StrangerDanger

It’s a titanium choke from Briley. It’s a fraction of an ounce lighter than the oem and cannot rust. The oem chokes are prone to rusting at the threads if not cared for well even in Arizona. It’s the only area I’ve experienced corrosion on the Benelli M4.

Yeah. It’s pretty easy. The assembly slides off the end of the magazine tube. Aside from hanging up a little on the carbon fiber Briley tube. I feel that may sort itself out over a few cycles. It shouldn’t be an issue with a quality light. Where I have mine set, the light bezel is just behind my barrel. I’ve let my .223 rifles blast my lights in the past and the only issue is they get dirty. If I can make the switch sing to me, I may keep it. I really do like being able to grip farther forward than the oem grip allows. I haven’t gotten to mess with it as much as I’d like, I’ve been in firearms class most of the week, so that’s eating up a lot of my spare time. Thankfully that’s over with as of today.

For now, this is just an initial review since I just got the rail in this evening. I'll list the issues I see with it and some of the positive attributes. At this point, I don't know if I like it or not, and if I can make it function for my intended purpose. All of the secondary spare parts have not come in yet from other retailers. Cons. 1. The rail is a pain in the ass to install. I assume it'll get easier with more exposure, but it's kind of retarded and not intuitive at all. I read the supplied instructions like five times and thought I might be retarded since most of it just seemed to be an assembly of big words that made no sense. When the manufacturer is claiming to line up such and such flange, they should probably build a diagram indicating what exactly they're calling the flange. 2. This thing has a lot of wiggle in it. With moderate hand pressure, you can push the rail enough to make contact with the barrel. You'd have a bad time trying to zero a laser in on this thing. Part of the wiggle is that you're compressing the polymer caps that fit into the barrel hanger. Other flex is the fact that you're just flexing 6061 aluminum. 3. This thing is super smooth and hard to hold onto. Expect to add some kind of rail covers to build some traction. 4. This rail did not want to fit over the Briley carbon fiber magazine tube. It seemed to be hanging up around the barrel hanger. I had to motivate the barrel/rail assembly over the magazine tube by lightly mortaring the buttstock on the desk to force the magazine thru. This is likely the fault of that stepped design of the Briley carbon fiber tube. Pros. 1. The weight is a lot less than anticipated. I weighed the rail and its polymer end caps and got 11.5 ounces. The OEM forend is approximately 5 ounces for comparison. 2. Ergonomics are pretty good. Having the 15" rail gives you a lot more options for hand placement. If you shoot with your support arm more forward on AR type rifles, this will feel a lot more intuitive and comfortable. 3. The primary purpose I see for this rail is getting a light pushed out to the muzzle to eliminate barrel shadowing and light blow back off of the barrel and front sight assembly. In minimial outdoor testing, this worked great. The only issue is now how I want to use the switch. If you hand hands forward, its quite easy to reach the activator button on the back of the light. Routing a tape switch rearward is also an option. I'm still waiting on a few options to arrive in the mail to see if they'll work. I'm mainly interested in trying the Unity Tactical Hot Button. 4. Switching to a MLOK front sling mount is an improvement. You have quite a bit of mounting options and the ability to use angled QD sockets which really improve sling comfort. 5. MLOK mounting is much easier than the Agency Arms rail. No modifications were needed to any of the MLOK mounting hardware for clearance with the gas pistons. I've rough tested the light at 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. 9 o'clock works well if you're using a regular Z68 type tailcap. You're still going to risk jamming your thumb though. 3 o'clock works well for using the tape switch. 6 o'clock works, but may interfere with hand placement. Note on my railscales placement, I spanned the gap in the center of the rail that doesn't have an MLOK socket. This was helpful in making a continuous griping surface. I'll probably move to an offset MLOK light mount if I keep this setup as is. Moving it high to a 1:30 - 2:00 o'clock position will clean up the package so that the light isn't sticking out the side so far.

A lighter front end means you can snap from target to target faster.

