Duggan

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=73492 should answer your year questions the benelli mark is on the left side of the barrel, the upper of the two lines of writing, all the way to the right. My m4 is a [bz], which means it was made in 2005.

yes, the 11707 will take a collapsible stock, the 1014 will not unless you get it milled. Most current m4s being sold should be 11707's but make sure before you buy.

Honestly the collapsible stock is not nearly as comfortable as the fixed. But it's kind of rare, hard to come by now, and it's fun to shoot in the collapsed/mid position. I keep it on my gun all the same, and just deal with the pain

Personally, If I bought a product and it failed so badly that it snapped in half during use, you couldn't pay me to use another one ... let alone expect me to buy a second unit. My .02

I bought my m4 for 1150 a few years ago. No idea what they are going for now. As I recall I got a **** of a deal though. Do NOT crank your choke tube down with a wrench. A slight tightening is all you need, only slightly more than finger tight if anything. I've never had my choke come loose during use, and this is shooting 200+ rounds at a time sometimes. As you shoot, carbon from the rounds will build up in/on/around the choke and threads, kind of sealing it in place. This is a good thing, as it further acts to hold the choke in place ... just take the choke out whenever you are cleaning your gun, clean them the same as the rest of your gun, and replace. You shouldn't have any issues.

Did you also break your gun? If not, the slugs are not the problem, the ****** BT rail is.

You don't clean the recoil spring, it doesn't need it. I haven't heard of anyone needing to replace their recoil spring either, but I've been AWOL for awhile. There is no reason to remove the recoil tube, unless you want to get it machined/replace for some reason. I believe it is attached with some permanent adhesive, loctite red or somewhat. I've never tried, so I could be wrong. The stock twists off the receiver once you remove the trigger group. Leave the 2 small holes in the end of the stock alone. This is a common mistake. If you want to replace the standard tube with a full length tube, a heat gun and some twisting will get the stock tube off. There are quite a few options for full length tubes now, much more than when I bought my full length tube years ago. A m4 should come with 3-4 chokes, but many dealers neglect to give them to customers it seems. If the dealer won't give you them, benelli corporate will. I don't know what REAL m4 you're talking about ... are you suggesting that there is a fake one? I believe the early m1014s had a fixed modified choke, but all recent models have an interchangeable system. and someone more up to date than myself will surely be along soon to help you.

2 years before

Translation: ",,,,,,hey guys stop using big words,,,,,,,come look at my 20,,,, year old guns y'all,,,,"

I never said it wasn't a nice gun. And leave tucker out of this, old man m1014.

A zero in range does not mean it will not work closer than 50 yards. This couldn't be further from the truth, as the eotech is the finest cqb sight on the market, imo. The zero in range is just the average shot distance you're expected to take with the optic, and an optic zero'd in for 50 yards will be almost dead on at 20 yards, or whatever distance you're talking. In other words, if you sight an optic in for 5 yards, it will be way off at 50, whereas an optic sighted in for 50 will be very close at 5. Sighting in an optic for 50 yards doesn't mean its a 50+ yard optic only, it means it works better if set up that way. Any 1x optic is made for point blank shooting. The only real disadvantage to running an optic is the switching on/off. This takes time and requires batteries, which adds another reliability factor into your firearm. I personally run eotechs on my rifles and iron sights on my m4, because my m4 is set up currently as my primary defense gun. However, I've run an eotech on my m4 many times, and it does the job admirably. It's all personal preference, what the guns intended function is, and how much time you think you will have if the gun is being used for home defense. It's late, hope I made sense. edit: as far as choosing between an aimpoint and an eotech, I think the eotech is hands down better for a shotgun. It has faster target acquisition, the reticle is made for cqb and it just plain works better than an aimpoint on a shotgun. I own both and have tried both, I like them both for separate functions. I prefer the eotech on a shotgun, if I'm running an optic.

but is it gas piston driven?

How old is that gun?

It's the dealer. Every M4 is supposed to ship with the various chokes, the dealers just move them out the box or something when they take the gun out ... I had to point this out to my dealer, who then said "oh yea", went and retrieved some from a pile of benelli ones he had, and gave them to me.

If you're getting it custom milled, why stop at 3 positions? It looks like there is room on the tube for at least 5 so long as you don't care about pretty little lines to tell you when you stop moving the stock.

wow, you're right. I dunno how I could have missed that all this time. I never read beyond the "polished silver finish" of the m1 description ... I guess I'll be getting one.

I have the GG&G bolt handle and release pad. I have bent the thin part of the bolt handle a few times, but it got bent back into shape from further use. I don't know how or why, I guess the metal just isn't hard enough. If the progressive bolt handle was black instead of chrome, I'd get that. I don't think titanium bends very much. The bolt release was a ***** to install, but I've only had one issue with it. The pad is secured by a hex screw I think, and if you don't CRANK it down, it can come loose after lots of shooting and spin around in a free for all. This happened to me the first time I shot with it. I then decided to stop playing games, got some locktite and cranked the release pad down to the point of stripping the screw. It hasn't given me a problem since. It's worth mentioning that I am pretty hard on my guns, and that these problems may not occur if you baby your guns to death.

The general consensus is to use a choke that is modified or looser if you are worried about the threads on your barrel. However, myself and many others have shot plenty of slugs through a full choke with no harm done.

1) - No. I've never tried, but I've never seen it reported, and I don't know why it would. 2) - If it somehow did fit, I don't see how it would be any worse than an m4. SBSing is always an option if your state allows it, but that means you have to find a barrel (good luck), or get someone to hack yours down. http://www.mp5.net/info/sbsconr.htm ^list of states and what they allow.

It's not as comfortable as the regular pistol grip stock it comes with. I use it because I like the middle position, it looks cooler, and they say I can't have it. I also bought it for $90 I believe

Mine came with a modifed, full, and imp cyl choke from the dealer. I don't think I've ever used anything but a full choke in it though.

Gunbroker. Prepare to bend over and take it though. Last I looked (which admittedly was quite a while ago), no place had these in stock, and they were selling on ebay/gunbroker for 500+ dollars.

It's clearly off of an m4.

well yea, generally rounds that say "WILL NOT CYCLE SEMIS" ... won't cycle semis. Haven't used winlites. I've avoided everything winchester after a few bad experiences.

During the break in period, my m4 was basically a pump when I used light loads ... it would shoot one, two, sometimes even three rounds of #9, then it either wouldn't cycle or would lock back as if empty. I had faith though, and kept putting rounds through it. As I recall, after about 150 rounds this stopped happening, and I have yet to experience a failure to load or fire of any type in the multiple thousand rounds I've shot since that point. So yea, I'd say it's a shooter