StrangerDanger

On the rifles they seemed closer to the bore so they weren’t as rolly. I personally don’t use them on AR’s either. With the shotgun, your support arm has more to do than with a rifle. You’re doing a lot of fine motor skills loading shells between shots when time allows. So sliding your hand back to start loading needs to be as smooth of a process as possible with no wait-a-minutes. I like inserting a shell with my thumb and moving my hand in the same motion back to my supporting grip without having to avoid a vertical grip or AFG. I also dislike how those kind of grips can get in the way of you going prone, or forcing you to be higher up off of cover. I prefer 20 round mags over 30’s for similar reasons. Here is the bump in the night rifle that I hike with and haul all over the back country. It’s paired with a gen3 monocular night vision device on a helmet. My support thumb controls either my white light or it controls the MAWL IR system. You can’t do both at the same time intentionally. So you aren’t mashing buttons when startled. Trying to do this with a vertical grip would be difficult. If I for some reason needed some kind of vertical grip, I’d just pull my hand back to the mag well. My rifle is an older version of our current build outs. Here is one of my customers builds we did back when NP3 was still a thing.

Back when I had a Surefire M80 picatinny covered Pringles can, I tried the two different Magpul Angled Fore Grips (AFG) on it. Foregrips are a personal preference thing, but I found it wasn't comfortable for me at all. Putting a longer foregrip made the forend feel wobbly to me. Like you're balancing the shotgun on the top of your fist. It also slowed down my support hand for loading procedures since my hand would have move farther. Then when putting my hand back out to grab the fore grip, I'd have to move my hand more to regrasp the fore grip. The foregrip can complicate weapon light activation too. By all means add one if it works for you. But try to be objective if it is helping or not. A lot of people fall into the trap of adding things just to add them.

Disappointing. I'm really looking forward to this product. Hopefully you have a solid way forward on the next iteration.

Might be a good rib tickler?

That doesn't seem right. Is the pad of the GG&G making contact with the receiver preventing you from pressing it? Are you certain you got the spring in the correct location?

They typically attack forums on holiday weekends to sell their micro penis supplies knowing the forum moderator doesn’t do any kind of work off the clock.

Glad you got it salvaged. Did the tap go in pretty easy and find the existing threads? You can use Alumablack to hide most of the scratches on the receiver. You might just have to scuff them up a little bit to remove the oxide layer that forms on bare aluminum.

Yeah, holding the button in when adjusting is recommended since the pin drags if you don’t. You can try some oil and hopefully you can just cycle it a bunch of times to break it in. It sounds like part of the receiver extension didn’t get machined correctly since the tolerances vary depending on position. It’s doubtful that Benelli will warranty it, but if it’s bad enough you could probably do an aftermarket extension and pick up like a 5 position tube to get some additional benefits. The swap isn’t the most fun though.

Are you holding the unlock button in the entire time while you adjust the stock?

We saw a lot of quality control issues come out of Benelli during the Covid era. All of the extractors I looked at have a pretty hard 90* corner on both sides with maybe a light chamfer to knock the edge down. My concern is the damage is deeper than the extractor. Like the wear on the extractor is the symptom of something else being out of spec. Could be the bolt head. Could be the bolt carrier. Could even be the barrel assembly but less likely. Without being able to hot swap parts and live firing it, you’ll just be guessing. So if Benelli will warranty it, you’d be best served going that route.

Were you using a oem 3 position extension or an aftermarket one when the install failed?

Yikes. Sorry to see that happen to you. Looks like you used brute force on the extension and stripped the receiver threads? It appears a lot of the aluminum was stripped away. So while using a large expensive tap to correct the threads, I doubt it is going to have the strength you'll want to secure the extension. Plus getting the tap going thru that much damage is not going to be fun. Benelli might have a receiver they'd be willing to sell you to fix this. I'd give them a call before any Bubba attempts. Basically you'd have to epoxy or JB weld the extension into the receiver and hope for the best.

Looking at your photographs, the extractor claw looks to be rounded over on one side of the claw, is this accurate? If so, then this may be the source of your issue. Replacing the extractor claw can be difficult. The pin is almost a blind pin. I say almost since you can access the side you need to tap from, but you essentially need a curved punch. Punches don't like curving and generally break making it a consumable tool. If you need help with this, I can take care of it for you if you like.

I'd definitely avoid since it would likely cause damage that would be out of warranty with Benelli. Assuming they found out you had a 4 port barrel in there.

