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Benelli M4 -- Refinish Time!


StrangerDanger

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Thanks!

It's lighter than I had anticipated. It is nearly identical to my FDE color Surefire M600C Scout Light. It matches my FDE VCAS sling pretty close too. It's closer to FDE than I had expected. This should work out well, since my LMT MRP is being done, but it has FDE furniture on it.

 

This is being done in the same finish. Along with Nickel Boron internals:

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Thought these were interesting. The FDE Scout Light from Surefire is pretty similar to the Burnt Bronze. I prefer the Burnt Bronze since it covers over all the markings and has a dull matte finish.

 

The NSR is my favorite rail system out there. It's incredibly comfortable to hold. It should nice painted in Burnt Bronze with black plastic handguards.

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There are quite a few out there actually. They're easier to strip than steel if you're using a barrel nut with teeth on it. The NSR nut wouldn't suffer such a fate due to its design. Making one would not be fun. Tapping all those threaded holes would be a superbitch.

 

The stock nut weighs 3.1 ounces. An aluminum would be roughly 1.6 - 1.9 ounces. Not a huge benefit, but when you're chasing ounces, they add up to pounds.

 

I've been looking at buying a few Magnesium billet lowers lately. They have a lot of potential to scalp off 3 - 5 ounces depending on your current lower.

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I picked up a Mag Tactical Mag Alloy Lower, but I haven't done anything with it yet. There is a note on their webpage that says "MAG Tactical Systems is in the process of tooling up a Light Weight Upper and Forearm to go along with the GEN 4 Lowers. This will complete the Light Weight Set."

 

So I am kind of waiting to see what that looks like. At least the upper. We'll see.

 

Have to decide how to build it out as well to keep weight down. Might do a pencil barreled SBR in 300blk. Can't imagine how it could get much lighter and still retain the full ability of the round.

MAG Tactical Systems is in the process of tooling up a Light Weight Upper and Forearm to go along with the GEN 4 Lowers. This will complete the Light Weight Set.

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I hadn't heard about the rail. I'll be surprise if it is lighter than a NSR. I guess it depends on if they go with a quad rail or a tube design.

 

I was thinking about building a super light 22lr rifle. Something I can actually afford to shoot. Drop in one of those Taccom3g 14 ounce barrels. I'm avoiding it since I'm supposed to be saving cash for a house. :)

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Hopefully they stick to a standard upper specs. Not a big fan of the proprietary trigger/hammer pins on their lower.

 

I packed up another shipment for Controlled Chaos tonight. I didn't take a picture of how the handguards looked prior to boxing them up, but they look significantly better than the last offering. They should look good in Graphite Black with Burnt Bronze inlay in the recessed areas of the handguards.

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Hopefully they stick to a standard upper specs. Not a big fan of the proprietary trigger/hammer pins on their lower.

 

I packed up another shipment for Controlled Chaos tonight. I didn't take a picture of how the handguards looked prior to boxing them up, but they look significantly better than the last offering. They should look good in Graphite Black with Burnt Bronze inlay in the recessed areas of the handguards.

 

 

I think the pins are a necessary evil due to the material properties of the mag-alloy. But yes, non-standard is a huge disadvantage of the rig. Not a SHTF fan rig by any stretch.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Got word today from my painter that my parts are en route back. My customized Benelli M4 handguards are with this group of parts. Here is all the junk I sent them;

1. Aimpoint T1 on an Absolute Co-Witness Mount -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote. Leave the LaRue throw lever, windage/elevation and power knob black.

2. Aimpoint T1 on a 1/3 Mount -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote. Leave the LaRue throw lever, windage/elevation and power knob black.

3. LaRue Mount for an Aimpoint 3x Magnifier -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote. Leave the LaRue throw lever black.

4. Plastic Back plate for a Surefire X300 Ultra (Size of a postage stamp) x2 -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote.

5. Troy Industries Back Up Iron Sight Base (The sights have been fully disassembled, just the bottom will be sent) x4 -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote.

6. Troy Industries Back Up Iron Sight Fastener x2 -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote.

7. Benelli M4 Magazine Cap -- Coat in Graphite Black Cerakote.

8. Benelli M4 Handguards (2 pieces) -- Coat assembly in Graphite Black Cerakote inside and out to cosmetically repair the modifications done to the handguard. Then apply Burnt Bronze Cerakote inside the recessed vertical grip lines. Apply Burnt Bronze Cerakote to the visible portion of the permanently attached light mount.

