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Project Benelli


Unobtanium

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I've owned several Benelli's over the years, and I sold them randomly as they didn't TRULY offer me what I was after. I wanted to be able to use an electronic sight on them (RDS), and I wanted to be able to do so naturally. Mounting the sight on the rail made the cheek-weld into a chin-weld. It was pretty much a non-starter except as a bungled "add on". Not a sleek, effective, muscle-memory inducing thing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The second and more important thing I demand on ALL my firearms, is a LIGHT. The light needs to be permanently attached (not non-removable, but rather, not necessary to remove...ever), and to not impede either the cleaning, or the function, of the firearm in any way. Mag-tube light mounts were a no-go obviously. Barrel mount light mounts are a terrible idea on any weapon. Much less the thin-walled barrel of an M4. Then AVA tactical came out with their first generation mounts, and I was ecstatic. Early adopter. Well, it touched the barrel, and I was not a fan. This has since been remedied in the Gen 2 mounts, and while I love AVA tactical, I have gone with the IWC mount. I always maintained that the barrel hanger was the end-all, be-all of a place to mount a WML on this shotgun, and IWC nailed it. AVA is a great company and makes a great product, that's just my personal choice. What I ended up with. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Until the latest AVA and IWC offerings, the Benelli M4 always struck me as a "super fun toy". I don't take it serious for home defense unless I can use it at night. So here I am, buying another Benelli M4, and outfitting it the way I always wanted to. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carriercomp Ti tube -Benelli METAL trigger group (sadly, not offered on OEM guns anymore, I had to buy mine from Numrich -Benelli USMC issue barrel (fixed MOD choke, current production with latest barrel extension) -IWC Scout mount and 300 lumen Mini-scout -HSP sling -Scalarworks T2 mount and T2 (when released) This will give me a weapon that is LIGHTER than an OEM out of the box Benelli M4, yet has a weapon-light AND a combat proven optic, allows use of irons if the RDS goes down, and is not cludgy (Surefire fore-end...) or non-ergonomic. I have decided to leave the bolt-handle, and shell-stop release as OEM. Why? Because Benelli did a TON of testing regarding those components, and we know for a fact how the gun runs with the OEM gear. I'm not going to go mucking with it unless/until Kip drops the Ti/A2 handles again, if he does, and only those because they are almost identical in weight to OEM...but even those are more likely to be removed accidentally from the BCG than the OEM bolt-charging handle... Anyway, here is where my project stacks up so far... More on the way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SERIOUSLY!? There is no way to space these paragraphs!?

Edited by Unobtanium
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I've owned several Benelli's over the years, and I sold them randomly as they didn't TRULY offer me what I was after. I wanted to be able to use an electronic sight on them (RDS), and I wanted to be able to do so naturally. Mounting the sight on the rail made the cheek-weld into a chin-weld. It was pretty much a non-starter except as a bungled "add on". Not a sleek, effective, muscle-memory inducing thing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The second and more important thing I demand on ALL my firearms, is a LIGHT. The light needs to be permanently attached (not non-removable, but rather, not necessary to remove...ever), and to not impede either the cleaning, or the function, of the firearm in any way. Mag-tube light mounts were a no-go obviously. Barrel mount light mounts are a terrible idea on any weapon. Much less the thin-walled barrel of an M4. Then AVA tactical came out with their first generation mounts, and I was ecstatic. Early adopter. Well, it touched the barrel, and I was not a fan. This has since been remedied in the Gen 2 mounts, and while I love AVA tactical, I have gone with the IWC mount. I always maintained that the barrel hanger was the end-all, be-all of a place to mount a WML on this shotgun, and IWC nailed it. AVA is a great company and makes a great product, that's just my personal choice. What I ended up with. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Until the latest AVA and IWC offerings, the Benelli M4 always struck me as a "super fun toy". I don't take it serious for home defense unless I can use it at night. So here I am, buying another Benelli M4, and outfitting it the way I always wanted to. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carriercomp Ti tube -Benelli METAL trigger group (sadly, not offered on OEM guns anymore, I had to buy mine from Numrich -Benelli USMC issue barrel (fixed MOD choke, current production with latest barrel extension) -IWC Scout mount and 300 lumen Mini-scout -HSP sling -Scalarworks T2 mount and T2 (when released) This will give me a weapon that is LIGHTER than an OEM out of the box Benelli M4, yet has a weapon-light AND a combat proven optic, allows use of irons if the RDS goes down, and is not cludgy (Surefire fore-end...) or non-ergonomic. I have decided to leave the bolt-handle, and shell-stop release as OEM. Why? Because Benelli did a TON of testing regarding those components, and we know for a fact how the gun runs with the OEM gear. I'm not going to go mucking with it unless/until Kip drops the Ti/A2 handles again, if he does, and only those because they are almost identical in weight to OEM...but even those are more likely to be removed accidentally from the BCG than the OEM bolt-charging handle... Anyway, here is where my project stacks up so far... More on the way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SERIOUSLY!? There is no way to space these paragraphs!?