I'd get a cheap plastic case from like Big 5, then remove the bolt handle from the shotgun and pack it in its own padded bag. The case should be around 40 dollars these days. I'd then get a box and cut it down to fit pretty close to the case.

Never had any issues that weren't resolved with benelliparts. We received a OEM 3 position receiver extension that was sloppy loose. He replaced it immediately for the customer.

The 4 port barrels are extremely rare. They were only released on the 2004 era 11703 model. The 4 port barrels were notorious for beating up the bolt carrier to the point that it would mushroom out the bolt carrier where the pistons impinge. I had one, and the bolt carrier mushroomed out so bad that it would get stuck when retracting the bolt carrier to the rear. Benelli warrantied it and gave me a 2 port barrel thankfully. The 4 port would probably perform better with low recoil ammunition. But if you fed it any high brass, you'd start tearing it up.

Appreciate the comments. Sorry I haven’t been on any of the forums for several months. I had lost access to my account for quite a while, and when I got it back I guess checking the forums just wasn’t in my daily routine. Plus all the built back better stresses that I’m sure everyone is experiencing… I think I replied to your PM’s to pass along some information.

If Esstac are permitted, I'd use them. Not only are they cheaper, they're better. You can stick the cards to your carrier and strip an empty card off your shotgun, and slap on a flesh one. When you don't need it, you can peel them off and your receiver isn't stuck in chonker mode. I had one of the old versions of the SideArmor side carriers years ago, that thing had so many sharp edges on it, it was easy to bust up your knuckles or rip thumb nails. They seriously could have spent more time knocking the edges down in a tumbler. The carrier itself was also extremely heavy.

I haven't seen any covers or different moldings. Were you thinking something like beer coolie material?

RX Arms makes a riser system for the collapsible stock. I haven't tried one, but they look pretty straight forward. https://rxarms.com/products/benelli-m4-parts-and-accessories/benelli-m4-cheek-riser/ I would go with the 10mm height riser. 2.5mm probably isn't worth the trouble. This is a 10mm one I put on a member's build year or two ago.

The Briley carbon fiber magazine tubes are made from three pieces. Two threaded stainless ends, then an actual carbon fiber magazine tube body. The threaded stainless ends are attached to each end of the carbon fiber tube. The trouble is the transition point between the stainless and the carbon fiber tube isn't perfectly flush. This leave a small shelf or lip on many of the tubes. Briley made a follower to try to minimize this shelf that has tapered ends to help the follower transition over the transition point. It usually works, but sometimes you'll get a tube that when you're inserting shells, you'll feel the shell hang up on the transition point. Sometimes its just a bump you can feel. Other times you can't push the shell past it. You can then play warranty games with Briley to get a better one. Another issue is if you're shooting slugs for accuracy. These carbon fiber tubes flex quite a bit. So your repeat accuracy will degrade with a flexible tube. Even the titanium magazine tubes flex more than the steel ones. A steel tube will provide the best rigid lockup for accuracy work. 75 yard slug patterns from a lead sled to minimize shooter influence: Steel: Slug shots are touching one another. Titanium: Clover patterns, sometimes a slight separation between shots. Carbon Fiber: 4-6" patterns are pretty common. You can still be delivering headshots at 75 yards. So accuracy isn't always a must. Sometimes the lighter weight outweighs the need for a heavy steel tube. For me, I'd just go with the carriercomp magazine tube. You'd only cut about 2 more ounces by going with the carbon fiber one.

Nice work! Its amazing what 3D printers are capable of and how fast they're improving.

Yep. Broken here and in PM's.

I'd stick with the stippled OEM handguards, for now... Tango does great work as do others I imagine. I've been riding the struggle bus with a Mesa Tactical 13" Truckee on one of my M4's. I hate the way that thing installs. But it does offer a forward mounting solution with the use of a HotButton. I don't want any barrel shadowing present since I swap out my white light with an IR head for use with my PVS-14 helmet setup. If the light illuminates the front of the barrel and front sight tower, it washes out my view thru the monocular. I had to cut up the rail to get the offset mount to work and bore holes thru the center of the MLOK so I could pass the socket of the HotButton thru the rail and loom the wire internally. One positive about the rail is I can hold the shotgun farther forward than the OEM handguard which fits my body a little better. The direction of the HotButton has ben an experiment I've been doing for the past year or so, and I've found it to be the best weapon light activation system I've had. Momentary and constant on controls and no risk to my thumb during the 12 gauge recoil. Pulling the button to the rear is much more comfortable than reaching forward and pressing.