M1014 range report w/pics!!! **Update**

[jakjakman]

Wonder of wonders and joy of joys, it stopped snowing here in Happy Valley and actually warmed up a bit allowing me to try my new M1014 for the first time! One of my main goals for this first outing was to pattern my boomstick buckshot. I also wanted to shoot some slugs to get the feel for them and also find out about the poa and poi. And for good measure, I brought along some #8 target shot to help me feel the gun out. So here's the ammo I used:

 

-Federal Power-Shok 00 Buckshot, 9 pellet, 1325 fps

-Brenneke K.O. 1 oz slugs, 1600 fps

-Federal Target #8 shot, 3DRAM, 1 1/8 oz, 1200 fps

 

Setup: I did my shooting on the 50 yard range with the buckshot patterning done at 25 yards, a group of 5 slugs at 25 yards, and a group of 5 slugs at 50 yards. Below you can see the silhouette target on the 25 yard line to get a feel for the distance.

 

 

For the first target I was able to use a bg silhouette (the range didn't have any, but one of the guys had one in his personal stash that he traded me for a coke). I shouldered my shotty, pulled the trigger, and WHAMMO! The bg's down for the count. The M1014 shoots with a permanent modified choke (or so they tell me on the Benelli forum), and was able to place 7 out of 9 pellets in the com, with 4 of those in the 9 ring. In the picture below I colored in the holes with red so you can see the pattern better. For some reason one of the pellets missed altogether.

 

 

For the next two targets I didn’t have another bg silhouette, so I used the ol' bull's eye targets instead. Here it is from the bench to give you a perspective.

 

 

For some reason the patterns in these two targets seemed to hold a little bit better than with the first one. On both shots 3 of the pellets were within the black area and all pellets were accounted for. Here're the 2nd and 3rd patterns:

 

 

 

For the slug test I did my first round at 25 yards. The M1014 has a nice set of ghost sites which help put the slugs where they should be. The trigger on the M1014 is a bit heavy, probably somewhere 8 or 9 lbs (I'm really just comparing it to my P226, so I could be way off with the number, but is is heavier). The trigger also has a bit of creep before to it before it drops the hammer. Anyway, from 25 yards I threw up this group:

 

 

 

And as you can see I'm not the world's best slug chucker. But I sure had fun doing it! Then I moved the target stand down to 50 yards and tried it again:

 

 

So I'm thinking my shotty shoots a little high and to the right a bit. No prob, because the ghost sights are very easy to adjust. And I'll probably throw an optical site on it sometime anyway.

 

Overall I had a ton of fun. The gas operating system helps out with the recoil so my shoulder felt fine during the shoot and still feels fine. I wish I could say that the M1014 operated flawlessly with all types of ammo, but sadly that was not the case. I had the darndest time getting that thing to eat the target shot--it just didn't want to cycle it! For some reason the gas system wasn't pushing the bolt back hard enough so it would eject the shell, but it wouldn't feed the next one. In fact some of the time it wouldn't even eject the shell! Also on occasion the mag-tube failed to push the shell all the way out of the mag tube into the lower receiver causing a failure to load. *sigh* I'm sure these are just growing pains and everything will work out. I posted a more detailed description of the failures on this forum here.

 

[ 04-01-2006, 10:34 PM: Message edited by: jakjakman ]

[Red Cobra]

Excellent report jakjakman!

[M1014]

yes ,,what Red Cobra said,,thanks alot

[jakjakman]

*Update*

 

This morning I packed my M1014 in my trunk and headed into town to go shootin. Imagine my dismay when it started snowing! So after some homework and a late lunch the clouds split and the sun came out! I was able to go to the range after all.

 

After experiencing a series of load and eject failures last week I thoroughly cleaned and lubed my gun and removed the sidesaddle. I took off the sidesaddle because if it's put on too tight it can squeeze the receiver and hamper the bolt movement (I didn't install it btw). Anyway, after my mandatory 100 rounds with the 'ol P226 I headed over to the 50 yard range and put up a target on the 25 yard line. I filled the mag with the same Brenneke slugs I shot last week and proceeded to sight in my M1014 on the bench. The ghost sights are really easy to adjust--I used a dime and it worked just fine. Now it shoots about 1.5 inches high and dead center at 25 yards, so it should be just about right farther down range. I had no load/eject problems with the slugs. After the slugs I stood and delivered with the same 00 buckshot I shot last week as well. I just love shooting that stuff! It's like a canon, I love it! Anyway, again I had no load/eject problems with the buck. After the buck I shot a bunch of the same target loads from last week too. They all worked fine except for the second to last one--it ejected the shell but the bolt didn't travel back far enough to load the last shell. Then when I shot the last shell it ejected but failed to lock back the bolt.

 

So overall, much better than last week. I'm sure I just need to keep shooting for it to loosen up and break in. Oh, and yes--shooting a M1014 leaves a giant shiz-eating-grin on your face for the rest of the day!

[M1014]

thankyou very much for the excelllent update