you good hunting; both for targets as well as the technology which best suits your needs and budget.

I’m glad to see Dave and others mentioning this possibility. It’s something that I wondered about as soon as I took my M4 out of the box as a way of feeling better about the aesthetically displeasing look of that, “useless civilian "prosthetic" mag-tube extension”. If they would built it and it worked I’d very likely buy it.

M1014, I was eyeing this camo M4 down in Orlando as well and then considered the intended audience for it. If it were a military / deployment version I wondered why they didn't display it with the matching active duty GI Joe full magazine, instead of the non-LE magazine, that us retired GI Joes have to settle for instead. Still, it's an interesting camo job. I had meant to take some photos of it as it's a conversation piece, which was likely their intent. Thanks for noticing it as well and for documenting it to share with the forum.

I asked Tom Knapp about this device at SHOT Show last week. He said that the choice of which one of these to purchase / use depended on the primary intended target – i.e., clays or hunting. As to testing before installing them, his suggestion was that you use electrical tape to temporarily attach Easyhit sights. Don't cover the portion that gathers the light however. Once you work your way through placement you then peel, stick and mount them. His other general suggestions regarding shooting shotguns were to try to remember what the sight picture looked like when hitting the target and then to try to duplicate it in future shots. Also that it’s better to error slightly in leading the target than to have the stream of shot falling behind the target, as statistically you may wing more clays or birds as they fly into the flowing stream of shot. Regardless, he said to just leave the front sight on and sight using both eyes open. Only the dominant eye will see the dot while having the other eye open improves peripheral vision. I’d guess that Dick Chaney didn’t have one of these at that Texas dove hunt?

As usual, M1014 is right on target when he mentioned Nextel. We use their model i560 phone, which has, “Direct Talk”. These came in very handy last fall post-Katrina in NOLA when there was no cellular service. Our working range was 4 to 6 miles, as mentioned in their literature, depending on what was left of the terrain. Your mileage may vary. It is an off-network digital walkie talkie feature that is built-in to the handset, which connects you with other Direct Talk-enabled users when network services are unavailable. It’s now built into most of the newer Nextel phones. I don’t work for Nextel; I just enjoy using them for our family. The i560 also goes well with my M4 and Peltor SwatTac Headset - shown at weblink: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=261095788&size=l Here's a website on the subject of Direct Talk: http://www.nextel.com/en/support/faq/direct_talk.shtml and also one on the Peltor, "SwatTac “ http://www.aearo.com/pdf/comm/swat_tac.pdf Peltor is supposed to be introducing their Tactical Sport headset (SportTac) to the States later this fall, but I haven’t seen one so far other than on their website: http://www.peltor.com/peltor.com/comm_detail.cfm?prod_family=Sporttac&ind_prod_num=MT16H210F-479-SV001 [ 10-06-2006, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: unkamartin ]

Hi GV00 As you’ll notice from some of the comments that a question like yours will hopefully generate, this forum is an excellent resource. I’d offer the following bit of initial advice in getting better acquainted with your new M4. In addition to reading over the Benelli supplied owners pamphlet (to me, a let down of an explanation of an exceptional weapon) I’d also recommend downloading the following Marine Corps Technical Manual. This is an operators manual for the M1014 which will offer more detail regarding cleaning techniques: http://www.militec-1.com/mildocs/manual1.html Some of the other contributors on this forum may know of an easier way of obtaining the same information found at the above website. If they do, I for one would be grateful for their feedback. Downloading this Technical Manual is a time consuming process, as each page is a separate image file. However after doing so and reading it over I learned a great deal about this weapon. Again, I would recommend obtaining a copy as well as referring to it, especially when first getting acquainted with the M4. As mentioned earlier, hopefully one or more of the other folks who follow and regularly contribute to this forum may have additional thoughts on supplemental documentation, which may be in the public domain, may also be more contemporary than the information found at the above website, but for lack of anything better from Benelli it was a good starting place for me. I hope that this is helpful, congratulations on owning the best! [ 08-06-2006, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: unkamartin ]

