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New M1014, Tube Won’t Take 5 x 2 3/4” Shells


RPC

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Picked up my new M1014 Sunday and the first thing I did was read the manual cover to cover. The second thing I did was read it cover to cover again. 

Then, following the manual, I disassembled the weapon, cleaned it (found some metal shavings, unexpected) and lubed it, again, according to the manual. 

My issue: Since picking it up and cleaning/lubing, I’ve been practicing loading, chambering, etc. but cannot get more than four 2 3/4” Federal shells in the tube. When inserting the fifth shell, the stack bottoms out with approx. 1/4” of the fifth round left out.

I’ve searched this and read thread after thread. It’s not getting hung up on any burrs/lips/etc. (the first four shells go in smoothly but stiffly). Strength is not at issue here, though technique might be, but no amount of brute force gets it home.

What’s interesting is, I ordered some dummy rounds- a pack of five- and they’re 2 1/2” long. I can fit five of those in the tube, and I can BARELY fit in 4 x 2 3/4” live rounds + 1 x dummy round, but even that requires finesse and just barely clears and seats. 

What are the chances I’m doing something wrong (I know this is a stupid question to ask someone to answer as I type it)?

I read in more than one place that folks with similar issues had to send M4s back to Benelli who ultimately clipped the recoil spring and returned to owner. Do they not test fill the tube in addition to the live firing they do?

I’m headed to the range with a couple hundred rounds of Federal LE 00B + Federal LE Slug on Friday and hoping a bunch of the ol’ “in/out” there will loosen things up, but stopping by here tonight to ask what I might be missing. 

 

Thanks in advance. 

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The 9 pellet Federal LE buckshot tends to be a little longer than 2 3/4" in my experience.  Did you measure your specific shells?  Also check the spring retainer location in your magazine tube.  Sometimes it can be installed a bit too far down and moving it up/out will increase your magazine length.  I generally install mine protruding from the magazine tube a bit and tightening down the magazine cap / barrel nut will push it into proper place.  Check your follower to see if there's any metal in there that the spring might be resting on.

Just some quick things to do before considering clipping your magazine spring...

 

Edit:  Found this link

 

LE132 00 length issue

Edited by Scout_21
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Good stuff Scout, I appreciate it. 

Strange thing about this ammo is it’s 2.37” long per my caliper. Verified on a second one to double check  

I made sure the spring retainer was a hair below the end when I reassembled so there wasn’t much there to gain. I like your idea on leaving it out a hair and squaring with the end using the cap, will definitely do that going forward. I also throughly molested the follower while cleaning the factory coatings off and am confident there’s nothing in it hanging the spring up, but again, great call out  

I’d read about clipping the spring- both home jobs and sending back to Benelli for “warranty” work- so I called them this morning to ask for guidance. Guy was super cool, confirmed that they do use the 7-round spring in the 5-round tube and told me to cut it myself. I could hardly believe my ears. He was really casual about it, said it’s exactly what they would do if it sent it in (but minus the four week wait) and walked me through the procedure. He said the 7-round spring is “longer than it needs to be even in the 7-round tube” but that in the 5-round tube it is known to be sometimes problematic due to the amount of spring steel accumulated at the nose of the tube when loading. 

He said that that “4 to 6 coils” could be cut off without risk of a malfunction due to too-low of spring force, but to start with 4 coils and go from there. So, I broke out the split ring pliers and wire nippers, took a deep breath and did exactly as he told me. Reassembled and sure enough it swallowed five shells and the fifth just barely cleared/seated. 

I cycled five loaded tubes through to check for malfunction and couldn’t make one happen. 

That said, the above is not a recommendation to anyone to do as I did just as I wouldn’t have taken action without Benelli themselves telling me to. 

I look forward to zero malfunctions due to spring weight at the range tomorrow and will report back here should I get any. 

A7867830-C7F4-4E90-BA53-9E6A190F5477.jpeg

Edited by RPC
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15 minutes ago, Scout_21 said:

So now I'm a bit confused.  5 - 2.5" dummy shells fit but only 4 - 2.37" shells fit? 

Yeah, that’s my bad. I’m [obviously] new to shotguns and I assumed that a 2 3/4” shell would literally be 2 3/4” so, by comparison, the dummy rounds were proportionally shorter (side by side the dummy round looked ~1/4” shorter so= ~2 1/2”).

It didn’t occur to me to measure the live shells until your post, and now that I measure the dummy rounds, they’re only 2.21” long. 

*caliper is good

C1B5FEEB-015D-4EC5-925D-C00FCDEB378A.jpeg

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Super interesting, thanks for sharing those!

You said that 2 3/4” refers to the fired length? Curious if the median length of these shells would be closer to 2 3/4” open. 

The 2 3/4” Federal 00B & slug I purchased are not equal length as unfired, I’ll be curious to put empty shells of each in the caliper and see if they’re the same length fired. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
34 minutes ago, Zombie Special Test said:

Another question is : M1014 comes with Fixed Choke Inside the Muzzle. Right ?

Yes... did you not believe me the first time I answered this question on another thread?

 

Here's a link to a sale post of an m4 with the military barrel

 

Edited by Scout_21
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6 hours ago, Zombie Special Test said:

Do you know how to ghost loading 5+1?? 

Yeah, I’ve read about/watched videos on ghost loading but came across folks warning against doing it due to potential for damaging the lifter/carrier/shell stop? Can’t speak 1st person but they seemed credible so I’ve not done it. Kind of a bummer because, due to the trigger, hammer & safety configuration I’m not comfortable storing it loaded so I’d love to sneak another shell in there if I’ve misdiagnosed the risk of “ghost loading”.

