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I think our "fearless titanium M4 parts leader" is at the vet for repairs/recuperating following his very humbling motor cross experience. He needs a little time to heal and hopefully doesn't do anything else suicidal. Kip, all the best and get well soon so you can machine beautiful M4 parts aplenty for USMC & all else. Carey

The current factory Benelli Performance Shop SBEII turkey shotgun comes with a ported barrel & a Rob Roberts Final Strut non-ported 0.640" choke tube. The one I have was shipped with a test pattern of 98.4% @40yds. with the recommended Federal Premium Heavy Weight FLITECONTROL 3 1/2" 1 7/8 oz. #7. The LE FLITECONTROL 00 buckshot loads also work very well but with the RR recommended 0.695" T3 choke tube.

The factory Benelli M4 SBS sold in the U.S. does not comply with 922®. And BATFE has approved them for sale here in the U.S. as NFA weapons in both collapsible and fixed stock models.

Surefire 617LM 200 lumen; works great and far cheaper than trip to the ER (or worse). Bears don't like it; bad actors don't even count when they are illuminated. The upper 1/3 of the lighted field is what you get at night if you pull the trigger. 617LM has been very bright and easy on batteries but look for what works for you. Cheers! Carey

F18 Heavy WSO, I am in very much the same boat: new M2 Tactical, broke in with a couple hundred rounds of 2 3/4" & 3" leftovers, replaced the forend and magazine follower with U.S. parts for 922® compliance, added factory extension, added the steel DMW bolt handle, replaced OEM recoil pad with LIMBSAVER, and it is just not reliable with low recoil LE132 00 loads. The full power LE127 00 FliteControl load and the WCC/Winchester military grade 00 work 100%, no issues. I need to put both on paper but am expecting the LE127 00 FliteControl load to be the clear winner. LMK how you make out with your tests & I will do the same. Carey

Relax, you are doing fine. If you have already removed the firing pin retainer pin & the firing pin with spring, the locking head pin (cam pin) should be free to be removed. Turn the bolt upside down and cycle the chrome locking head in & out of the bolt a few times to loosen up the pin. The pin should drop out as do this.

This is my second Surefire weapons forend; the other one is an M500A 225 lumen weapons forend on an M16A2 carbine which has performed flawlessly for almost 10 years now. I would not have a weapons forend light that was not tight/quiet and VERY bright. The 200 lumen 617LM will light up your target extremely well at 50yds PLUS; more like 100yds. Bad actors, both 2 legged & 4 legged, will look like they are on a Broadway stage. But I did have to add a 0.025" SS shim to help the 617LM forend fit completely tight & keep it absolutely motionless/noiseless. Surefire should furnish a few 0.010" shims in addition to the 0.060 wave washer supplied with their 617LM weapon's forearm kit to help fit individual Benelli M1/M2 shotguns. JMO

You are referring to the forearm washers, correct? There should be (1) wave (spring) washer sandwiched in between (1 or 2) flat washers in your OEM Benelli M1 forearm retained by the outer forearm ring. Surefire supplies a wave washer with instructions to use it in back of the front forearm bushing of the 617LM forearm when used on the M1 only. The OEM forearms washers of both types I have measured & the one supplied by Surefire are all the same thickness at 0.060".

The Surefire 617LM on an M1/M2/SBE/SBE II does very nicely for my purposes of HD/Bear Defense when a weapons light is needed.

Thanks KB! Very nice indeed!

All you guys bragging about how good Kip's Gen II hybrid charging handle looks on your M4 are lame unless you share pictures with us.

I have owned/hunted with 28", 26", & 24" SBE/SBE II shotguns. The first SBE I picked up in 1990-1991 had a 28" barrel with wood furniture because that was all they offered. The wood butt stock shattered from the repeated recoil of the 3.5" loads so HK/Benelli replaced the furniture with the then-new synthetic. The 28" SBE with an extended turkey choke installed was a bit on the long side. A few months later, HK/Benelli offered a 26" SBE with synthetic furniture. So I picked out a new 26" SBE for myself and gave the 28" SBE to one of the other hunters in the group. Both 28" and 26" SBEs patterned well right out of the box and killed geese better than any other 12ga. we tried out (almost as well as the Ithaca/Browning/Remington 10ga. shotguns we had available). I picked up a 24" SBE II for a dedicated turkey gun a couple months back but will keep the 26" SBE for ducks. Both 26" & 24" barrels have been ported & had their force cones lengthened/polished by Briley & Rob Roberts respectively. Both barrels pattern in the low to high 90s %@40yds. with the 24" SBE II patterning 98.4%@40yds. with the Federal FliteControl Heavyweight #7 turkey load. IMO, the 24" SBE/SBE II is by far the best barrel length for a turkey gun with the 26" SBE/SBE II being the best for an all-around shotgun. Best of luck!

