GV00

Wait...aren't the non-telescoping & telescoping versions the EXACT SAME PARTS? The only difference is the milled recoil tube, which is part of the receiver! How the **** does it count both ways?

Reasonably certain. After I noticed them, I busted out a mop and gave it another run-through, since I no longer trusted the bore snake at all. They're not coming out, and they appear to be scratches in the finish itself. I'd take a photo, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't come out right.

As some of you may remember, I picked up an M4 quite some time ago as my first shotgun. Well, after getting out and shooting it, I ran a bore snake through it to clean it up...and now the inside of my barrel is quite visibly scratched up. Is this normal? I thought the entire point of brass brushes was to avoid that. I imagine that scratches in the finish will make fouling occur quicker in the future, so I'm kinda ticked off about this.

West Nile is a nasty one, especially for the young/elderly. I had a friend who contracted it (I worked with him, too, and he probably picked it up while at work), and it took him out of action for about 2 weeks. When he came back to work, he'd lost enough weight that it was immediately obvious to anyone who'd seen him before then. It's a nasty bug, and I suspect it is only going to get worse as the years go on. I certainly hope your friend is a tough old coot and beats the odds.

I'd just like to add that "over tightening" is probably nowhere near as tight as you might think. To install one of these you _must_ heat the receiver to loosen up the factory loctite, _carefully_ unscrew the factory screws (and ONLY after the locktite is soft enough that it requires little force) then apply locktite of your own and VERY CAREFULLY tighten up the screws. I did the same thing -- overtightened one (it barely felt snug to me) and stripped out half of that hole's threads. To make matters worse, I didn't have any locktite and only had a limited time to do some shooting, so I went out and had some fun with just the screws holding the sidesaddle on. BIG MISTAKE. The recoil from about a dozen 2 3/4 shells and a dozen 3" magnums stripped out another screw and caused all the rest to back off. I didn't notice until the sidesaddle gave me a love tap on the jaw. I've since carefully replaced the screws and used locktite, and I _think_ it will work out okay. It doesn't budge or rattle at all, and the screws seem pretty firmly fixed. I've not had much chance to shoot since then, so I'm not sure... I may be looking at a costly tapping job to repair what my stupidity did. Don't make the same mistake that Fett and I did!

GunCrazyD, call it a hunch, but I'm going to have to say that he was _probably_ referring to the military model. I dunno why I would think that though, it is just this gut feeling I have. No, on second thought, you're right. He must be referring to the commemorative M1014 model offered to civvies. On that note: Reading Comprehension -- it's what keeps you from looking like a fool in public forums.

Why would Benelli be the second option? They seem to do pretty good work once you've gone through the CS gambit and gotten an RMA number (though I'm considering re-RMAing mine since I just noticed that the serial number on the new barrel of my m4 has a bit of rust in it -- looks like they did a crappy job on the finish, and when I pay $1300 for a shotgun, I expect it to be damn near perfect out of the box).

Nice. Certainly looks good, but that also appears to be the grip from the collapsible stock, so I think that's probably too pricey for the rest of us (assuming Benelli isn't willing to sell just that grip). Care to go into detail about how ya did it?

Yeah, the one holding the sling loop in place is a bit trickier. I got a pair of the reversible snap ring pliers, which made it somewhat easier, but it was still something of a careful process. You've got to spread the ends of the ring apart, then lift it off of the collar it sits on. You'd be wise to remove the barrel as instructed above and take precautions against scratching, since that ring will want to go flying when you finally get it out. Take your time and you'll be fine.

+1 on the snap ring pliers. They make changing the position of the front sling loop a breeze too, so I'd say it is well worth the $20 it takes to buy a good pair.

You two ought to put together a quick spec reference document, it'd rock the house. I can see how having this kind of stuff on hand could be very handy to some.

Everything I've heard says that the factory spring is the way to go. Works fine with my full-length tube. Of course, I don't recall seeing any threads on spring-related feed issues, either, unless the spring was kinked up or something. It might be worth looking into getting a new spring for the guns that are having issues. I'm pretty sure there's an afternarket longer spring available.

Guys, lighten up. He's named a price, and even though it is inflated, there's a perfectly viable (and even better!) option in another thread on this board. He doesn't have anybody by the balls here, with the exception of Benelli ultra-purists. Yeah, it's a raw deal if you've absolutely, positively got to have stock Benelli across the board, but there is no functional or even aesthetic reason for it, given the quality of SOCOMGuy's work. He's not jacking up the price every day, either, like PS did. Mike_r, thanks for the post. Good luck finding a buyer here, though. I'd list 'em on Ebay if you haven't already.

AFAIK, you can't. I'm one of the guys that picked up a few of the full-length factory tubes late last year. It didn't come in factory packaging, but given the time and source, there's little reason to doubt it is factory. The finish looks pretty crappy, and there aren't any obvious markings. I was planning on selling them on ebay to turn a tidy profit after SOCOMGuy showed up and started selling his tubes, which are quite superior. Now it looks like I'll be holding on to them for a while, since I can't prove where they're from. I'll admit that I'm willing to gouge. There's a perfectly good, reasonably priced product made domestically. The only reason to hold out for a Benelli tube is if you're a purist, and feel that you must have all Benelli parts on your shotgun. It sucks to be you if that's the case, but it isn't like you don't have a better option. Can't say the same about the extension if what I'm reading is right. If the Benelli extension is the only one that can remain in place while the barrel is being removed, then everything else is inferior. Paladin's "generious offer" is also distinctly scummy. To Paladin: If you want to notify us that you're selling a Benelli extension, do so. Expect annoyed people to claim you're a price gouger for taking advantage of the price spike driven by the artificial market restrictions (Thanks, BATFE & Benelli!). That's the cost of turning a high profit on this item. Just keep your "special discount rate" BS to yourself. It's insulting to the rest of us when you have already named a price. Either name a price and stick with it, or just link us to the ebay auction and shut up from then on. Of course, that's a moot point, because it's very clear that you've already worn out your welcome here.

Yep, that sounds like a BS "Get off my back" line to me. You may've run across a few bad reps. It's easy to stop caring about the customer when you work phone support, trust me. Even if it wasn't a bad rep, Benelli may not be the best to contact regarding this. If the Mep sights aren't to the same specs as the Benelli ones, that's no fault of Benelli's. Sounds like you may've gotten the wrong ones on mistake. Hopefully Meprolight will be able to help. I don't recall anyone else having this problem, so I'd say you'll be able to get it sorted out.

Anyone have problems with the screws stripping the receiver? Gotta be really careful with the torque, as it breaks much earlier than I expected. Also, don't even consider firing the shotgun until you've got some locktite on there.

My personal suggestion would be to go with an 11707, get a collapsable stock, and one of SOCOMGuy's full-length tubes. That will be a pretty close match to the M1014 in use by the US armed forces, with the exception that you won't have a fixed modified barrel and won't have all Benelli parts. In my opinion, both of these are good things. Chokes allow for more flexibility, and SOCOMGuy's tube has a better finish on it.

Ecross27: You seem to imply that the reason it didn't work for you was that the tube on the 11707 did not allow for collapsable stocks to work, not that the stock you had was different from the collapsable stocks on the market. If that is the case, then you were in possession of defective parts. I can vouch for the fact that the 11707 model will accept the collapsable/skeleton stock parts, and will allow them to operate as expected. If the skeleton stock on the M1014 is physically different from the collapsable stocks, then there may be a problem. All indications are that the stocks themselves are the same, but the M1014 lacks the notched recoil spring tube required to allow the stock to collapse.

The difference is that this price gouging is a legitimate response to supply and demand. The BS part here is that supply wouldn't be an issue without artificial restrictions. If memory serves, there was a problem much like this back in the 20's. I hear that some guy named Capone made good money off of it, albeit illegally. Edit: Just FYI, I fully plan on being one of those price gougers, but I'll be doing it with mag tubes. Unlike the stock shortage, there are now affordable US-made tubes of equal or superior quality. I don't feel bad about charging a lot for factory full-length tubes when there's a functionally identical alternative at a reasonable price. Heck, if somebody made quality stocks that were US-produced duplicates of the current collapsable stock, I'd probably sell my factory one.

Okay, yeah, mine was one of the older series for sure. Any idea why the new revisions were made?

Anybody got an in-depth history of the various barrel revisions made for M4's, specifically for the 11707 (or any other model that accepts a choke tube)? I recently sent my m4 in, and they decided to replace the entire barrel. Evidently, this required the replacement of the foregrips as well, since the barrel is different (somehow). Old barrel was a 2-port, and I'm not aware of any changes since the old 4 port to 2 port revision. Kinda wondering what's different.

MMP, Who knows? Remember what happened with the factory mag tubes at the end of last year... Anyway, I think we'll all be watching this closely. Wouldn't shock me if everyone on the board bought 3, since if this is legit, they're undoubtedly amongst the last stocks available to civvies. At the rate they're going, you could buy 3, sell two of 'em, and buy a new M4 to put the third on with the profits. Any word on what's up with standard stocks (not the default pistol grip, but the regular hunting stock)? They seem to be getting price gouged too, and I don't see why.

A little, yes. Enough to be noticable, not enough to rotate it around to the side.

I don't have the serial/barrel number handy since I'm at work, but my receiver is marked LE. I don't recall my box having an extra sticker on it, but I did get a few that look like that in the box. They're still on the original wax paper backing stuff, so I guess they just weren't applied. Wasn't sure what they were. I'd offer to take a look when I get home, but both box and m4 are currently in Benelli's hands...and if what they've said is true, they will be for another two months.

Pretty sure there's nothing about grenade launchers in 922r (unless they're imported, maybe not even then). If you want one, you've got to shell out $200 and register it as a DD (at least for 40mm's. 32mm's are legal, no paperwork required. Just don't get caught with it and beanbag/rubber ball rounds in the same place.) You also have to register each 40mm HE round as a DD too, so things gets expensive REALLY quick.