Duggan

Hmm, well I need 100% reliability to remain, I can't have my rugged shotgun being compromised by a trigger job that will allow AD's ... I'll look into it, thanks.

^^ What he said. The m4 rail is crap and is not compatible with many milspec optic mounts, as the stubs literally damage the mounts and push them out of shape. It seems that optic mounts which use machined billet "bars" to grab the rails are vulnerable to damage from the m4 stubs, but cheaper mounts which use a "screw" type of anchoring system are not effected as much, which is rather odd, but understandable in the current scenario. But yes, I explain my position in the above link. ETA - 1000 posts, who would have thought ...

You mean this case? http://www.benelliusa.com/store/Bags-and-Cases/Soft-Tactical-Gun-Case-p71.html It looks ok, if you want a matching case by all means get a matching case, $70 is not that much money for a case ... Were it me, I'd look for a stealth case or an eagle case or a storm hard case if more protection was needed.

So, have you shot them yet, or do you like to just take pictures of your safe queens to post on the internet?

Jiggly? It shouldn't be jiggly ... you may notice a SLIGHT play from side to side, but not noticable when shooting or shouldering. If you can, something is wrong, in my experience with 3 different collapsbile m4 stocks.

Dude ... I tried to find that out today, but my efforts were blocked by the %$(%*($*%@# piece of $#$#$@ rail on the m4. I brought 50 truball full power slugs to the range today to test, and never made it through more than 15. I took my larue SPR mount and 1.5-5x scope off my AR and put it on the m4, fired a single slug, and checked for damages ... sure enough, I could see in the mount anodizing that it was starting to push, if I had fired 20 or so slugs I would have ruined the mount. If you ever get your top rail completed, I will gladly do all the testing and get some solid data on all types of slug accuracy out of m4s. As it is, I'm stuck shooting from iron sights, and the only pattern I really bothered to shoot was about 6 inches, 5 rounds at 50 yards. I could do much better with a proper optic and rail ...

The only benelli I own, a m11707

I hear that black teflon coating on the bullets really makes them slide through the kevlar!

The real question here is, "are you good at using ghost ring sights and a pistol gripped short barreled shotgun to hit distant objects under stress"? Most people aren't. So they blame the gun and say it doesn't shoot as well as the "bead" equipped 28 inch "hunting" shotgun that they're used to and comfortable with. It's not the gun that is the problem, it's the users familiarity/expertise and match with the gun that is lacking. The m4 has ghost ring sights, which are not the best for hunting by majority opinion, perhaps because people are not used to them, perhaps because they actually are inferior for this type of shooting, whatever. I see plenty of people that use both pistol gripped and field stocks, so that's just a matter of opinion. So while the gun in question may not be the most user friendly package for a certain activity for a certain person, it is no more or less CAPABLE than any other smoothbore autoloader from Benelli when it comes to hunting, IMO. ... It's like this, as I see it, and I see this asked a lot. The length of a shotgun barrel is a greatly overestimated characteristic when it comes to a shotgun's "huntability", as a longer barrel really does not offer anything more than a shorter barrel in terms of accuracy or terminal ballistics. Really, it doesn't. Modern shotgun powders burn quite quickly, and everything I have read says that the powder is entirely utilized well before the shot leaves the barrel in a 18.5 inch shotgun. It isn't like a rifle, where longer barrels give you more velocity and thus more range and terminal ballistics ... longer smoothbore shotgun barrels also won't necessarily make your shotgun any more "accurate", as that is mainly as a function of the round/choke combination, and the bore/length of the barrel is a pretty moot point. (If anyone has a chronograph and wants to give us some numbers comparing 18.5 and longer barrels ...) So no, longer shotgun barrels won't give you anything a shorter barrel doesn't IN TERMS OF CAPABILITY! However longer barrels offer a number of things that many users seem to like find desirable in a "hunting" gun, these things include: -Different balance, more forward weight, better "swinging" gun, etc -Longer distance between the sights -More "precise" control of what is being shot, as the front sight being farther away makes it appear smaller and thus less of the target is obscured -Increased confidence from having a "precision" length shotgun barrel These advantages are not to be ignored, as really all shooting comes down to is the quality of the interaction between the user and firearm ... it doesn't matter if you're shooting the best gun in the world if you can't shoot it well or comfortably. In a kind of silly example, think of it in terms of a manufacturers car line ... if all the cars in the line have different bodies/shapes/colors, but they all have the same engine, suspension and core components, all you really have changed is cosmetic things that allow the user to better interact and utilize the core components. The same holds true with the m4, it has the same smoothbore, 12 gauge, autoloading "engine" as any other benelli (a better one actually, but that's not important here), it's just cosmetic things that make it better or worse in the eyes of various users. So there you have it ... the m4 is CAPABLE of being a great hunting gun (and I'm sure it is to some people), it's just a matter of what works for you and what you want to use for a hunt. If you can used to the ghost ring sights, you'll be just as deadly with an m4 as you would with any other smoothbore ... Sorry for the rant, it's just a pet peeve of mine. ETA - If you throw a good red dot on the m4 and are experienced with the use of one, IMO you've just surpassed all iron sights ...

It looks to be very well done and it certainly is distinctive. Good work, if you like it that's all that counts. Also, who did your trigger job and what exactly did they change? I've long been disappointed with the trigger on my m4, but haven't found much of anything in the way of people willing to do work on it ...

Stocks are extremely easy to swap, just take out the trigger group and twist the stock off counter clockwise. Lots of people seem to think it's bolted on from the end ... it isn't, it's threaded on at the rear of the receiver. I use the pistol grip stock.

Oh how I love NYS NFA laws ...

Nice! Always good to hear a first timers report on Benelli's

https://secure.usstandardissue.com/Product_Detail.cfm?id=14# Buy once cry once.

Wow, that's quite a job. I hope your m4 serves you well.

So long as it doesn't require cop killer bullets to operate, I'm in.

The truball slugs literally have a plastic ball behind the slug that is said to stabilize the slug and make it fly truer, they claim some ridiculously accurate numbers at 50 yards that I will test out tomorrow.

I don't know. Read the account above about the DMW rail ... installing the rail may be the problem, not mounting an optic to it after/if you get a successful install.

Glad to see you're ok, +1 on how did it happen? Was it during some aggressive R&D with your new line of m4 bayonets?

That's too funny. And I've been planning on making an M4 FAQ for a while now ... one of these days ...

No problem, do tell if you have any issues with the install.

The aimpoint is a much better optic IMO, it's just obviously more expensive.

Yep, I'm sure those bolt 22s are really gonna get hit hard by new legislation.

There is no hunting season that you can use a rifle in Illinois?

http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18263 Also on the front page.