If you want to cut weight, you're going to want to swap out for a carbon fiber magazine tube. Then delete the iron sights. The polymer trigger housing is an ounce or so lighter than the A&S Engineering frame. Putting a Briley titanium choke in will reduce weight about a fraction of an ounce. Cutting a whole pound off is going to be tough to do without going to a 14" model.

I can’t find weight specs for the Truckee rails at various lengths. I’m not opposed to chopping it up to route wiring inside the rail if it’ll work and keep the wire safe. My only need is for a sling mount and the weapon light far forward. I won’t be mounting any of those forward grips on it. Anyway, it should be a fun project to experiment with.

That’s a SideArmor top rail and a Surefire M80 handguard rail system. There have been several generations of the SideArmor rail. Have the new SideArmor carriers dehorned all the sharp edges? I had one a long time ago, and that thing was a knuckle busters, and quite heavy.

I’ll write something up when I get it and see if the install issues are as big of a deal. I guess the end pieces that fit into the barrel hanger and receiver hanger are polymer and might need some minor fitting. Boiling the parts might soften them up while you do the install. The fit should be set then. Something like that I don’t mind, but I don’t want issues like the Agency Arms rail has or the Strike Industries. I’m going to install a Railscales QDX sling mount. Then a Arisaka MLOK in-line light mount for the Modlite PLHv2, 18650 body, Surefire tape switch tailcap, then a Unity Tactical MLOK Hot-Button. From there, I’ll work an IR light/laser option for active aiming. Maybe the Surefire Not sure about rail covers or wire looming. Maybe a Surefire X400V with the tape switch back. I don’t think a MAWL would be worth the cost and I’m not sure how well it would hold up to the Benelli’s recoil.

Talked myself into trying the 15 Truckee for some night time action. The Benelli M4 is a good platform for breaking skinwalkers in half!

I’m considering trying one of the 15” Truckee rails so I can get the light out flush with the muzzle. The goal is to avoid barrel shadowing. I want to set one of my M4’s up for running under my night vision monocular. helmet setup. So getting rid of barrel shadowing and how the light blows back off the barrel would be a positive. Tape switches are definitely hit and miss. The Surefire ones are trash. The button press isn’t consistent and there can be dead spots on the pad. The Unity Tactical HotButtons are nice. The Taps series are okay, but are still lacking in tactile response. They have some high output light issues as well, or at least they did. I wouldn’t mind being able to grip farther forward on the rail too.

Agree with what blfuller said. I can’t tell if that’s the head of the bolt latch pin or not.

Still waiting on my batch to come back. Shipped In Order Received Shipped In Order Received 10/08/2021 08:42 pm BS Invoice Needed Invoice Needed... 10/16/2021 03:23 pm CP Deposit Needed Deposit Needed Before Work Can Begin... 10/16/2021 10:10 pm BW Part Count For NP3 / ... Part Count For NP3 / Metal Finish Needed... 10/25/2021 04:30 pm BW Prep For NP3 / Metal ... Prep For NP3 / Metal Finish Needed... 10/26/2021 09:03 pm BS PO For NP3 / Metal Finish PO For NP3 / Metal Finish Needed... 10/28/2021 11:33 pm BS NP3 / Metal Finish In... NP3 / Metal Finish In Process... 10/29/2021 05:22 am BW

I usually just get the GG&G as well. All the hard work is done and the pad is designed better than the TTI one. FFT also has one, but it is substantially more expensive than the GG&G. The FFT pad is a little nicer cosmetically.

Agreed, don't drill all the way thru. The trouble you'll have is trying to get the latch level in your drill press so that you can drill a hole perpendicular to the button's face. The latch has a weird shape which prevents you from on squaring it up. Once your hole is drilled, tapping it is pretty straight forward and easy to do. I'm not a huge fan of their pad since it rides a bit high off of the pad since they didn't countersink the pad to the button. There is nothing that prevents the button from twisting other than the tension of the screw.

Cut a hole in the pumpkin and fill the inside with liquid. They explode much better. More like a watermelon.

Interesting... Got plans for that chopped receiver?

