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Updated FFT Forend review


TKTM

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This is an update to my previous review of the Freedom Fighter Tactical 922r forearm for the Benelli M4 found at this link http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25750

 

The number one issue I would watch for with the FFT forearm is its overall length preventing proper seating of the barrel into the receiver.

 

The number two issue is squeaking of the forearm haves related to a sloppy tongue and groove joint, which is supposed to lock the two forend haves together but doesn't.

 

The number three issue is warping of the forend halves resulting in installation difficulties.

 

Basically, all the issues I have noted are related to the dimensionality of the FFT forend. The first two issues can be overcome by trimming the forend's overall length, and either bedding the tongue in the groove or using a heat gun to modify the shape of the groove. The third issue varies, some forarms have it worse than others. Apparently, the ideal state is forearm with enough warpage between the halves to bind up the slop in the tongue and groove joint, but not so much as to make installation difficult.

 

The forearms I received had a good amount of squeak and only a mild amount of warpage. Their overall length was slightly long, but useable. I was able to reduce the tongue and groove play by heating the inside of the forearm with a heat gun and reducing the width of the groove. The result is a quiet and sturdy fitting forearm with a just a small offset (perpendicular) between the forearm halves. Because of the offset, I believe that the best do-it-yourself solution to resolve the squeak is to bed the forearm haves together using epoxy. The true solution would be for FFT to increase the width of the tongue on the forearms to match the factory forearm. (I suspect this would cause them to have to scrap forearms that have significant warpage)

 

To sum it up, the FFT forearms are NOT up to the fit quality of the factory Benelli forearms. However, with some do-it-yourself fitting they do feel sturdy on the gun. With a few improvements, FFT probably could either match or surpass the fit,feel, and functionality of the factory forend.

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I'd say that about sums it up, I had to grind a bit off the length of mine to get the barrel to seat fully, even with a lot of pressure. Mine squeaked as well, though in "normal" use I don't think it's a huge deal and functionally it would have been fine.

 

I bedded the tongue and grooving using devcon plastic steel epoxy and it's so far been solid and quiet now, but only time will tell how it holds up over hard long term use.

 

Honestly I really appreciate FFT's effort on this product to get us some US made parts, because very few if any companies are interested in doing so. That said, I think with some other options for US made parts coming down the road from carriercomp it's popular days might be limited. As my M4 is setup currently I don't need to run the forearm to be 922r compliant so unless you NEED the part to be 922r compliant I'd rather run the OEM forearm. For those that need it $50 is CHEAP to be compliant and right now there's just not many US parts options.

 

It's also their first attempt at this, so I have no problem cutting them some slack, molding things just right is never easy and especially when you are dealing with parts that fit in this way. It's not like it's an 870 forearm where a little extra length or size here and there is no big deal, if this one isn't exactly right it shows up. When you jump on a new product bandwagon you have to expect that there may be some issues, which is why if you don't want to deal with it, you wait until the product has been out for 6-12 months.

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