Thoughts others on this?

6 hours ago, Zombie Special Test said:

Another question is : M1014 comes with Fixed Choke Inside the Muzzle. Right ?

I believe Benelli’s product description says something like, “fixed modified choke” but my M1014 is just 18.5” of chrome-coated barrel. No threads on the business end, zero evidence of any modifications by Benelli, etc. Mine looks just like the barrel in the link Scout shared above  

My first shotgun, certainly my first Benelli, so I might be missing something. 

Edited by RPC
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On 6/7/2019 at 7:26 PM, RPC said:

Yeah, I’ve read about/watched videos on ghost loading but came across folks warning against doing it due to potential for damaging the lifter/carrier/shell stop? Can’t speak 1st person but they seemed credible so I’ve not done it. Kind of a bummer because, due to the trigger, hammer & safety configuration I’m not comfortable storing it loaded so I’d love to sneak another shell in there if I’ve misdiagnosed the risk of “ghost loading”.

Thoughts others on this?

I believe Benelli’s product description says something like, “fixed modified choke” but my M1014 is just 18.5” of chrome-coated barrel. No threads on the business end, zero evidence of any modifications by Benelli, etc. Mine looks just like the barrel in the link Scout shared above  

My first shotgun, certainly my first Benelli, so I might be missing something. 

I've never had any issue ghost loading my M4. I'm not saying I've done it 10000 times but still no issue for me.

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  • 6 months later...

I realize this is an old topic but know that it was very helpful. I too am a first time shotgun owner. Wife and Ilong time pistol owners but I wanted to try something new.

Found this as I ran into the same deal with 9 pellet federal. Wasn’t off much for the fifth but also thought, “is it me?” 
 

Great info in just this thread, can’t wait to read more now that I’ve signed up.

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23 minutes ago, DEPK said:

I realize this is an old topic but know that it was very helpful. I too am a first time shotgun owner. Wife and Ilong time pistol owners but I wanted to try something new.

Found this as I ran into the same deal with 9 pellet federal. Wasn’t off much for the fifth but also thought, “is it me?” 
 

Great info in just this thread, can’t wait to read more now that I’ve signed up.

Welcome DEPK, 1st time SG owner myself (owned handguns for decades though). The 9-pellet Federal 00 was exactly the ammo I also had issues with. 
 

This particular thread might be six months old, but you’ll see this topic come up just about monthly if you stick around. Heck, this thread was revived just a couple of weeks ago.  
 

Awesome info and even better folks here. Ask any question that comes to mind, never seen someone be given anything but genuine info outside of the occasional (and obvious) troll. 
 

-Rex

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  • 6 months later...

So glad I found this thread. Just got my M4 11707, and ran into the 4 shell load issue. Short of pulling the spring, couldn’t figure it out. Needless to say for the price of the gun, and having this issue when advertising 5+1 is slightly frustrating. The potential 7 spring isn’t bad if going to the full tube, but wasn’t something I planned on immediately, especially with 922 compliance (overall cost) from the initial cost of the gun.
 

Funny thing is the freedom fighter tactical video that covers the full Tube and 922r -  dude says that people have run the 5 inch spring without issue. That was a flag to me, just on math and spring pressure. Now it makes sense if there is a 7 inch spring.

looking forward to being a part of the forum.

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On 7/10/2020 at 5:45 PM, Redwingsfansfc said:

So glad I found this thread. Just got my M4 11707, and ran into the 4 shell load issue. Short of pulling the spring, couldn’t figure it out. Needless to say for the price of the gun, and having this issue when advertising 5+1 is slightly frustrating. The potential 7 spring isn’t bad if going to the full tube, but wasn’t something I planned on immediately, especially with 922 compliance (overall cost) from the initial cost of the gun.
 

Funny thing is the freedom fighter tactical video that covers the full Tube and 922r -  dude says that people have run the 5 inch spring without issue. That was a flag to me, just on math and spring pressure. Now it makes sense if there is a 7 inch spring.

looking forward to being a part of the forum.

Welcome!

This forum was invaluable to me as a first time M4 owner and tinkerer-at-heart, I trust you’ll find it the same. 

If you have a question and don’t see a thread about it, just ask. Decades of experience here (not me, the other guys/gals...)!

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On 7/10/2020 at 6:45 PM, Redwingsfansfc said:

So glad I found this thread. Just got my M4 11707, and ran into the 4 shell load issue. Short of pulling the spring, couldn’t figure it out. Needless to say for the price of the gun, and having this issue when advertising 5+1 is slightly frustrating. The potential 7 spring isn’t bad if going to the full tube, but wasn’t something I planned on immediately, especially with 922 compliance (overall cost) from the initial cost of the gun.
 

Funny thing is the freedom fighter tactical video that covers the full Tube and 922r -  dude says that people have run the 5 inch spring without issue. That was a flag to me, just on math and spring pressure. Now it makes sense if there is a 7 inch spring.

looking forward to being a part of the forum.

My brand new M4 did the same thing when using 2 3/4 Federal 9 shot 00 Buck. I ended up trimming the spring a little bit and it solved the problem. Oddly enough, the spring is now the correct length for my 7 round tube. Works perfectly. No need to worry about math and spring pressure. If you want some help though, email Sean at Wolff Springs and he'll tell you exactly how many to cut. 

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