Benelli M4 -- Plastic Trigger Group?

[StrangerDanger]

All,

I just received a M4 in the mail to work on and found that it had a plastic trigger guard housing instead of the aluminum ones. This was on a 11715 model too. The plastic mold markings indicate it was produced around March of 2015.

 

Kind of a disappointing production change.

[Steve Rose]

I know it looks “cheap” but if it is made from the right type of plastic/polymer it may actually be tougher than the metal part (bend instead of break). As you know, the 870 went through this change some time back too,

[Unobtanium]

I spoke to this a long time ago.

 

-The military wanted metal. It got metal.

-Remington's 870 went polymer, and the consensus among serious users, is that it's better.

 

Half dozen one or the other, but I prefer metal. I view this as a cost-cutter and not a performance enhancer, for Benelli.

[truckcop]

Dang. Any day now they'll be making handgun frames out of plastic. The apocalypse is near!!

[Unobtanium]

Dang. Any day now they'll be making handgun frames out of plastic. The apocalypse is near!!

 

The issue for me is that the trigger guard adds rigidity to the receiver in case of impacts (say, being slammed into a door frame by a soldier in full body armor while the weapon is slung). Polymer sill survive just as well as metal, but it will flex, not doing the job of reinforcing the lower half of the receiver nearly as well as metal.

[StrangerDanger]

In some places, I like polymer better than metal. Example, older metal magazine followers aren't as smooth as the newer polymer ones. Even the polymer guide rod in the Beretta 9x series pistols is an upgrade over the older metal model. We will see how the polymer housing performs on the Benelli M4. The hammer puts quite a bit of stress on the trigger pack during cycling.

 

The cast aluminum housings had issues as well. There were always a lot of cosmetic defects and flashing remaining. Most have pitting marks throughout the frame. On ones I send out for refinishing, I clean up the flashing with a file first.