Jolly Roger Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Hello everybody, thank you all for such a wonderful forum filled with great information and helpful Benelli owners! Ive owned my Benelli M3 now for over 15 years now and love it. For the last five or so Ive been contemplating the purchase of an M4 to see if Ive been missing out on anything. Ive had FTF with my M3 over the years, it surly doesn't like low-brass and I cant help but think its all because of the inertia operated platform. Money is tight but Ive always been a "eggs in one basket" type of guy, meaning Id rather own one very good product rather than a bunch of so-so or average products. So I study and save for the best. A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and purchased a brand new Benelli M4 H2O (11795). I had told myself that if I were to buy one; it would be one of the more water proof/friendly offerings. I wouldn't kick myself this time over NOT spending a little more for this feature. Besides, if your spending this kinda money on a shotgun you might as well buy the undercoating right? I don't really care for the look of the silver tone H2O, Im a black/grey gun fan. But I figured that if Im gaining unparalleled weatherproofing Id compromise. So by now most of you have figured out why Im "bummed out"....somehow the studying I had done failed to interject the fact that the new H2O models are not NP3 treated like I thought but simply Ceracoated in a silver NP3 color. Its almost misleading. Sure, the Ceracoat may add a little extra protection but I can think of plenty of colors Id rather have had it Ceracoated in. How does Ceracoat compare to NP3? First world problems...whining about the color of your new $2000.00 shotgun. Also, when did they start making the Trigger guards out of used milk jugs? Where can I buy a metal one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 (edited) Welcome to the world of the best semi-auto combat shotgun in existence! Can't give you the pros and cons of Cerakote Vs NP3 except that I know the former is a ceramic based coating and the latter is nickel based. Generally speaking, I think that the NP3 is a more premium product. Both are supposed to provide an enhancement of "lubricity" to the weapons moving parts and are a corrosion protection. I think Benelli is going cheaper these days with the Cerakote and polymer trigger housings, just my opinion on why the changes. ROBAR NP3 is expensive. StrangerDanger made a post where in his experience, the NP3 guns operated with a superior smoothness compared to the standard parkerized M4. As for acquiring a metal trigger housing, you probably have already seen the thread here "Paper or plastic" and if not, go to it and it will tell you where to get one. I replaced my OEM cast aluminum one in my gun just because the A&S housing is much nicer, finely machined, from billet aluminum, trigger housing than the somewhat rough casting OEM. When installing the parts in it, I noticed that the pretty sloppy "hammer wobble" I had with the OEM casting, practically disappeared in the A&S housing. It's a very nice upgrade. Welcome and enjoy the new M4! Edited October 25, 2017 by Evolution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangerDanger Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 I agree with you OP that the marketing is a little deceptive from Benelli. I've encountered several buyers who thought the H2O model they were buying was an NP3 plated unit. Sadly that isn't the case with the newer production units. Cerakote may give you another layer of protection over the phosphate surface and anodized aluminum, but it isn't really completely painted to cover every part of the weapon. Example, the inside of the receiver is left anodized only. There is also none of the lubrication properties that NP3 has. I just sent a client's M4 that was this faux finish today to Robar. One would argue that having the plating done yourself is superior since you can use the better NP3+ finish. You can also have your accessories and OEM parts plated that were skipped by Benelli. Example, we ditched the plastic trigger guard frame for an A&S billet unit. This will be coated to match the finish. Things like plating the rear sight housing, and the aluminum body of the collapsible stock will be an improvement over what Benelli originally released. Getting all your accessories done is also nice to go with that finished look theme. The negative like Evolution stated is the finish is expensive. Clients typically see a 900 dollar bill by the time everything has been chemically stripped, plated and reshipped. It also takes forever. 3-4 month wait times are typical. The H2O series were typically more expensive when they were first released because of the plating cost. This is where some market deception took place in my opinion. My personal work in progress model. Started out as a black unit. Waiting on its carriercomp tube, Scalarworks sync rail, Ava Tactical Mount, Light components, DMW safety and A&S trigger frame to come back for plating. Then I need to buy a Nickel Boron plated Trijicon RM01 Gen 2 for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Roger Posted October 25, 2017 Author Share Posted October 25, 2017 Thanks guys for the warm welcome, I appreciate it. You guys have confirmed what I highly suspected. NP3 being a far more superior product and justification to my displeasure in finding out in my post-purchase scenario. Ive ordered an A&S trigger housing in black and from what I understand there due to ship this week. The Scalarworks sync rail is currently out of stock, the replenishment order was due on the 23rd but has been now pushed to the 27th because of a messed up batch of hardware. New hardware is now in rout from Nylok. Got the new tube on and the RMR in front of me but for now she sits....waiting.... Beautiful gun you got there SD! I look forward to hanging out and soaking in as much as I can from you all. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Hey, if you are partial to the OEM M4 hand guards, but would like a really nice upgrade, send them to Tango Arms for stippling. Or if you want to keep the originals, you can purchase a set of new OEM's that they have stippled. They do a super clean job. Not cheap but, as you're finding out, no quality aftermarket parts are for this gun. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangerDanger Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Thanks. This one came from a buddy who passed away a few years ago. I've been slowly fixing it up with aftermarket and plating. A&S ships fast. You'll have it in a few days. If you run in to any issues swapping parts over from the OEM pack to the A&S, let me know. My tutorial for disassembling and reassembling them is functioning currently with pictures. Didn't realize Scalarworks was backordered. I'm a dealer for them, but I only have a couple of the Aimpoint models on hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Roger Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 (edited) Anyone have an extra SYNC Trijicon RMR mount? used or new dont care. Edited October 26, 2017 by Jolly Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.