StrangerDanger

The Caliban lets those evil tubes in? I figured they'd consider them weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, I just sold mine on Ebay for 150 bucks. Over twice what I paid for it brand new. Crazy... 150 Dollar extension vs. 200 Dollar Ti full length tube? No brainer for me.

Someone did high heat BBQ paint on their barrel over at ar15.com I think. It looked okay from the poor photos. The barrel matched the receiver at least. If I worried about scratches on mine, I'd be in bad shape. My ejection port has ejected so many shells that part of the aluminum is wearing down from where the rim of the shell hits.

Factory handguards are the bestest.

Zipties to the ladder rails worked well. This makes it easy to remove the stock. Since I can pull the ladder rails, and unscrew the stock. If I had drilled holes in the rail, I'd have to cut the zipties to get the stock off.

The second small side rail arrived on Monday also from Sidearmor. This cut some weight and offered less crowding of my hand.

Switch in place. Hardly noticeable. In Case of Zombies

Just finished assembling. Kip's lightweight tube will be a welcome addition. It tips the scale at 12 pounds with 19 rounds in/on it. 12 of which are 3" mag buckshot. Then 7 2 3/4" buckshot for the tube. 3" mag Buckshot weighs exactly 1.94 Ounces 2 3/4 Buckshot Weighs 1.62 Ounces So I have 2.16 pounds of ammunition on the gun! Given that an empty M4 is around 8.5 Pounds. That puts me at a little over a pound over factory weight. This includes sling, top rail, ladder rails, weapon light, shell carriers, wire, oversized GG&G bolt release... Kip's tube will take me down another 5 ounces. I'm putting together a small pouch to shove inside the pistol grip. It's going to have small spare parts and some allen wrenches. Maybe some 123a batteries if I have the room for two. This Scout light is freaking bright. It is brighter than the X300. You can illuminate someone at 40 - 50 yards. The light is brighter than the headlights on the truck. I still have some gluing and very minor fitting issues to resolve around the pistol grip. Currently, the momentary switch is a little harder than I would like, so I'll modify that later today. Having the momentary on the pistol grip reminded me of how easy I could control my SBR with an offset momentary button. Except I didn't have to deal with a forward vertical grip. I noticed that I didn't have to properly hold the rifle/shotgun with this design in order to still activate the light. Example, I held the shotgun high up above me to get over the railing in my stairs, I then could push the button with my thumb. Oh, the LaRue mount for the Scout light is the same height as the factory mount. This is a big benefit. Some of their mounts are higher than factory. Such as the LaRue X300 mount. While I had hoped to use my X300 and upgrade my pistol to the X400, the Scout Light was a definate improvement over the X300. It's brighter, smaller (in overall bulk not length) and mounts further forward. The tape segments holding the wire in place are functional but fugly. I'm looking into alternative methods that will be more cosmetically appealing. I hope to run around 200 rounds through it on Wednesday.

Thanks! The light came today. I only had a few minutes before I had to leave for Vegas. So I put the light on the connector and tested the feel of the activation. The light is smaller than I had expected. It's about the size of my Surefire Aviator A2. What is cool is the mount is near the rear, so most of the light will be ahead of the handguard area. It's damn near perfect. It's not a hair trigger, and it isn't like that damn XT-07 switch where my thumb was turning red holding it down for 20 seconds. I don't have to change the way I hold the weapon at all. You have to consiously decide to activate it. I still have some gluing to do and some deburring for cosmetics. Mostly in areas you can't even see. I need to get some black silicon tomorrow to fill the top exit hole. I got a shell carrier for the stock last week also. I may modify the stock so the strap goes between the recoil pad and the stock. I don't know if it is do-able yet though. Might end up with too much extra strap. I'm going to paint this shotgun when I'm done. I haven't decided exactly how yet, but it'll be a desert pattern. Since I live in the Mojave.

See how the cable runs under the pistol grip and down to the tape switch? This was mandatory to seat the switch higher up on the grip. That way the portion of the pressure pad that is actually the switch will sit directly under my middle and ring finger. It looks a lot rougher in these photos than it does in reality due to the flash and some deburring that I need to do. The holes drilled in the bottom and top of the stock are so large because that is how big the connector is for the light. For reference, this is what the stock looked like before modifications. Currently, the tactile feel of the switch feels pretty good. The rubber grip sinks in slightly. It doesn't feel like it is a hair trigger, and my hand doesn't get tired holding it down. I can still squeeze the stock and pull it into my shoulder; yet remain conscious to if I am activating the light or not. I need the light though to test the pressure and tweak it to my liking. Another thing I like is the switch is custom fit to my hand. When I used the crimson trace laser grips with the side activation buttons, my fingers were too long and extended past the button. So I ended up pushing the button at the second knuckle joint. This one will be directly under my finger tips.

Hopefully the Scout and my short side rail come today. I'll take better photographs in natural light when I have the chance.

