StrangerDanger

Of the aftermarket safeties, I prefer the size of the Dave's Metal Works unit the best. Not too big or too small. Nice machining. I'd personally stick with the OEM handguards. Nothing is more comfortable than them. The stippling is an improvement over stock. I send them to Tango Arms for the work. Quad rails on the handguard are a poor design. I tried the AFG on a rail to see if it was any better. It was not. It made it much more difficult for the standard push/pull method of bracing a shotgun. I hated having my hand locked in to one position. Depending on my stance, I prefer to have my hand in slightly different positions. Having anything hanging under the handguard slowed my hand to load the firearm and get my hand back on the forearm. All these items simply added weight and no real benefit that I could utilize.

On the stippling, the difference is the classic leaves the thumb shelf area and inside the gills of the handguard unmolested. The complete does everything. I prefer the classic style myself. Tango Arms does a great job and you don’t have any of the plastic coming off in your hand like sand paper. I did note that the stippling is rather sharp when you first get it back, but it seems to soften or the edges get knocked off quickly. I’d send your own set in since their pricing is pretty high to buy a set from them. Kiss the FFT ones for the 922 compliance part. They’re not the best fit compared to the OEM, but I can make it work. I haven’t seen a complete stippling job done on one. The pictures are of the classic. Having a ball mill will speed things up! The limit is the shell stop. It almost looks like Briley trims the pin when they go really deep with this porting. I use a dremel with a pen attachment system so it’s like holding a pencil. Dremel makes an abrasive polishing wheel bit that is excellent for removing aluminum and breaking corners. It’s slow so you don’t loose control. I’ll try to take some progression shots as I go.

For a polishing jig, I use a large shotgun cleaning rod that is pretty thick in diameter. I’d guess at least half inch. I then wrap the steel wool around a brush head. I smear grinding compound over the steel wool. Usually the 1000 grit stuff. Same stuff I use for trying up AR upper receivers. Doing this is in the lathe is best since the knob handle on my rod doesn’t come off. So I just stick it through the oversized port of the lathe and only stick about 24” out of the chuck. I hold the mag tube by hand and work it back and forth thru the interior. Then wipe it all out. It’ll look like a polished mirror in short order. You could do it with hand drill, you might need to cut off the knob handle if it doesn’t come off.

After plating the magazine tubes inside and out, I run a jig I made through the inside of the tube. It’ll attach to a drill or to a lathe chuck. It’s sized to spin a bunch of fine steel wool to polish the inside of the magazine tube. Even the spring sounds different when inserting shells. Bunch of parts came in yesterday. Got the Brownells order with the bolt release from GG&G, the IWC light mount and rear sling mount. The collapsible stock showed up from Benelliparts. The Trijicon RMR arrived too. Brownells only had 1 of the 2 rear sight screws in stock. Removal damaged both of the original ones. No ETA on the others arrival. I want to send two to Robar so they’re plated. I have enough of the parts to begin the loading port modifications probably tomorrow. I’ll see about taking some pictures in stages. I do all of mine by hand, so it takes 4-5 hours.

Robar will plate titanium, they just won’t warranty the work. Never had an issue with the plating on any titanium parts.

No problem. Benelli added that washer to the weak sides of the polymer trigger pack. Or perhaps to keep the breech latch pin from wallowing the hole out.

The channelock brand is pretty good. The jaws are rigid so they don’t try to twist on you. They have like 5 different size tips that you can put in them. Angled and different sizes. They flip from inside to outside spawning with the flip of a switch.

Without a good pair of snap ring pliers, they’ll make you question god and the meaning of the universe. The one under the trigger group pin that retains it in to the receiver is a real son of a bitch to get out.

Received the one I ordered on Wednesday today. From Minnesota to Arizona. No need for the washer from the plastic frame.

Good to know. I might swap to it then. I like the lip on the inside of the pad to keep it centered.

Most Surefire tape switches are momentary only on the ST series. If you buy the rail mounted model that has that big round button on top, the SR07 model. That’ll lock on, then it has a strip along the switch that is momentary only. There are aftermarket tape switches such as the TAPS from Unity Tactical. I didn’t have good luck with it since they don’t like the high output weapon lights and I had no real use for the second lead for laser devices. You could program the switch for momentary and constant on buttons. There was a few millisecond delay when pressing the pressure switch that I did not like.

