Arizona_Mike 0 Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 Normally the Military wants Type 3 amorphous "hard anodizing" (MIL-A-8625) which is thicker and holds more dye (and tends to soak up and incorporate oil). Funny thing is Type 3 is the one that allows the darkest shades of black. It sounds like they are going with some process change that allows even harder or thicker finish but does not hold the dye as well. There are a lot of new processes using other acids than the traditional Sulfuric or Chromic acid and even some plasma deposition processes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
electric7 14 Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Wanted to mention, bought a socomguy black mag tube and it looks good on the 2020 Blue M4. It blends a little better than the DG parkerized tube from carrier comp. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unobtanium 56 Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 On 3/15/2021 at 11:19 AM, BamBam said: Spoke with a DoD contact that relayed Benelli’s explanation is odd regarding blueish M4 receiver color variance is result of US military request for improved/hardened finish..because it’s unlikely that Benelli would incur the extra steps & costs involved to specifically meet newer US military needs and then simply extend the same application to all civilian model M4’s. If Benelli is automatically extending the improved hardened anodizing process to all civilian M4 models at no cost, then why not pronounce & tout the improved finish of the vital receiver and color variance? Stranger D. may have called it right from the jump..guys at the plant in Italy have to much olive oil on their hands at the acid tanks lol!! The USMC has not purchased a new Benelli m4 in over 9 years. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BamBam 5 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Correct, sorry did not mean to suggest the USMC purchased new M4’s from Benelli. From what I was told the USMC may have requested (via RFP?) from Benelli a more resistant finish, but only for/applied to the M4 receiver itself to meet the request. Essentially, the existing anodizing process was improved upon..or “hardened”.. resulting in the rather broad-blue color variance of the receiver customers are receiving recently. The existing M4 receiver nomenclature remains unmodified across the various offered models/platforms. From a manufacturing process and to streamline production, it is certainly practical to produce all the M4 receivers consistently in the same manner & steps..therefore extending the new hardened finish across all M4 receivers. If this is the case, just don’t understand why Benelli would not pronounce the new-hardened-finish of the ever-vital receiver and with it comes the disclosure of the known color variance. A possible reason..and this is only my ignorant opinion..is disclosing the known color variance of the receiver will scare off any potential buyers who want an all black M4. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JTs M4 8 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Hello everyone.. just been reading here and thought I'd add a bit... I also just bought a M4 on 3/3/21 and it has a black receiver.. although I don't know how long it sat in inventory before being sold.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JTs M4 8 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, JTs M4 said: Hello everyone.. just been reading here and thought I'd add a bit... I also just bought a M4 on 3/3/21 and it has a black receiver.. although I don't know how long it sat in inventory before being sold.. it does have a 2020 manufacture date on it.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ButchP 20 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 3 hours ago, JTs M4 said: Hello everyone.. just been reading here and thought I'd add a bit... I also just bought a M4 on 3/3/21 and it has a black receiver.. although I don't know how long it sat in inventory before being sold.. I'd be curious to know myself. I bought mine in February and is blue, but I really don't care it has a blue hue. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JTs M4 8 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 1 hour ago, ButchP said: I'd be curious to know myself. I bought mine in February and is blue, but I really don't care it has a blue hue. Yes that is interesting.. I see yours also has the 2020 date on it.. I see yours and the other ones all are 5+1 and PG stocks.. mine is the 7+1 model .. I 've now seen the ones on here and one other one with the 5+1 and PC stock that also has the blue hue.. I don't mind the look just wonder why some do and some don't.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fett Tracking 2 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 qc has gone to shit 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bambihunter 23 Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 (edited) I thought everyone knew... The blue ones are the special "back from a wild weekend" Monday hangover edition. 😁 Edited April 12 by bambihunter 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skull and Bones 3 Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 The “blue” hue is a factory fuck up guys. This whole USMC spec story is just that: a story to sell fucked up guns. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jaason0 31 Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 I agree I don t believe the story either. Makes no sense and I think they prob got the mix wrong or something 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
electric7 14 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Just wanted show this build. I embraced the blue and added some briley gold, a socom guy tube, and a mesa stock. Came out awesome! Its a Warriors or Notre Dame fan gun. 1 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
M2_shootr 81 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 On 4/15/2021 at 2:48 PM, Skull and Bones said: The “blue” hue is a factory fuck up guys. This whole USMC spec story is just that: a story to sell fucked up guns. Guess I like factory fuck up guns…. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Freelancer99 33 Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 (edited) Fucked up or not, the blue is beautiful. Edited May 4 by Freelancer99 1 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D'zaster 41 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 I wonder how many were shipped? Maybe the mystery blue edition will become a collector. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Redfox 2 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Someone on fb posted this email from Benelli regarding the color differences Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FFMichael 21 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 The blue "fuck up" has been around for a long time. Here is one in this youtube video from 4 years ago, and I have a friend who had one like it from factory in like 2012. It's always been a thing for some to be blue, not really a quality control flaw, as it doesn't affect the quality of the gun. All that being said, I do understand that if you want a black gun, it could be upsetting to not receive one. Benelli should just start actually labelling the ones that turn out blue as such, and then sell them as that separately from the black ones. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bambihunter 23 Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 On 5/5/2021 at 4:24 PM, FFMichael said: All that being said, I do understand that if you want a black gun, it could be upsetting to not receive one. Benelli should just start actually labeling the ones that turn out blue as such, and then sell them as that separately from the black ones. I highly agree with the bolded part. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StrangerDanger 572 Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Benelli should sell them as a thin blue line law enforcement edition. People will pay a premium! A forum member sent me a blue M4 and a black M1014. The color is drastically different between the two. They used to release a bunch of M4’s that had an OD green hue. The blue ones still look better than the purple Barney preban Bushmaster AR-15’s. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Redfox 2 Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Video from 9 years ago. Like someone said it’s always been a thing with color variance it’s nothing new Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Uncle_Buck 3 Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 There was an M4 for sale locally and the ad said "Rare" Blue Finish. It's all about the marketing. Years from now the blue ones will be the most highly sought after by collectors. 🤯 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Unobtanium 56 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 (edited) Okay...I decided to finally weigh in on this. I do not have an overly technical understanding of anodize, but what I do have are a plethora of high level industry contacts NOT associated with Benelli. I've discussed anodizing with multiple people in the industry regarding thickness, surface growth and propagation, all that jazz, and what it amounts to is that type III anodize, black, can and will show color variance even among the same batch. It's all about the witch brew of chemicals, time, current, surface hardness and specific alloy, and other factors involved. Brighteners, surface treatment, all manner of things go into anodize type III and will influence it. As long as it meets thickness and hardness spec, this is cosmetic. If you don't like it, I don't blame you. But a company sets the "drift" they will accept, and then moves on. Did Benelli lower their ano "cull" rate and allow for increase in drift? Did the Benelli anodizer have "a moment" and change the brew in some way? Is the "age of the internet" and sales volume just exposing a drift rate that has always been at a constant? (Let's be honest, how big was this forum in 2008?) That, I cannot answer. But it's not necessarily indicative of bad QC or anything else, unless you would have Benelli trash the receivers instead of sell them, in which case you would need to position yourself on their board or whatever and make that decision. The anodize on these is quite likely just fine, technically, but with a bit of color drift. Anodizing is a science that is also a art. Instead of explain all of this, CS reps got a bit creative I think. If you do not like the blue, again, I don't blame you. I don't. That said, I am not upset at Benelli over this, nor do I think the ship is sinking. Edited May 20 by Unobtanium 3 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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.