ShellNewbie

My other M4 bolt face is clean with no rough edges. This newer one has tons of circles and chipping edges that is leaving material in the shotgun. I’m not happy about it. I am running it at an event next week and really curious how it’s going to look - if it’s worse I’m going back to Benelli.

Benelli is likely to tell you it’s normal. I recently asked about a Benelli bolt which looks much rougher and was told it’s due to a “new green nickel coating” and “the flakes of metal from the locking head is normal”. Funny thing is I can find no reference to this “new coating”. Honestly the general quality is disappointing compared to my other Benelli. But I say reach out and see what they say. Maybe a bunch of people asking about it will cause them to improve it or at least share what it is.

Recently got a chance to compare a standard 11703 field stock M4 to a 11715 c-stock M4. Both were produced in 2024 based on the dates on the receivers/barrels and completely stock. I was surprised to notice a pretty big difference in finishes. The 11715 had a black/blue-ish receiver that was common for a while but really nice gray parkerizing. Additionally the barrel extension that goes into the receiver was typical silver chrome. The 11703 had a jet black receiver but green parkerizing. I’ve seen this before on older 1911s but never an M4. Also the barrel extension was more gold than silver. The difference between the gold extension and silver chrome in the bore was pretty stark. Has anyone else seen differences in M4s between “civilian” and “LEO” models or the gold barrel extensions?

Finally got to take my M4 to an event this weekend. Ran 7.5 and 00 buck without any issues. Only question is the bolt is impacting the rear of the receiver enough to leave marks you can catch a pick or finger nail on. Is this normal?

Mine came together as well. Thought it was odd and a little irritating since the front sight nearly broke through the box. Edit: The brown boxes are typically used for LE/MIL sales and the white for civi sales.

That would be awesome! I believe the M4 represents the single most expensive firearm many have and being able to “reference” what’s normal wear would answer many common questions.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I saw an older post somewhere that apparently showed an M4 with 11k rounds down the pipe as an example of normal wear points but sadly the photo links were all dead.

Appreciate the help. The only other spot with any wear is slight rubbing on the “rails” opposite of the ejection port where the carrier would ride. I assumed this was normal was well.

I was looking at a very lightly used M4 locally. It appears almost NIB. Field stripped it and noticed some slight marks in the rear of the receiver. It looks like it was most likely from the bolt carrier as I am not sure what else it would be. Does the carrier typically impact the rear of the receiver or is this indicative of another issue? The wear was very minor and I could not "catch" the edge of the wear.

The choke type should be marked on the barrel near the chamber. Three stars represent modified. If it is not fixed, you should be able to see the removable choke at the muzzle end of the barrel. Instead of stars there should be notches representing which choke is installed. Are you seeing a better deal for the 14” barrel than the $950 most places have it listed for?

Noticed the new 11715 has a fixed choke barrel in addition to the new GEN 2 controls. Does anyone know if this some one-off mistake or an overall change to SKU? Barrel serial numbers matched box so I’m leaning towards some broader change.

Does your M4 have a removable choke? I recently saw a 11715 with the new controls and thought of picking it up but it has the fixed modified choke which I’d rather not have since I will be using slugs.