This shows the route of the cable. It hasn't been taped in yet so it is still loose and wild. Once the wire is ziptied into place, it will be snugged up against the top rail. I'm going to try to ziptie the wire to the ladder rail instead of drilling holes. The ladder rails obscure the iron sight picture slightly, but since I'm going with the T-1, this isn't that big of a deal. They'll still work as a back-up. Also, disassembly is much easier than if I had ziptied to holes in the rail system. I can pull the ladder rail up, and remove the stock.

I added some epoxy on the inside of the pistol grip against the side that I cut. I glued in a thick piece of plastic for added support. Probably overkill. I still have to glue under the edge of where the top of the tape switch sits. Once the switch is in, it isn't coming back out without some cutting. I'd rather have the entire system disassemblable, but it was the only way to get the cable in. I'm going to avoid gluing the cable though. This will all be covered over when finished. All extra cable will be pushed into the stock to keep everything tight.

Depends on if the aftermarket is going to produce a a collapsible stock any time soon. Once that happens, the value of that stock will collapse somewhat. If that is a year or more away, I'd consider hanging onto it a while. Or, I'd have it painted FDE by a pro and sell it on gunbroker for a grand. You know someone will pay it. Or do it up in OD green, and buy a set of handguards from Brownells and have them done too. Package deal, 1200 bones. What kind of pistol are you looking at getting? This is slightly off topic, but I saw that you had tested some of your weapon lights for lumen output. Did you ever test the X300? If so, what were they producing? Steve

I'll probably order the T-1 on Friday with the LaRue mount. I'll torture it and let you guys know if it will be an issue on this rail. I did about an hour and a half of work on the stock lastnight. I milled the switch pocket a little deeper so the switch lays flush with the top of the pistol grip. I cut the wiring groove from the pistol grip to the first hole. Then I cut the hole on the top of the stock to pull the wire out. I then milled the slot along the spine of the stock to the receiver. This slot is about three inches long. I may cut it a little deeper to reduce the signature of the wire through the tape. We'll see. The stock is very easy to cut. I have a dremel with the long pen attachment so you don't have to hold the motor. The most difficult thing has been cutting the switch pocket. Adjusting the tension put over the switch by the rubber grip is difficult. It's controlled mainly by the depth of the pocket. You can only mill down so far until you hit the hollow inner core though. Surprisingly, 40" of wire is just right.

Not as bad as I felt when I bought a spare o-ring for the Argo system from Brownells. I figured I was getting raped for 4 or 5 bucks (after the discount even) for a set of o-rings. When I got the package, it was for one o-ring! I guess I could buy them for a dime each at the hardware store, but I don't know if they're the same. Have you sourced a proper spec picatinny rail for your project? I wonder if Kip would be kind enough to make one to the length you need now that his top rails are moving nicely. What kind of light are you going to mount? The plastic Benelli uses is very easy to drill through. It doesn't have that fiberglass type strand composite material that is a PITA to work with. Just avoid where the barrel seats against the handguard. There is quite a bit of room in front of the ARGO. Since the inside is not a flat surface, consider using a rubber or nylon washer to help conform to the inner surface. That way it will conform to the inside curvature slightly to help distribute the pressure exerted by the nuts. It'll help reduce flexing of the handguard also. Since you can't torque it down really good, I'd consider epoxy over the retention nut and washers on the inside to help keep it from getting shaken loose.

It depends on what kind of gun owner you are. Are you a collector or do you own specific firearms for specific reasons? Do you have any kind of sentimental attachment to a weapon? Such as, it was your fathers and so on. If you see them as tools for a job, and you no longer need it -- sell it. Take the money you get and spend it on your next upgrade or firearm you think you need.