The light itself will fit without trimming on the IWC mount. The trouble is if you’re using the shotgun and using the momentary button, and you fire a12 gauge round, you’re going to jam your thumb against the shroud. Removing the shroud just leaves the rubber jug of the button exposed which makes it a lot safer to use. I did this tailcap on the lathe and dehorned all the sharp edges. The picture was taken prior to having the light head painted to match. I almost never use the constant on feature of these lights. You should be moving, briefly illuminating the area, then back to off. Move and repeat. I personally prefer the M600 Intellibeam, but they require some lathe work to make fit the M4. You top out at 600 lumens too. These DF models are 1500 lumens with a lot of flood. It might be too bright indoors.

The main issue is I haven’t drilled into a 10403 yet to determine if there is any obstruction inside the pad vs. the known functional 11011. Without the hole drilled, the fully collapsed position is a no go. I have one on the shelf, so I may give it a try to eliminate some parts.

I've had good luck with them shipping immediately in the past. I ordered one last night for the build, and haven't received a shipping notification yet.

The front sight and rear sight from Meprolights will remain black since you can't plate the sights with their tritium lamps installed. There is a work around for this, but it is costly. You'd have to NP3 plate the OEM sights, then send those out to Tooltech to have Trijicon lamps installed. I think they charge a ridiculous amount, like 250 dollars. The hood of the front sight and the rear sight housing are going to be plated on this one. It will end up looking like this one I did a while back, but the Trijicon RMR's that are nickel boron plated aren't readily available anymore.

The forum has been really slow lately, so I figured I'd try to add some content again. Recently I was contacted by a client to put together the ultimate Benelli M4 with a focus on reliability, and reduced perceived recoil. Cost is not a concern. The main goal was to have a shotgun built for home defense. So, with that said, here is the roughed out plan. The M4 is a 11707 model. It's an older version that has an aluminum trigger frame. The shotgun itself is brand new and never appears to have been fired. This is an 18.5" barreled model. Receiver Upgrades - Loading Port Modifications - GG&G Oversized Bolt Release - TTI Stainless Bolt Handle - FFT Reproduction Handguards Stippled by Tango Arms Stock Upgrades - Benelli M4 OEM Collapsible Stock - IWC MOE QD Sling Mount - Limbsaver 11011 Custom Fit with Noveski Adapter Plate Magazine Tube Assembly - Carriercomp Titanium Full Length Magazine Tube, internals polished - Carriercomp Magazine Follower (Old style with the red plastic indicator) - Carriercomp/Wolff Magazine Spring Trigger Pack - A&S Engineering Trigger Frame - FFT Trigger/Hammer/Disconnector Kit - FFT Shell Elevator - DMW Oversized Safety - Wolff Trigger Pack Spring Kit Sights and Optics - Scalarworks Sync Rail - Trijicon RMR Type 2, RM09 - 1moa dot size - Meprolight Night Sights Weapon Light Package - Surefire M600DF 1500 lumen output. - Impact Weapon Components Benelli M4 Light/Sling Mount - Surefire tailcap modified to remove the shroud Sling - BlueForceGear Padded QD Sling Refinish All parts are to be refinished in NP3 by Robar. Plastics will remain black. Items such as the lamp head on the weapon light will be painted to match the NP3 finish. The Trijicon RMR will be left alone. I received the shotgun on August 6, 2019. By August 7, 2019, the shotgun had been fully disassembled down to the smallest parts. Threaded parts were cleaned up chemically and with a wire wheel to remove any thread locker compound. Cleaning the parts up eats up a lot of time when done right. Even the bolt head is disassembled which is nearly an impossible task without some specialized tools. Getting that roll pin that holds the extractor claw out is almost an impossible task. You need a tiny curved punch in order to tap it out successfully. I disassembled his pistol grip stock so that the sling hardware and the installation screw inside the stock will all be plated in NP3 as well. As expected, the two screws that hold the rear sight in place are destroyed upon removal (the tip of the screw almost always breaks off.) I believe LPA stakes the top of the screw and creates that cupped shape. The nut that holds the front sight in place is a one time use item and will be replaced upon reassembly. This nut cannot be NP3 plated since it has a nylock insert. Small springs are bagged and tagged for reassembly. Some of them are confusing to know the difference by just looking at them. Springs like the one that holds the bolt handle detent and the extractor claw spring can be easily confused with ones from the trigger pack. I'll begin the loading port modifications once the A&S trigger frame arrives. I plan to go high, on the port, but not as high as Briley. I also plan to open the mouth more than Briley typically does. The entire loading port will be dehorned and there will not be a single sharp edge inside the mouth. Mine are all done by hand, so it is a little tedious. The owner supplied the carriercomp components, and the shipment from FFT arrived already. The handguards from FFT were mailed out to Tango Arms this morning. Will update with more as we move forward.