Hi Kip, Any updates on arrival of the dark finish PVD GEN II Charging Handles? Thanks, Carey

Limbsaver has not yet produced a direct replacement recoil pad for the M2 Tactical/SBEII SteadyGrip stock with the plug-type recoil pad. And several people have been complaining that Benelli's plug-type recoil pads have come off/been lost while they were in the field. One hunter I know has lost his twice in the past year. I wanted a more solid mounting design. So I fitted an aluminum plate to go in front of the stock's internal plug-type recoil pad mount, threaded it, and screwed on the Limbsaver 10112 recoil pad used on the M1 Tactical/SBE SteadyGrip stock with a screw-on recoil pad. The Limbsaver pad is a very nice upgrade especially for using magnum loads or extended shooting sessions.

Shooter fatique from sheer volume, firing at unusual angles, and spending half the night shooting rabbits/coyotes/Cascavel rattlesnakes all took their toll on technique. A couple of days of that is fun but it flat wears you down quickly after that. I fired 500 rounds of assorted 2 3/4", 3", & 3.5" loads on Thursday to break in an M2 & an SBEII. That pounding motivated me to work out the details on replacing the Benelli OEM hard rubber recoil pads on the M2 & SBEII with Limbsavers this morning.

The Remingtons did not do well at all; lots of MTX. I was the armorer for the hunting group. Remington had an ammunition plant in Mexico but they used an extremely dirty burning powder in their 12ga. shells; a flake powder that looked like Unique. After a full day's shooting, you could literally dump the unburned powder out of the 1100 breach. Benellis ate the Mexican ammo with ease. The 2 guys that did go to Argentina gave their Rem 1100 410s to their guides as "presents" when they left. But after a week of shooting, they were literally shot out/shot loose. Hunting Mexico convinced me of the reliability of the Benelli M1/SBE. The first year we hunted Mexico, only one guy had a Benelli M1; I was using a 1958 Rem model 1100 that broke on me several times a day. A few years later, everyone was using M1s or the newly released SBE. I am still using my 1991 SBE today. An interesting note: the bird boys pictured were guaranteed $1 per day each (about 1993). Today, I don't dare go down to old Mexico to hunt; much too dangerous now.

After shooting 3 cases of 12ga. shotshells per day for 5 days, you would definately notice the difference in recoil level of the intertia driven Benellis and the gas operated Remingtons. My cheek would be bleeding after 3-4 days of shooting Benellis. Here is a pic of one day's shooting at Lake Guererro: 1200+ birds. My group had a Calcutta bet going on the most birds shot this day. Problem was some of the bird boys pictured would eat the birds raw so I had to get them some sandwiches to get them to quit eating my birds.

Much the same as mudhen with "BA" PROOF code 1991 SBEs but with south-of-the-border Remington "Hecho in Mexico" super dirty burning lead shotshells. Some of the early M1s we used in Mexico will have well over that round count: easily 50K plus. Benelli M1s/SBEs took a licking and kept on ticking. Remington 1100s & 1187s fell by the wayside but to their credit did not recoil nearly as much as the inertia Benellis.

I fitted a premium Pachmayr pad to hunting buddy's 3.5" 10ga. BPS many years ago before we all bought SBEs. I fired his BPS before and after with 2.25oz. lead loads & the Pachmayr pad helped substantially. Look into a modern high-efficiency recoil pad such as the Limbsaver for your BPS. Measure your stock and see which Limbsaver comes closest to what is available: http://www.limbsaver.com/2010/pdfs/templates/LS_templates.pdf

Beautiful hooks! I leave Sunday for Mississippi to chase Easterns.