This sucks. Beretta has screwed Ernest Landon around a bunch of times in the past. LTT was one of the first out there to really advance the Beretta 9x series to a competition/duty quality firearm. I have one of his Beretta 92G Elite II's from way back around 2003. Having been an armorer for the Beretta 9x series pistols, his work make the DA/SA manual of arms tolerable. I put tens of thousands of rounds thru this one before moving on to striker fired guns for duty use. Ernest hand fit the Bar-Sto 4.7" barrel into this one and did a carry bevel job knocking off all of the sharp edges. Spurless hammer installed, trigger work done. Novak night sights that still glow. CTC laser grips and an old school mercury filled guide rod to dampen perceived recoil. The frame was then coated in Teflon-S.

Wouldn't be terribly difficult to drill them with a drill press. I'll definitely review it when it comes in. I doubt I'd bother to replace an OEM 3 position tube with one of these 6 position extensions at the current price point, but it would be worth upgrading a M1014 if you need a functional extension anyway.

I got one of the 6 position extensions ordered today for someone's build. I'm interested to see how it compares to the OEM extensions. Interesting to hear it doesn't have the drainage holes. It isn't the end of the world. You can hold the receiver extension, compress some of the spring into the extension, grasp the spring with your thumb and pointer finger a little at a time until its compressed enough to insert the stock retainer screw. You'll want to push in like two inches of spring at a time so the spring doesn't get away from you. The holes should definitely be added by RMW.

I don't feel its necessary for the staking. It was probably some military requirement that wasn't actually needed from LPA. The pin's fit is tight, so there isn't much risk of it coming out on its own. If you use a brass hammer or punch, it should prevent you from marring the NP3 finish. It would be safe to say that removal of that pin is my least favorite part of tearing down an M4. Followed closely by the bolt extractor claw's pin.

That pin is a bitch, but it is possible to remove. Some are worse than others depending on how overzealous Benelli got when staking around the ends of the pin. Plan on busting punches and definitely wear eye protection since punches are quite energetic when they fragment under hammering. Another issue is the pin is such a small diameter that you can't really deliver a lot of hammer force to the pin without risking bending the punch. I did buy a set of short punches to get the pin moving. I've still broken these little punches fighting with that pin. I've broken tons of Starrett punches on that bastard. I usually use a 12 ounce brass hammer. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H407C1O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I've found the best way to drive it out is to clamp the rear sight housing into a padded vice on the sides of the housing. That way the pin is horizontal above the vice jaws and you can hammer on it going against the jaws. If you're hammering in a direction that will allow the housing to pivot in the jaws, you'll never get it out. Once the pin drifts a small amount, you can then switch to a longer punch to finish driving it out. Getting the pin back in is much easier than getting it out. It will still be retained tightly by the staking present on the housing, so the risk of it falling out is almost non-existent.

Personally I would leave that finish alone. Any refinishing attempt is going to ruin that engraving. It would wreck the gold inlay as well. Bead blasting that finish off is going to remove detail from the engraving work if not ruin it completely. Around 2015-2016, I had a factory engraved, nickel plated 1873 that was made around 1876. I had a letter generated from the Winchester museum in Cody Wyoming that documented that it was in fact engraved and plated by the factory. It had spent god knows how long in Europe before I exported it back to the US. The nickel finish was in rougher condition than what you have there. If you handled the surfaces, you'd have nickel flake off here and there. Even being as rough as it was, a collector still wanted it bad enough to pay around 15k for it. Had it been messed with or refinished at some point, the value would have tanked. The corrosion and wear has its own appeal for these type of rifles. I'd hate to see what appears to be actual hand engraving ruined in a refinishing attempt. Sometimes the engraving work is the cause of the contaminants. Imagine some guy with his greasy hands resting on the bare receiver for 6-10 hours as they etch the scenes. If those skin oils aren't flushed off of the surface correctly when the nickel finish is done, this cancer type scabbing might develop.

I do a lot of gunsmithing. I don't do any of my own stippling work. I guess I don't have the patience or opportunity to practice. I'd send them to Tango Industries. https://www.tangoarms.com/products/benelli-m4-stippling

There is also an older 2 position receiver extension. No idea where they originated from. I received some from Numrich arms back around 2012.

No problem. Thanks for letting me know.