Unobtanium

For the record, here is Kip's from years ago. You can see faint ridges/machine marks in it. Just found it interesting, some are smooth, some are not. I own both. I think it's normal variance.

It literally is the same thing, minus the name.

Would you mind taking another pic which focuses on the inside of the receiver where the barrep tang rests, for ky curiosity?

LE13200 if you can source it. Usually courses will have what they want you to use, posted (slug, buck, bird?)

Machining aberrance, which should not cause any issue what so ever in function.

I want a gas plug tool!

Its to attach the side saddle, and its proven to cause issues in other guns.

I see a crossbolt going through a receiver. This is a no no in my book. You could be pinching the receiver or distorting it in a way that is causing retardation of the carrier's movement. I am not sure this is the problem, but when someone has an issue with a gun as proven as the M1014, and it's not in factory configuration, I opt to return it to such, operationally, before further diagnosis. Further, the mag tube/spring comment above is very on point, as well.

Hakan Spuhr. He made one for his. That is all.

Thanks! Im waiting on another 11724 in jail as well, and have the same stack of parts you see, waiting to go on it, except this time a T2, because nods.

He made that stuff years ago. He put it on his gun, and he's done with it. Prototype only. I think something like 1 or 2 rails total exist or something. He has indicated to me that this won't be changing, and he has no interest in it. We have the pictures, we can copy it if we want to, is his stance. Me and the mouse in my pocket ain't got them skillz.

What a time the last decade and a half has been.

This is me shooting my first Benelli M4, circa 2008. I had had it for a few weeks or so. Maybe less. Also included is a photo of my "best" setup, from 2008, before the rail shredded my LaRue mount, lol! This is a Pride Fowler RDS in a LaRue mount, as I recall. Video: 102608_1826[00] (4).3g2 This little thread has been a fun trip down memory lane for me.