2340, Your furniture looks very nice. Brownells offers the Benelli OEM factory barrel/mag tube support bracket assembly: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=15640/pid=6509/Product/60802_BBL_MAG_TUBE_SUPPT_BRCKT_ASSBLY. There is also a TACSTAR aftermarket clamp that has a built-in sling swivel stud: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=41683/Product/BARREL_MAGAZINE_CLAMP. As to 922r, some of the non-pistol grip Benelli M1s such as the Practical and certain other models did come from the factory with the OEM extension tubes. If you have the factory box showing that your M1 was in fact imported in that congifuration, I would ask BATFE to give you their opinion IN WRITING. If you don't have the box as proof & a letter/email from BATFE, I would play in safe and simply comply with 922r.

Check the date on your M1 as the early ones pre-date 922r import restrictions. To the best of my limited knowledge, 1989 "AU" & prior PROOF codes are normally exempt from 922r import restrictions. A 1990 "AZ" PROOF code with documentation such as a bill of sale that it entered the U.S. prior to November 30, 1990 is also normally exempt. By "normally", I mean a shotgun which was produced by Benelli and directly imported by HK/Benelli into the U.S. But if required, 922r compliance with a Benelli M1/M2 is very easy; much easier than the Benelli M4 but I do own both M2 & M4 as well as other model Benelli shotguns. The Benelli M4 has its application as does the Benelli tactical M1/M2. The factory original Benelli extension tube is vintage '91 and has been verified to fit the M1/M2/SBE/SBEII (probably the M3 but I do not have one to try it on). Surefire USA made 200 lumen 617LM M1/M2 forend and USA made magazine follower= 922r compliance on a Benelli M1/M2. I needed a weapon's light for a Home Defense/Bear Defense in Alaska shotgun anyway and the USA made magazine follower is about $20. If you require a red magazine follower for range safety, Brownells offers red anodized USA made followers for both 3" & 3.5" Benelli shotguns: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=20384/Product/SHOTGUN_FOLLOWERS. This rig is simple, fairly light, extremely well balanced, very functional, & 922r compliant. I added a Dave's steel enlarged bolt handle but am still waiting on a very interesting design extended bolt release. When finished, I would think this M2 to be about the ultimate HD/BD weapon for my particular uses. I am a firm believer in the KISS principle: fuction before beauty. I can greet bad guy(s) at the door with a select-fire COLT M16/M4 loaded with MK 262 MOD 1 ammunition but a Benelli M1/M2 with a weapons light loaded with Federal Flitecontrol 00 Buckshot is better suited to the task IMO. Bears rate as many Black Magic slugs as I can put into them to end a DLP encounter but I very much hope I never have to go there. I have no problem saying I fear big bears and will never hunt them unless they harm someone. One of my co-workers has been required to face a brown bear charge at close quarters and survived it to help educate other outdoorsmen including myself: HTH, Brownells USA made 3", OEM M2, OEM M4

1953 U.S. M38A1. I did the frame-off restoration with upgrades myself back in the '70s. With its 5:38 gearing in 4WD/low range, it was capable of climbing up tree trunks. Lots of fun!

The earliest SBE's had wood stocks which tended to crack after being subjected to the repeated pounding of 3.5" loads, especially the 2.25oz. lead turkey loads. The original wood stock on my '91 SBE cracked while laying on the ground shooting straight up at geese in Wharton, Texas during the first year of use. To their credit, HK/Benelli replaced the original wood stock/forearm of my early SBE with the then-new platic stock/forearm at no charge. The early SBE barrels/sights were also not regulated correctly and did not pattern to POA (point-of-aim). I bought (5) of the first SBEs available in 1991 for my hunting group. We used them as all-around shotguns starting the hunting season off with a week of white-wing shooting in old Mexico followed by dozens of combination duck/goose hunts every year. My SBE has fired in excess of 100 cases of the dirty-burning Mexican-made Remington shotshells yet shows very little wear. At the end of the day after shooting a case in the morning and a case in the afternoon, you could literally dump unburned flake powder which looked like Unique out of the breech of your shotgun. The SBE shotguns gave us no trouble once the wood stocks were replaced with plastic. I just bought an SBEII turkey gun after having used the original SBE for 20 years hunting whitetail, rattle snakes, beavers, squirrels, rabbits, doves, ducks, geese, turkeys, bobcats, coyotes, etc. All SBEs/SBEIIs I have dealt with have been great shotguns. Early first-generation 1991 model HK/Benelli 3 1/2" 12ga. SBE with wood stock/forearm 20 years ago with 19lb. gobbler/9" beard dropped dead-as-a-stone @50yds. in Port Gibson, MS. I have filled my freezer year-in/year-out since 1991 with game killed with this shotgun: