StrangerDanger

This is where the Geissele hammer really shined. Those guys know heat treating well. Several of my FFT hammers have similar wear patterns. They don’t seem to be getting worse.

Nice work and photo. If I was buying a M4 currently, this is the route I’d take too Our leaves are doing the same thing right now. Probably my favorite time of the year.

Marcy will leave you a voicemail if you have that option available. I’m seeing 4-5 months lately. I do know a guy with a muted finished one that he wants to sell.

Probably won’t work with a collapsible stock. It appears to be attaching via a receiver/stock plate. The collapsible stock’s pistol grip threads onto the receiver extension and usually only gets 3-4 rotations to engage. The pistol grip and field stock do not utilize this threaded are of the receiver extension, they screw into the receiver extension from the end of the extension via the assembly that holds the rear sling mount in position. If you look down inside the stock you’ll see the tapered screw that interfaces with the bottom of the receiver extension.

There's a chance this model was meant for sale in California, or it was resold and made its way to South Carolina. If I had to guess, there is an added screw beneath the plastic cheek riser on the collapsible stock that prevents the unlock button from being pressed. Since California sucks so much, they mandated that Benelli sell the M1014's with this additional screw so that the stock didn't collapse even to the removal notch. Since collapsing to the removal notch is still collapsing in the eyes of an idiot. So they screwed all of the M1014 owners (literally and figuratively) to the point where you cannot physically even remove the stock from the gun without dissembling the comb and getting that screw out. So if you have to work on your gun in California, you have to hide in the closet while you remove that evil screw which makes you a violent instant felon. Or maybe you should have to drive to a free state in order to you know, clean out the receiver extension of your M4 or swap stocks. These screws usually had red Loctite on them, so you may need some heat to get it out. A basic heat gun should be able to handle it. Once it is removed, the stock should function as intended. This photo from the link above shows where you can see the head of the screw between the comb and the aluminum frame of the stock. The screw prevents the button from being pressed in by interfering with the button's normal movement. The screw isn't long enough to damage the spring that rides in the center of the button against the aluminum frame of the stock. Comb removed showing the screw.

Is the button pressing in like half an inch? Any chance this is a Californicated edition that has the screw under the cheek riser that disables the button?

I tried to bore a hole in one of the buttons on a Southbend lathe to tap it for a screw to set up a method of disabling the collapsible stock. That steel button was the hardest piece of steel I've ever encountered. Even trying to anneal it didn't do crap.

The plater states that paint won't adhere well to the NP3. My Cerakoter ends up roughing up the NP3 with a bead blaster to get it adhere.

Is it possible the gunsmith put the snap ring inside the tube rather than on the outside of the plug?

The worst one I’ve encountered just needed a whack with a small brass hammer to get the screw to pass thru the sling loop. There may be tighter ones out there?

I’ve seen that a lot over the years.

I know a Cerakote guy who’d be all for building that scheme. The hardest thing to take apart is the rear sight. The front pin the elevation deck pivots on is a bitch and a half to get out. It’s staked in place and extremely small, so you’ll likely break several punches in the process of drifting it out. My 12 year old daughter has a LMT MRP piston operated rifle that is done up in nightmare pink and black plastics. It’s loud!

Sounds promising! Got a color scheme worked out? Your rubber parts are going to be black no matter what. We haven’t found anything that will adhere to it.

Removing the latch and polishing the tip of the latch can help. That’s about as far as I would go with it. Removing metal can be dangerous and make the latch not function correctly. It can cause the shell to release at the wrong time and cause issues.

Nice lathe work!

Just curious, are you pushed past the detent in the bolt handle? You can over insert the handles since there isn’t a stop present that limits the depth. When you rotate the handle, you should feel it engage and disengage the three notches on the handle.

Twist and pull works, but you can make it easier by cleaning and lubricating the tip and down on the detent inside the bolt carrier. It will break in with some use over time. Hard to remove is much better than loose and flying out like some aftermarket knobs have faced.

Absolute worst case if the adhesive won't stick, you could have that area blasted and Cerakoted. I did this for the FDE H2O I built. I had no issues with the velcro adhesive sticking to Cerakote.

Got it sent in today. Wright is pretty close to me, so even ground shipping is essentially overnight.

Expect 1200-1600 depending on accessories. Example, if you have a titanium magazine tube, that can't be plated, so the cost is lower. I built a forum member a high end AR15 that was completely NP3 plated. He took it to a 3 Gun competition and let some of the guys try it out. They stated it shot better than their race guns and it wasn't set up to be a race gun. It had a B.E. Meyers 249 flash suppressor instead of a comp. You could clean it with a paper towel except the bore.

Expect it to creep up into the 1200-1600 dollar range for a complete M4 with all accessories done. I think the velcro adhesive will stick alright to the NP3 finish. Just be sure to wipe the receiver down multiple times with alcohol to remove any surface contaminants.

I got the email too. This really sucks. I had several builds planned out that won’t be happening now as a result.

If you sent it in to Wright right now, you could probably get it in under the wire. I have to scramble to get one M4 in to them this week that I have been waiting on parts for. ?

Just FYI for those interested. As of 10/15/2021, you won’t be able to send components in to be NP3 plated anymore. CTI is refusing shipments from end users. So a real deal NP3 plated H2O is about to get rare.

Correct on the 5 round tube and they only have one on hand.