StrangerDanger

Bastards!

I'm having the pistons done. I didn't know I could take the ARGO plugs apart at the time or I would have sent them as well.

I found all the aftermarket options to be rather lacking in performance. So I built my own. I chopped up a set of FFT reproduction handguards and added an Impact Weapons Components SMC Scout Mount. This took several hours of work. I had to grind the mount to a smaller profile for clearance. Then I used an epoxy as a filler to hide the fasteners. Once everything dried, I sanded it down so it it was smooth. The photos are old, I have since sanded the epoxy down more and sent the handguards out to be painted in Cerakote to hide the imperfections. This was a ton of work, but it allowed me to use the factory handguards and reduce weight.

Yep. A friend just bought a M4 for 1700 shipped. We got a factory collapsible stock off of gunbroker for 500 the other night. I prefer the Nickel Boron over the NP3 since it can be top coated with Cerakote. The only part I'm stuck on is the barrel assembly. Certain parts aren't easy to disassemble like the ejector or the magazine cap detent and spring. I circumvented this problem on my build by coating everything in nickel boron except the barrel, then had the barrel and the exterior of the receiver, trigger guard, carriercomp titanium mag tube, receiver extension painted in burnt bronze Cerakote. Even the visible portion of the bolt carrier is being painted in black Cerakote. All the performance benefits of the H2O, with the subdued combat shotgun look. All the upgrades I want in place. 922® compliant too.

I christen the ATI stock set for the Benelli m4 as the, 'grip of shame.' It'll be known this any time someone shows up with 550 dollars with of bolt on floor jack. I concur though, building your own H2O makes more financial sense.

Lol! Just kicked my third m80 to the curb last night.

Good thing these are rails and not women.

In again!!!!!

Yep, PM Benelliwerkes. He posts many of his pages from his manuals here.

I believe he got that off a 1911. Then he tapped the existing bolt release. Kip refinished it for him if I recall. Mine should be heading back soon coated in Nickel Boron. The outer pad will be left black.

lol I don't get their pricing. It goes from 300 dollars for the floor jack, I mean the stock. Then 375 for the stock, the handguard, and a magazine extension that doesn't add any round capacity. Oh, and a magazine follower. Then for only 550 dollars, you get all the previously mentioned crap, plus a heat shield and a three sided picatinny rail that clamps to the magazine extension. Also, the package is claiming you get five US compliant parts. However, I'm not seeing a full length magazine tube. All I am seeing is an extension. As everyone knows, extensions do not count towards 922® compliance. I'm curious to see how much weight this amalgamation of 6061 aluminum bolts on to the M4. That stock has to be pushing about a pound over the OEM collapsible stock's weight with all the redundancy.

Talk about friggin complicated.

Thanks for taking the time to put these together. My M4's barrel is gone at the moment, so I can't inspect mine. Looking at some blown up parts diagrams, and this Brownells image for this particular detent, it is hard to determine if that is in fact a sleeve or if they've just swagged the metal around the hole. If it is a sleeve, it isn't a part that is sourced.

I aim to please! 189 bucks minus the materials, consumable tooling, licensing, paint and shop overhead. Good thing Kip married Marcy and switched her to good old fashion family slave labor.

Not sure what kind of equipment carriercomp is using. Ie; a manual lathe or more unlikely, a CNC lathe. On a manual lathe, someone has to sit there and babysit the operations. There is a lot of room for error too. Working with titanium isn't the easiest of materials to machine either. It's sticky and galls easily. My guess is the tube itself starts out at a larger overall diameter and is longer than what we receive. It is longer so the lathe's jaws have something to grab onto. Knowing Kip, he's probably putting the tube in a 4 jaw chuck and using a steady rest. Setting up the 4 jaw is time consuming to get it perfect. My guess is the threaded ends are then done first. Anyone doing lathe operations knows this is a tedious process to get done perfectly. You'd then have to sit there and do a bunch of auto feed passes over the entire length of the tube to profile it down to the proper overall diameter. You'd then have to apply the taper to the base of the tube where it steps up. My guess is he has a DRO (Digital Read Out) to assist with speeding up the operations. The tube is probably then parted off. Then each end is faced and the sharp edges are knocked off. My rough guess is that a skilled operator probably has at least two hours of work on one of these extensions when using a manual mill, even with an auto feed. I'd be interested to hear real numbers from carriercomp and SOCOM guy. I have a feeling that FFT's tubes are done on a CNC lathe, but that is just a guess on my part. Having a little experience in this field (very little really) I can tell you that it would be mind numbingly boring to do this kind of work for eight hours a day. Once the boredom sets in, mistakes start occurring kind of like in reloading. You then end up with an expensive wind chime. The tube then needs to be bead blasted. Then prepped to be Cerakoted.

Thanks for the information. I really hate when they assemble things like this. I really dislike non-serviceable assemblies. I could get by with just removing the rear rivet and allowing the spring and plunger to pull out the back. I'm not really sure how to install a new rivet though.

It can be tough to push in if the pistol grip/stock is out of alignment -- even slightly. If the unit refuses to go in, try realigning the pistol grip/stock. Just be sure you're pushing the bolt release while pressing it in. Look through the Trigger Pin Bushing hole and use that as an alignment guide.

You have some great tools Benelliwerkes. I may copy many of these when I get my mill. By the way, have you ever removed and reinstalled the Ejector Frame? It appears to be riveted in place. A project I'm working on requires that I strip everything off the barrel. My other concern is for the detent and spring that ratchet on the magazine cap. Is that removable? I don't even have a M4 barrel on hand at the moment to assess the task. Thanks

Fresh grease applied to the Gas Plug Spring.

Here the parts have been soaked in solvent and cleaned thoroughly. Note the markings on the cap from where it impings the Gas Piston.

Here all the internal parts are pulled out. It may take some tapping with a hammer to remove the parts depending on how much carbon build up is present. Note the grease/carbon on the spring. Close up of the Gas Plug Cap. Believe it or not, this part is chrome plated.

Here is the Gas Plug Pin. Note the tapered ends on the pin. This is what holds the pin in place when the pin is under spring tension. It also means if you attempt to drive the pin out without removing the spring tension, you will cause damage. Here's the Gas Plug with the Gas Plug Pin Removed. Years of neglect are starting to be exposed.

Note the position of the Gas Plug Pin in this photograph. Notice how the pin is now centered in the hole. The pin can now be tapped out with a drive punch. The Gas Plug Pin being driven out with a Starrett drive punch.

This bit works well, but it isn't perfect. If I was going to be doing this task often, I would modify the inner notch and make it larger so it doesn't interfere with the Gas Plug Pin when reinstalling. Here, the Ruger bit has been tapped into the Gas Plug. The open notch is aligned with the Gas Plug Pin. The Ruger bit is seated against the Gas Plug Spacer and is ready to be compressed.

Benelli M4 ARGO Gas Plug Assembly. Note the position of the Gas Plug Pin and how it is pushed to the right in the photo. This is due to spring tension. Here is the end of the ARGO Gas Plug. You can see how the Gas Plug Pin retains the Gas Plug Cap, Spring and Spacer. The spacer is visible below the Pin.