Ollie, I enjoy my M4 a great deal. I personally don’t follow the other offerings that are made by Benelli and mentioned on this forum; due to both a lack of time and interest. I certainly don’t put down the other choices that are made by Benelli however, they just didn’t suit my families needs. In reading the thoughts of others regarding Benelli as a company and the M4 as a weapon, by in large they confirm my own experience as an end user. For my needs, which are mainly for home defense and a wide variety of game, it is the best shotgun that I have ever fired. If after reading over the comments on this forum you have concerns, for what ever reason, I would agree with the others who have offered their advice. Either don’t buy a new Benelli or try and perhaps buy a first-rate used one. Regardless, the best of luck to you in sorting out the choices.

I had the very same problem. Benelli makes a superb shotgun and one heck of a sorry ****ed excuse for an Owners Manual If you have not already done so it would be worthwhile to review, refer to and also save to disk the following USMC Technical Manual (TM 10698A-10/1): http://www.militec-1.com/firearms/manual.html Below is what Benelli USA Customer Service had sent me regarding how to remove the stock from the Benelli M4. As most of us have discovered, this information is not readily apparent when looking over the shotgun for the first time and also after reading over the Owners Manual. Note - removing the fixed stock w/pistol grip is best done with the help of a strong friend as you will need to turn the stock while holding the rest of the gun in place. I would not recommend using a vice to do this as you may damage the weapon by exerting too much pressure to the loading port or other portions of its anatomy. 1. Push trigger group pin located over trigger group on the side of the gun from the right side through to the left. It will not come all the way out. 2. Pull trigger group out from the receiver, it does not have to come all the way out. 3. Grab Stock and spin in Counter Clockwise and remove. 4. Installation of the Collapsible stock is the reverse of removal. To collapse stock. Push button in and hold - turn stock butt to the left and push in. Turn to right and then slide off for removal. Regards, Martin [ 07-06-2006, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: unkamartin ]

jakjakman, I've looked over website: http://www.spectergear.com/cqb_sling.htm and am not clear as to which strap to order. I have an M4 with the collapsible stock; just like the one you have and would like to duplicate what looks like an excellent solution. Many thanks for any help on this one as it gets old fast toting this thing on long walks out in my tree farm.

It’s interesting that Karlsen should bring this up, I just tried my M4 out on the skeet and trap range over at Shaw AFB, SC. I had fired the M4 before retiring from the military and waited for a year before receiving my backorder. It is just an AMAZING weapon! I purchased it for home defense and feel that the best firearm for this purpose is one that we would never have to use. In the case of the M4 with the collapsible stock, no one in their right mind is likely to mess with a geezer defending his home with one of these; therefore anyone who did so would, by definition, likely not be in their right mind and would be eligible to qualify as, "a fair target". However, the best firearm in the world is only effective if the person firing it can quickly target it. So, for the benefit of my wife, I added an EOTech 552 site to the M4. But I digress. Before taking it to the skeet and trap range, I had been astounded at the ease with which this combination allowed me to successfully nail 12 oz Coke cans at 25 to 50 yards. However, when I tried this system out at Shaw, like Karlsen, I encountered opposite results. Fortunately, I didn’t have an audience at the time. After initially hitting three out of my first dozen clays I spent some quality time pattering the M4 / EOTech at the 25 yard pistol range at Shaw and did slightly better after pattering. I believe that I likely have two problems, which I will try to work my way through and would appreciate your collective thoughts regarding. The first is trying to learn how to lead the clay with the EOTech. The second may well be Newton's First law of motion, “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon them.” The M4 is a hefty weapon, I’m not as in shape as I need to be and therefore found trying to swing it while tracking a moving clay on the skeet and trap range to be daunting. However as Arnold says, “I’ll be back”.