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Laser Sight For Benelli M4 ?


Wind

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Hi all! Let me start by saying that I'm NO kind of expert, especially on shotguns. My first experience was shooting a pistol grip with 3 inch

000, after which I swore that I'd never try another! Enter a friend with an M4 and it completely changed my perspective.

However, at 5'4.5" tall and not particularly strong, the M4 was very long for me, and particularly nose heavy.  I changed the stock to a shorter Mesa

and that helped a lot, I still would love to place a LIGHTWEIGHT laser on it for close range defense. I have lasers on 3 of my guns and they work great,

they are all Crimson Trace but they are all for handguns. I find the tritium night sites for the Benelli completely useless, they are simply too far forward

to be of any good. I have these on my handguns and I love them, but the Benelli would need something much brighter. In my experience

the laser is wonderful for acquiring a target quickly with a full field of view and even firing from less than optimal position. I'm seeking a lightweight

fairly short range laser that could be accommodated on the M4, without adding pounds of weight in adaptors, rails or the laser itself.

I can't for the life of me imagine using this gun at night for over 50 meters distance, its for home defense, not for a war.

If anyone has any idea on such a laser as well as any way to further reduce this guns weight, it would be very

appreciated. Perhaps there is a lighter or even shorter stock, it can be imported and any configuration, this M4 is absurdly 922R compliant, I suffer for "Just In Case Syndrome"!

Thank you for your time and attention.  Wind.

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You might consider replacing the front sling attachment ring with a piece that allows a short section of rail. I think that GG&G and Impact Weapons Components (IWC) offer something like this. There are probably others too. Then you could add a rail mounted laser on either the left or right side that could be actuated with your support hand. I have an IWC mount on my M4 for a Surefire light and QD sling. They are good quality.

I do like the Surefire lasers and have 2, one on a J Frame and one on a 1911.

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The IWC mount would likely be the most stable platform to mount to. It would be mounted to the barrel assembly so a zero should be retained. I would use a Surefire X400 weapon Light/laser combo. 
 

https://www.impactweaponscomponents.com/product/multi-light-benelli-m4-mount-1913-picatinny-rail/

Here is the mount. As you can see the picatinny rail is at an angle. This will complicate zeroing of the laser since you won’t be adjusting on the up/down left/right for each screw. While not ideal, it isn’t super hard to work around this. 
 

https://www.surefire.com/illumination/weaponlights/handgun/x400u-a-ultra-green-led-weaponlight.html

Surefire X400 Ultra with a 1000 lumens and a green laser. The x400 still has that retarded oversized toggle switch on the bottom that selects if you want just laser, just light, both light and laser, or toggled off. Trouble is the switch is easy to bump. I’d  the length of the toggle down so that it takes more effort to switch modes. 
 

I’d then put the Surefire XT 07 tape switch block on the back of the X400. Which isn’t cheap.

https://www.surefire.com/catalog/product/view/id/309/s/remote-switch-assembly-for-x300/category/72/
 

The picatinny Railed tape switch won’t work with this application with the OEM handguards. 

I’d buy a Surefire ST07 then maybe modify the handguard so there is a slight pocket for the tape switch to sit in. Maybe put a hole thru the handguard for a zip tie to retain the wire at the front of the pad. I’d probably use a set of FFT reproduction handguards so that you aren’t modifying your OEM set. 

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Windy -

Everything Stranger said above, plus you can also checkout Streamlights tactical light and laser combos.  They basically replicate everything Surefire offers and they appear to be cheaper looking at their website and on Amazon/Ebay.  They also weigh just under 5 ounces.  Now having said that, I'm not sure of everyone's opinions on quality and performance between the 2 brands.  I do run a Streamlight TLR-2 HL with a red laser on my Springfield XD-40 hd pistol.

Edited by Birdog19
And everything Nails said too!
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Streamlight is amazing with pistol mounted lights. I have the ProTac HL on my PCC and its not great. The laser was a pitch to zero and it isn't really solid in how its mounted in the housing. I wasn't super impressed. Its on a 9mm AR platform so it served a purpose but I wouldn't go that route again. Plus the ProTac models are all a little bulky in my opinion. 

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  • 2 years later...

As an update to this, I've purchased a Surefire XVL2-IRC to fill this role. It looks to fit the IWC mount perfectly, and I will see if it works for this application. By the end of next week my short term eval of it will be done. Here is the X300U placeholder. The toggle switches are NOT to be ridden during recoil. Toggle the light on, engage the target, toggle it off. If you want to use them to flash-bulb, then run your thumb off to the side of it and apply pressure toward the head of the light with the pad of your thumb. This way recoil will bypass your thumb. Do NOT press with the tip of the thumb trapping it behind the light. This will "get you" with anything on a gauge.:
No description available.

No description available.

*How horrible...my circa @2015? X300U head is brown/purple. Just noticed. #PurpleHeadedLumenSlinger

Edited by Unobtanium
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