I finally found something that "works for me". Fully integrated, no funky work-arounds, etc. I wanted a 24/7 hammer for 0-100m. I wanted a shotgun that would be extremely reliable and durable, as well as functional. Almost a decade and a half, that led me here, to the Benelli M4. Back in those days you had SOCOMGUY, and Numrich replacement tubes. You used the mag spring from an M1S90 LE 7-shot gun, if you wanted it to be reliable. M4 Entry models were kindof unheard of, but "known to exist". Mounting an optic was a real pain, because the OEM rail would shred QD type mounts. Basically, if you didn't want to run the gun the way the USMC configured it, you were SOL. Wanted a light? Buy the Surefire rail and try to make that heavy setup work and trim the back of it to accommodate the barrel ring redesign. In short, it was a very tough time to turn it into an actual "fighting gun", and I eventually gave up and went over to 5.56 carbines. *My very first Benelli and I, circa Sept ,2008. Then Kip came about. Had a good rail, had a good mag tube. I bought back into the Benelli M4 (not for the first time, either). Mounting a light became problematic, as now the SF handguards, even, were very out of stock and production. Again, I became frustrated and moved on. *One of my M4's, circa 2011. Yes, those parts are exactly what they look like. The hammer was $50, the Bolt Handle was something like $80, as I recall, and the 1913 rail was similar, and the Surefire set me back around $250. Oh how little we knew! Then AVA Tactical and later IWC came about, and mounting a light was very do-able. Scalarworks came out with their integrated rail/mount systems, and mounting an optic was very do-able. In short, all of my complaints were addressed, and I ordered a 14" Benelli Entry model. Then I got into night vision. Shotguns are a beast at night, because by and large, stuff happens closer up at night. Right where the shotgun's strengths are. Most night vision matches, if run n gun, are 125m and closer, many being a max of 75m. The Scalarworks mount proved EXCELLENT, and the 15* recoil tube and sliding stock provided an added bonus...you could get the gun off your goggles AND "raise" your optic to a low NV compatible height! Still, it wasn't perfect. I ended up slapping an FFT 1913 rail and ADM Ti mount on it. now, on the mid position it is perfect height for daytime work, and on the longer stock setting, perfect for night time work under NODS. Removal of the optic allows use of the irons, which was always a complaint of mine with the SW setup. Half the reason a T1, T2, or the like would become deadlined is because of freezing condensation/water/broken lens/goop/etc. that made it unusable to see through, and thus the irons would be taken out of the fray, as well, in one fell swoop. The ADM mount fixed this concern, as well as providing just that fractional bit more height to be perfect for the mid position, height wise, and give a hair more upright position using NODS fully extended. I finally feel like the platform has 100% matured. -Benelli M4 Entry w/C Stock -Removed with acetone the glow-paint in the FSP and replaced it with fluorescent orange Testor's enamel paint. Glowing is bad under NODS. -Replaced polymer trigger guard with OEM aluminum. It went through Aberdeen and 2 decades of service un the USMC...it will hold up for me. -Replace OEM handguards with Tango Arms Benelli OEM full stippled handguards. -Replaced the rear ghost ring with blacked out, no-tabs simple ring from LPA. Less clutter. The tabs are confusing, as the dots are not meant to line up. Less is more. -IWC mount. I used 20 in-lb torque and Loctite 243 to attach the light body to the IWC, and 30 in-lb of torque and Loctite 243 to mount the IWC to the weapon. -Surefire M600V, it has nearly 20K LUX white light on fresh batteries, and does very well in the IR spectrum, as well, for use under NODS. The head has a polymer platform that flexes and braces the batteries under heavy recoil. The tail cap is machined identical to the Surefire Tactician, and made by Lumens Factory using a modified McClicky. This smooth profile prevents tearing up thumbs and thumb nails. -The safety is a TTI. It allows you to press the safety off with the belly of the trigger finger from the firing position. -The sling is an ESD. -The rail is FFT, optic is an H2 (on the M4 SBS I am building, this is changed over to a T2, as this gun is a proof of concept and has seen many revisions. It's my test bed for things. The H2 actually allows passive aiming on "0/off", with a setting resulting similar to the T2 in the 2/4 NV setting mode. The T2 will have FCD caps for easy adjustments). I used 15 in-lb of torque, and the OEM fasteners and lock washers to attach the FFT rail, also using Loctite 243. I used 12 in-lb of torque to attach the H2 to the ADM mount, and NO adhesives or lockers, as the H2/T2 series have helicoils and it is both redundant and damaging. -The weapon is liberally lubed with Forward Controls Design SGSO, a very light and well engineered, almost completely temperature insensitive grease. -My preferred ammunition is the Federal LE132 00, and the Federal LE127 RS. They are both lower flash under NODS, and plenty accurate and devastating on target.

Spuhr has zero interest in selling any Benelli M4 specific parts or accessories.

*PS, photography quality LED interior lighting is baller!

Tesalong. $50 on Amazon. Does pretty well...

I found you still have to scrub, just less. That said, I've yet to lead a Benelli bore to the point patterns suffer. Also, I find low recoil slugs, say, under 1300fps actual MV, lead far far less than 1400+ actual MV slugs. Wayyyy less. Truball is the worst, due to it being kinda hot, as well as the polymer ball jamming the skirts into the bore.

Ive owned 10ish of these over the years, in various models. The last few years (bought this one in 2018ish) have been extremely busy for me, personally, and ammo has been annoying to source. I mostly shoot buck and slug. Not really into birdshot.

I know this was annoying personally, but on a macroscale, maybe it points to somewhat of a return to market baseline.

Take them apart per field strip. Add the extra step of removing the action spring from the recoil tube, and the chromed plunger piece or whatever it's called that also lives there. Lube all sliding parts well. Very well. Best case is a very light, non-temp sensitive grease. Examples are Forward Controls or Cherry Balmz grease. Barring this, use a heavy lube like Lucas Extreme Gun Oil. Reassemble. Go shoot. Ive literally never had to use the goose loads to get a properly manufactured M4 shotgun to function when correctly lubed.

You should see longer battery life. Also yes, nonlithiums will kill expensive kit dead, fast. In the night vision world, we cringe over alkaline use. Typical alkaline AAA have 1150mah capacity, while L92 Energizer has 1250mah. So a hair less than 10% more run time, by the math.