 

great write up,a lot of good application tips to consider plus some warning tips,,thanks man

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Can you shed a little more light where I could find that metal trigger guard?

 

Numrich Arms gets them in occasionally. When I buy them, I call and ask to make sure they're aluminum and not polymer.

 

Looks like s great build. I struggled with many of the same issues until aftermarket solutions were developed. What stock are you using?

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Numrich Arms gets them in occasionally. When I buy them, I call and ask to make sure they're aluminum and not polymer.

 

Looks like s great build. I struggled with many of the same issues until aftermarket solutions were developed. What stock are you using?

 

I'm likely going to use the OEM PG stock. The C-stock would just add moving parts, not save size or weight, considering the plane of the sights/optic, etc. The field stock, I personally just am not a fan of.

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I tried to like the field stock as well. It did nothing for me. I usually elect for the collapsible stock to get the shorter LOp and the slightly higher sight picture when using optics. If I were using strictly the iron sights, this would do nothing for me and actually provide a poor cheek weld.

 

The new scalar works mount and t2 would likely make for a worse cheek weld (smashing your face) on the c stock mid setting. It allegedly allows lower 1/3 cw with irons. Like I said before, this and the IWC light mount are what got me back into the m4 game. It's now fully viable with good form factor and durability and reliability of necessary accessories.

 

Further, I got the LPA ghost ring that has no dots. It's a ring only. No wings or dots. Lollypop with a tunnel. Why? Because my eyes are trained to line up dots from decades of shooting pistols. The benefits m4 sights are not aimed in this way. So I'll stick with what most mirrors the m4 5.56 carbine: ghost ring and fsp. Just another little detail.

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Further, I got the LPA ghost ring that has no dots. It's a ring only. No wings or dots. Lollypop with a tunnel. Why? Because my eyes are trained to line up dots from decades of shooting pistols. The benefits m4 sights are not aimed in this way. So I'll stick with what most mirrors the m4 5.56 carbine: ghost ring and fsp. Just another little detail.

 

I didn't know they made such a thing, where did you get it?

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Can I see a picture? Never heard of a LPA ghost ring without the silly wings before
Sure. Instead of the "mickey mouse ears" dot alignment, you just shoot it like a normal ghost ring with no distractions or off-axis visual cues. FSP in the center of the ring on the target bang! sdoj9s.jpg *Sorry for the fuzz, the OEM sight was living on the floor. Ironically, I was inspired by Battlefield 4. The M1014 in that game does not have the wings, either... You can actually set the darn thing up exactly like a real M1014, RDS, light, 8 shots, (won't ghost load, lol). Kindof like having a model car of your real car!
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I can't stand too much in the much of clutter in my sight picture, anything more than something like a Garand or M14 style rear sight and I do not want.

 

Anyways apparently Benelli did offer a wingless ghost ring at one time, I doubt it fits on any of their more recent guns though.

 

http://www.brownells.com/shotgun-parts/sights/sight-parts/rear-sight-parts/sight-assembly-pre-1997-ghost-ring-sku301000167-6312-15439.aspx

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Anyways apparently Benelli did offer a wingless ghost ring at one time, I doubt it fits on any of their more recent guns though.

 

http://www.brownells.com/shotgun-parts/sights/sight-parts/rear-sight-parts/sight-assembly-pre-1997-ghost-ring-sku301000167-6312-15439.aspx

 

That sight was never a stand-alone sight. It was always paired with the protective wings. They were just a separate piece rather than an integral part of the base.

 

Benelli%20GRS-1_zpszfljymjh.jpg~original

 

Benelli%20GRS-2_zpsuq4nqmlg.jpg~original

Edited by truckcop
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