Ouch. What did Mark have to say about it? Did it damage the rail at all? Why does Mark show an Aimpoint T-1 on a Benelli M4 if it is a problem? ie: will he warranty it of that occurs? Did they try to say that the lever wasn't set tight enough? What was mounted in that mount? I imagine the weight of the optic will influence the damage inflicted. Hard to imagine. 3.5 ounce optic building up enough inertia to move. I may try it with the Sidearmor rail. Since the lugs have more meat on them to engage. I don't know how far the LaRue lug drops into the channel. The Sidearmor rails that are milled out rise approx. 0.020 inches above the bottom of the channel. Worst case I have to replace the mount and end up with a jacked up rail lug. Meh. I figure I have a Larue Scout light mount in route. It'll face the same torment since the side rails are cut identically. We discussed a while ago about the extrusion probably came with the cuts for all the aftermarket rails. This isn't true for the Sidearmor. If you look at the side rails, the front and rear rails are not cut. My Aimpoint CompM4 would bloom around the reticle if I set the brightness too high for the environment I was in. I started cutting my stock lastnight. I worked mostly on the pocket for the tape switch. I need the light here so I can fine tune the amount of pressure needed to activate the light. I had to mill under the top of the grip. Where it transitions from the rubber to the plastic so I could seat the tape switch higher and be able to route the cable to the hole I drilled at the rear of the rubber grip. The reason it needed to be seated higher was the top 3/4 of an inch of the tape switch isn't a pressure pad. I didn't want to activate the light with my pinkie and ring finger. When I'm done fine tuning the installation, I'll backfill the cut to regain strength to the lip. I was then able to pass the head of the cable through into the inside of the stock. Avoiding the channel for the recoil tube assembly was tricky, but not impossible. Hopefully tonight, I'll get the wire through the top of the stock, and the grooves cut for the wire. Everything is concealed under the rubber grip, so cosmetics aren't a huge issue. Where the wire comes out from the top of the stock, I plan to mill a groove along the spine to the receiver. This will be deep enough to seat the wire. There will only be about 3 inches of a groove since I'm going as far forward as possible without hitting the channel for the recoil tube. When the wire length has been adjusted properly, the wire will be retained in the channel by those Magpul Pmag sticker tape pieces made by rainier arms. I'll backfill the 1/2 inch routing holes with silicon so I can remove the wire if needed in the future. Then throw a sticker over it for looks. The holes are half inch because that's how big the plug is from Surefire. Trying to push the tape switch side through near the pistol grip from the inside would be nearly impossible. On the receiver, I'll use the stickers to protect the wire from the stock to the rear sight housing. I need to drill several holes along the right side of the top picatinny rail. These holes will be used for the ziptie. I hope to have everything reassembled and put through some testing by the end of the coming week.

Any specific reason why I should avoid LaRue?

Nice.

The Sidearmor rail should be okay. It doesn't have that rounded melt job that Benelli jacked their rail up with. Plus more meat per lug. Kip's would be best, but I'd loose the options I need. So I'll risk it. The tunnel vision was attributed to the large optic housing. It blocked a lot of the surrounding field of view that you would see if you were simply running iron sights. My M4 shook the 552's brains out during my big round count days of old. It was so fuzzy I had to send it back to Eotech. They said it was within spec. It was unacceptable to me; so I sold it on gunbroker for nearly what I bought it for new since the prices have been climbing. I even photographed the reticle for the buyers. One bonus of the big EOTech was being able to hide behind the blast shield when firing birdshot at suspect objects. The T1 works well on the PS90? We had one but sold it off a few months ago. It had that horrible clear reticle. It took me 5 minutes to convince a guy that there were reticle markings in there!

What are your guys opinions on running an Aimpoint T1 on the Benelli M4? In my opinion, it's the only optic really worth considering on the M4. I had an Eotech on it at one time, but it was too big and gave you tunnel vision. Since I've 86'ed the factory rail for the much better Sidearmor one, I'd give it a chance with the LaRue low mount. I had an Aimpoint CompM4, but sold it due to the weight on my SBR. The T1 is around 4 ounces. Probably a bit more with Marks mount though. I'm curious to know if this optic will hinder or help. Since it is my first father's day coming up, and I sold around 400 dollars worth of misc gun crap this week, I'm seriously considering it. From the man himself, it's 640 dollars with the mount.

With the Surefire M80, the side rail is right where your hand should be. I had one. I sent it back. There are no reliability issues either. It's been mentioned many times that the M80 has caused binding on the gas pistons. This setup uses the factory handguards which are far more comfortable than the M80 rail system. I tried several types of rail covers and ladder rail covers. It was okay, but not great. The Mesa shell carrier does not have the forward brace. So any and all leverage applied to the shell carrier is taken by the five scews mounted in the aluminum receiver. I hated how the shells were inserted into the Mesa carrier. They took two hands to insert the shells. I modified the rubber tube to reduce the tension. The detent design of the Sidearmor is much easier to actually use. The Surefire Scout Light is a weapon light. It weighs 7 ounces or so with a Larue mount. If that throws my balance off, I must have an inner ear problem. The whole point of the design is to keep the weapon light away from the handguard so it doesn't obstruct your grip. If you use a momentary tail cap, you can press it with your support hand thumb. When not using the light, it is out of the way. Or you could run a tape switch to the factory handguard with some velcro. I have no intention to mount a laser, and probably no optic either. Kip's rail is much better quality. It is as tough as the 5 screws holding it to the receiver will allow it to be. The Sidearmor has a wider foot print on the top of the receiver. So any torsional twisting of the rail is met with a larger base. The rail covers from the ejection port all the way to the opposite side to a similar height. The front rail mount to the barrel provides even greater amounts of stability. My next step is to drill some holes to accept some zip ties to secure my tape switch wire. Then we get to see if the 18" wire will work, or if I have to use the 40" (thanks Surefire for not making inbetween lengths). I took some better photos along with comparison shots between the factory and Sidearmor rail. I'll post them later tonight from home.