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Benelli M4 -- Bolt Head Disassembly


StrangerDanger

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For years I heard you could not take this item apart because the extractor claw was held in place by a captive roll pin. Not true. I disassembled one this evening and it was pretty simple.

 

While the roll pin is partially captive, you can get to the end of the roll pin from an angle. If you roll the bolt over, you'll see a larger open pocket. If you shine a light down inside the bolt, you will see the partially shrouded end of the roll pin protruding. You will need a small roll pin punch to hit the top of the partially exposed roll pin. You have to be careful not to bend your punch. So light strikes are needed. You will only be able to drive the roll pin out far enough to remove the extractor claw and spring. Enough of the roll pin will be exposed to get a good grip on it with a pair of pliers to remove the pin completely if necessary.

 

You may be asking, "What purpose would I have to ever remove this?" For one, it'll get you access to the spring. Being able to replace the spring is a maintenance benefit. You'll also need to be able to remove these parts if you're doing a coating on the bolt (that's what I'm doing this time.)

 

I didn't find too much debris trapped beneath the bolt surprisingly. However, it had been cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner, so your mileage may vary.

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Never had so much misery trying to post a few photos........either this site or photo bucket!!! It must be photo bucket.......the "insert image" upload option on this site is awful, as it degrades the image to almost useless. I'll try again tomorrow.

 

All the M1 / M2 / M4 extractors are retained in a similar fashion and same tools used for the tasking.....I am certain somewhere there must be a special Italian factory tool part # to execute this task. This is the only way I know to get the job done without screwing up any parts or leaving an amateur trail.

 

Photos by permission: Benelli Anatomy Series of Manuals

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Edited by benelliwerkes
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  • 6 years later...

I've been having extraction problems using certain ammunition with my SDS TAC-12 clone... I just changed out the factory extractor and spring with a Benelli oem extractor and spring... there are subtle differences between the two, but I hope this solves my problem. 

20220523_073509.jpg

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3 hours ago, SolidBuilt said:

I've been having extraction problems using certain ammunition with my SDS TAC-12 clone... I just changed out the factory extractor and spring with a Benelli oem extractor and spring... there are subtle differences between the two, but I hope this solves my problem. 

20220523_073509.jpg

20220523_080009.jpg

Only thing bad about clones is they have soft bolts.We had abunch we sold in shop .Go back for a replacement.Just depends on round count..The Benelli extractor solves one of the problems 

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You have significantly more movement on that clone's claw than I've ever seen on an OEM Benelli claw. You can see where the claw is rotating in the channel and building that wear pattern. Hopefully the OEM parts fit tighter and prevent the movement you're seeing. It's possible this movement was causing your failures you've been experiencing.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/23/2022 at 11:38 AM, rubicon20032003 said:

Only thing bad about clones is they have soft bolts.We had abunch we sold in shop .Go back for a replacement.Just depends on round count..The Benelli extractor solves one of the problems 

What is a "soft bolt"? Since I've changed the extractor, the gun cycles great now. There's an oem bolt link I could buy and swap it out on my clone... would that add any additional benefit?

Screenshot_20220618-065353_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20220618-064722_Chrome.jpg

Edited by SolidBuilt
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On 5/23/2022 at 4:14 PM, StrangerDanger said:

You have significantly more movement on that clone's claw than I've ever seen on an OEM Benelli claw. You can see where the claw is rotating in the channel and building that wear pattern. Hopefully the OEM parts fit tighter and prevent the movement you're seeing. It's possible this movement was causing your failures you've been experiencing.

Hi there... the gun performs flawlessly now that I installed the oem benelli extractor... all this time/ all the things I adjusted/ money spent/ youtube videos watched/ ammo wasted trying to diagnose.... and, all I had to do was change out the extractor! Crazy. At first, I thought the magazine tube wasn't feeding correctly, so I changed that out; then I noticed deterioration with my O-rings on the pistons/ changed those out; disassembled the stock and installed a new recoil spring... cleaned it / lubed it countless times trying to figure out wtf the problem was... and after every "repair/mod" I'd take it to the range only to have the same issue... the shells would not fully exit the receiver.. I thought it was a gas / spring problem and never even considered the extractor (as it was a new gun)... but now, it shoots great! I was about to give up and sell it, but somehow I came across the extractor change out post.... what a life saver! 

Now, It's a very impressive shot gun. Maybe not as "pretty" as M4s, but I'm not entering it in a beauty contest... its for ugly people that enter my home... ?

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That’s awesome. Glad it’s working out. Keep an eye on it as you put more rounds down range and look for that weird wear pattern to show up on the Benelli extractor. If it starts getting bad and causing issues, it may be the bolt head itself is out of spec and allowing the claw to move around too much. 
 

At that point, I’d then see if a Benelli bolt head would fit in the clone. Unfortunately that won’t be a cheap part to purchase. 

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