9. Benelli M4 Handguard Retaining Ring -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote.

10. Benelli M4 Plastic Pistol Grip Core -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote.

11. Benelli M4 Collapsible Stock Cheek Rest -- Coat in Graphite Black Cerakote.

12. AR15 PWS Pistol Receiver Extension -- Coat in Burnt Bronze Cerakote. Spray everything except the inside.

 

I sent in all my Benelli M4 plastic parts to be painted so they will match in the end. I ended up having the plastic pistol grip core of the Benelli M4 painted Burnt Bronze. I think it'll look better than black. The handguards, magazine cap and cheek rest of the collapsible stock are being painted in Graphite Black.

 

I found a way to get the foam cheek rest off of my PWS Pistol buffer tube for my 9mm AR15 without destroying it. So I sent it in to get painted in Burnt Bronze. The two tone look should look cool with the black foam over the top of the Burnt Bronze.

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I sent the bottom portion of the Troy Back Up Iron Sights in to be painted in Burnt Bronze. The flip up portion was left black. The X300's have a plastic spacer that fill between the tail cap switches. I sent them in to be painted in Burnt Bronze for cosmetics.

 

Should get everything on Monday I guess.

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Can't wait to see the M4 once it's done, should be f'in sweet. Going to be so nice, I probably wouldn't want to shoot the damn thing.

 

Given everything I have been putting my m4 through though, I am probably going to have to have it coated before long too though.

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I can't friggin wait to get my big order back from WMD Guns. They're still sitting on 60 of my parts. The order is pretty complicated. I hope they don't screw anything up. I had ziplock bags marked A - Z with parts in them.

 

These weapons look awesome when they're worn and torn. I won't be safe queening these ones when they're done. From my experience, the Cerakote is extremely tough and doesn't scratch up easily.

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Sadly I haven't fired a single round through it yet. A week after finally giving up waiting on my bolt carrier to arrive from DDLES, it showed up. I had sent all the parts to WMD Guns. So I rushed the bolt to them so it could be coated as well.

 

The lower itself is beautiful, albeit a little heavy for a lower. The machining is excellent and the bolt hold open feature is pretty innovative to work with the Glock magazines. Taking it apart was a little tricky since you need extremely long drive punches to remove the roll pins that hold the magazine release and some of the other components.

 

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Someone told me that they had issues with their Super Dynamic 3 Gun trigger with a blow back 9mm design. Hopefully it was a fluke or something wrong with his assembly (he was using the Lone Wolf conversion.) I really hope this isn't an issue with mine since the SD3G can be fired extremely fast. Look up YouTube videos on this trigger. It'll make a Democrat cry.

 

The worst thing about DDLES is how popular they are. It's extremely hard to get one in a reasonable amount of time. Ancillary items like bolts and barrels are a real pain to get ahold of it. For my barrel, I was lucky to get ahold of a BCM 9mm chrome lined 10.5" barrel. I had ADCO profile it down to 0.625", removed the front sight shelf and cut the barrel down to 7.75". I then sent the barrel with the rest of my parts to WMD Guns to be coated in Nitromet.

 

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I think the weapon will look pretty cool and match my environment in Burnt Bronze. I have plans to color fill the markings in black lacquer for some added contrast.

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Thanks for the additional info and pictures. Look forward to a range report.

 

Yeah, billet lowers are going to be a bit heavier, but hey, the non-AR15 magwell looking half full makes up for it. ;)

 

I've got most of the upper here, waiting on a Green Mountain barrel to be cut to 6", then I should be able to assemble the upper. Holding out for a 7075 Colt magazine lower, but I'm beginning to wonder if it'll ever happen. Plan on adding a AAC Ti-rant that will recess into the rail/forearm and give me a fairly compact weapon.

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These weapons look awesome when they're worn and torn.

 

Agree 100%. They don't start to look really great until some of the finish wears off the high spots, get broken in.

 

Related anecdote: Was in a class last week and instructor mentioned about a student asking how he could "get his gun to be that color" - because the finish was very worn. Instructor replied with words I cannot repeat here because it was too colorful, but the main message was USE IT.

 

Looking forward to seeing these projects assembled.

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There is always the good ol' fashion driveway toss.

 

I hate it when I see my neighbor's jeep after he puts that horrible tire shine dressing on the wheels. The only time my truck gets washed is when it rains -- you can guess how often that is here in Arizona!

 

No.6: Sounds like you have a compact package in the works. I have a few billet lowers, the DDLES weighs more than them. Between the FCG area and the magwell, there is a significant amount of aluminum that wasn't machined out. The lower I have is only the 6061 billet, since I would probably still be waiting for a lower if I ordered their 7075. With that super lightweight barrel I made, the weight of the weapon centers around the magwell. Loaded package weight is still only around 5 - 5.5 lbs.

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