You'll have to remove the rust mechanically. Meaning you'll need to use a wire brush to remove it. If you have a vise, I'd put the choke in some padded jaws, length wise so you aren't biting on the sides of the choke. Then hit the rusted areas with the wire brush or a dremel with a wire wheel (wear safety glasses). This part is going to be prone to rusting more in the future since its protective coating has been compromised. You might want to just buy a replacement choke. They also make greases that are meant for chokes to prevent it from getting stuck again in the future. The grease will also help prevent rust. Briley also makes a nice choke wrench that will give you a lot more leverage than the wrench that the shotgun comes with. It will be less likely to unscrew on you during firing sessions.

There are a few modifications that can be done for ease of feeding. It's really easy to mess it up though and go too far. Here is a link to Brian Enos' page where people are discussing options on how to make the shell stop easier to work with. Most are bending the latch and polishing the face of the latch where the shell rim rubs against. Bending and polishing is the best option. I've tried plating the part with NP3 to see if it would help, it was marginal at best for an improvement that I could feel. It will take trial and error to get it bent to the position where it's reliable and smooth to operate. I would not enlarge the notches on the side of the shell stop to make the part more flexible. The latch will break if you get too aggressive here. https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/219805-benelli-m2-bolt-mods-and-shell-latch-mod/ Personally I'd put the A&S frame on any Benelli I owned.

Did they say what they didn't finish? A&S Engineering is good stuff. 922 compliance part, far better than even the aluminum OEM trigger frames. I don't really use the loading ramp feature, but it doesn't hurt anything.

I'd give it a try first to see how it performs for you. Remember that this is designed for rolling the weapon ejection port up, and speed feeding shells in place. Some are doing doubles with this method with their thumb on the back of the primer side and pressing them in. They gave you a lot of clearance so that the cup of your hand can seat deeper into the receiver. How much is removed from the magazine tube area isn't that big of a deal. I've seen some where they've cut into the magazine tube itself. I would have preferred that they broke some of the corners to avoid sharp edges, but they probably just do these in a mill with no plan of refinishing the receiver. I would have preferred that they open the mouth of the loading port more and broken those edges better. When you're moving fast, a 90 degree angle can cut you open easily. On the ones I've done, I spent a lot of time blending the edges so that there were zero sharp corners anywhere inside the loading area.

Perfect, thanks for the info Tim.

Interesting. Any known compatibility issues with the A&S Engineering trigger pack?

Glad it helped! I didn't realize Photobucket came back online with its hat in hand. This was the first tutorial made, the later ones had higher production value, but fewer jokes!

I’d recommend letting Benelli fix it. That detent and spring is a pain in the ass to get back in. If you don’t have tiny 3/32 type punches, forget it. The detent May have damaged the bolt handle’s notches which would make sense if multiple handles are falling out. Or the spring could be weak or bound up and not applying sufficient pressure on the detent.

I’ve done a lot of Limbsaver pads on collapsible stocks and regular stocks. Now if you cut the stock down, you’ll have to modify the pad to blend in. There have been a few websites outlining the process. I’ve never done one of those. Using a screw was definitely a cost saving measure over copying the factory system that is locked in place by the trigger pack and field serviceable.