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Loose fitting M2 forearm


Stew Mckinney

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Okay, I just purchased a new M2 left handed 20 gauge. Assembly seemed to go well and was easy to follow. After tightening the forearm cap as far as humanly possible, I picked up the gun by the forearm and it moved forward approximately 1/8”. 

The only solution I could come up with was to install a rubber O-Ring made for water hoses over the threads for the cap after the barrel assembly was complete. This seemed to stop the forearm from sliding forward.

I’m wondering if the forearm is 1/8” short, or if an O-Ring from the factory is missing.

please advise...

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Steve & tekguy,

    Thanks for the quick responses... 

The barrels are seated as they should be. I took the gun to my range and fired several rounds of doubles. I was amazed at the  speed in which the gun cycled it’s loads!

There were NO O-Rings nor spacers that came with the gun. There were no instructions in the manual mentioning any either.

Until I receive a response from Benelli, this is my only solution:

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Before you do anything else, inspect the forearm.  The spacers being referred to above are installed inside the forward opening of the forearm.  They aren't seperately included in the package like the stock spacers/adjustment plates are.  These spacers take up space between the rear of the barrel ring and the forward bearing surface of the forearm.  They should have already been installed in the forearm.  If those aren't present, when you install the barrel and forearm on the receiver, there will be an open space behind the barrel ring and in front of the bearing surface of the forearm.  Putting that O-ring behind the magazine cap and in front of the barrel ring will not do anything to take up that space.  The barrel ring will have no support at the rear and firing the gun with the barrel tightened in such a way could possibly damage the barrel ring, up to and including breaking it off the barrel.

These are the spacers that should be installed in the forward opening of the forearm:

M1-20ga - 1.JPG

Edited by truckcop
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I took a picture of the front of the forearm as it was enclosed.

Visible is the space where (I believe) the O-Rings should have been located.

I've rechecked all packaging materials, and cannot find any O-Rings.

I’m starting to wonder about my purchase of this gun, and quality of workmanship if this small, yet necessary part was omitted.183BE536-3B81-4C37-B333-DD8D005E2DB0.thumb.jpeg.48aa758ef2b6973ecf72a29a4f6e79ae.jpeg

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Yes, that's where they're supposed to be.  They should have already been installed in the forearm from the factory.  BTW, they're steel washers, not rubber o-rings.  There are two flat washers and one that looks bent.  The 4th one is the retaining washer with the ears that fit into the channels on either side of the forearm.  One flat washer goes in first, the "bent" one next, then another flat one. The one with ears goes in last and holds the other ones in the forearm.  In that picture, you're already seeing damage to the forearm where the magazine cap is coming in contact with it.   The magazine cap should not come in contact with the forearm at all.  I would not shoot that gun until the proper pieces parts are installed.

I would highly doubt that it came that way from the factory.  You said it was new but I'd take a look at who you purchased it from.  Just sayin'.

Edited by truckcop
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Thanks for all your help and quick responses!

I had the opportunity to shoot with someone who had the M2 12 gauge, and we compared forends ( luckily I brought just my foreand). I saw how the O-Rings were installed. 

I had the dealer report this issue to the Benelli distributor, and in the meanwhile, I ordered a set of rings from Freedom fighter.

As a side note:

It appeared to both of us that the forends were identical (minus my missing parts). Is this possible? Are the forends the same for both the 12 & 20 gauge synthetic shotguns (both with 28” barrel)?

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Let's think about this analytically.  The magazine tube on a twelve gauge has a necessarily larger diameter than a twenty gauge, just as the barrels are different diameters, to accommodate the larger shotgun shell.  Here's an illustration of the differences in diameter of shells, forearms (and, therefore, magazine tubes), and corresponding spacers.  Please don't take this to be condescending.  I gather from some of your questions that you may be new to shotguns so please take this in the gentle advise manner in which it was meant. ?

DSC_3677b.JPG

Edited by truckcop
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  • 6 months later...

I bought three Benelli M2 left hand 20 gauges 6 months ago for program shotguns at the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. We wanted to upgrade from some LH Escort 20 gauges that tended to have issues.

One of the Benelli M2s that we ordered had the exact same issue that Stew McKinney (OP) had. Forearm was sliding loose. I compared this shotgun to the other two and referred to a parts diagram on the Midwest Gunworks website (great place for spares by the way). Confident that we didn't lose this part, I called Benelli and they promptly sent me the four washer set free of charge. At $6-7 each on Midwest, I agree with Steve Rose and would call Benelli and ask for replacements. There seems to be a batch of these unfinished left hand M2s out there!

Hope this is helpful. 

 

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