Ghost loading/shell floating questions

[USAF416SPS]

Hi,

 I have a Benelli M2 tactical incoming and had a couple questions. I have been doing some reading and came across “ghost” loading. So if I understand correctly the M2 can’t be ghost loaded without a modification? Who does this type of work?

I watched a video about ghost loading and  part of the procedure is manually loading chamber and closing the bolt. Now from my understanding for pistols dropping a round in the chamber and closing the slide instead of letting it strip and chamber a round from the magazine can chip or break an extractor. Is that also a concern with a shotgun?

thank you in advance 

[bambihunter]

There is a lot of previous threads on this so I won't reinvent the wheel and go into full detail.

I will say that until I read an article today, I didn't think ANY M2's could ghost load but allegedly some are supposedly HK marked, and early ones can do it. There's two ways to know if yours can do it. One, try the procedure. But, if you haven't done it, one can't be sure. Ghost Loading on a SBE with its 3.5" chamber is quite easy. But, the shorter chamber of the M1/2/3 make it a little more exacting. Way to visually check is to remove the bolt body. Look on the bottom. All of them have a grove just a bit back from the bolt face. If there is another grove near the back on that same side, it cannot natively ghost load. If this is what yours is, your options are to do one of the following in increasing expense:

0. Just leave it as it is. It was designed to function the way it was so that it could clear the next round if the shell stop happen to miss a round. It was not meant to be used to intentionally load more rounds in the gun itself. It does that fine however. All my Benelli's are HK import models and all can ghost load except my M4's. I load a round on the carrier very rarely even though that is initially why I bought most of the rest of mine as HK marked (after I bought my first SBE ~1994 and found that by accident). It is much more cost effective to get an extended magazine. If you are trying to use this as a cheat device while hunting game animals with a shell limit, don't do it! Game wardens are well versed in this. If the desire is for competition, then you'll only ever use it at the beginning. It is too finicky to do under stress and timers. Learn to dual/quad load with or without an extended mag.

1. File the groove flatter or completely. I do not recommend this method at all, but I have been shown it does work. I would wonder about longevity without that rear part riding on the rails any longer.

2. JB weld, then file smooth the where it is the same depth as the rest of the rail on the bolt

3. Have it professionally welded up. Then they can re-harden the metal properly, and then have it coated again. This is quite expensive ($300+) and only trust well known places. Don't have your local weld shop do it...

4. Buy an earlier style bolt. They very rarely come up for sale, but this is an option as well. I've seen them go for well over $500. Silly when you realize that a lot of times you can get the gun with it already for around twice that.

 

Final thought. Money spent on a modified/extended carrier, maybe even speedloaders, then buying ammo and practice, practice, practice will yield much better results than ghost loading will.

[USAF416SPS]

23 hours ago, bambihunter said:

There is a lot of previous threads on this so I won't reinvent the wheel and go into full detail.

I will say that until I read an article today, I didn't think ANY M2's could ghost load but allegedly some are supposedly HK marked, and early ones can do it. There's two ways to know if yours can do it. One, try the procedure. But, if you haven't done it, one can't be sure. Ghost Loading on a SBE with its 3.5" chamber is quite easy. But, the shorter chamber of the M1/2/3 make it a little more exacting. Way to visually check is to remove the bolt body. Look on the bottom. All of them have a grove just a bit back from the bolt face. If there is another grove near the back on that same side, it cannot natively ghost load. If this is what yours is, your options are to do one of the following in increasing expense:

0. Just leave it as it is. It was designed to function the way it was so that it could clear the next round if the shell stop happen to miss a round. It was not meant to be used to intentionally load more rounds in the gun itself. It does that fine however. All my Benelli's are HK import models and all can ghost load except my M4's. I load a round on the carrier very rarely even though that is initially why I bought most of the rest of mine as HK marked (after I bought my first SBE ~1994 and found that by accident). It is much more cost effective to get an extended magazine. If you are trying to use this as a cheat device while hunting game animals with a shell limit, don't do it! Game wardens are well versed in this. If the desire is for competition, then you'll only ever use it at the beginning. It is too finicky to do under stress and timers. Learn to dual/quad load with or without an extended mag.

1. File the groove flatter or completely. I do not recommend this method at all, but I have been shown it does work. I would wonder about longevity without that rear part riding on the rails any longer.

2. JB weld, then file smooth the where it is the same depth as the rest of the rail on the bolt

3. Have it professionally welded up. Then they can re-harden the metal properly, and then have it coated again. This is quite expensive ($300+) and only trust well known places. Don't have your local weld shop do it...

4. Buy an earlier style bolt. They very rarely come up for sale, but this is an option as well. I've seen them go for well over $500. Silly when you realize that a lot of times you can get the gun with it already for around twice that.

 

Final thought. Money spent on a modified/extended carrier, maybe even speedloaders, then buying ammo and practice, practice, practice will yield much better results than ghost loading will.

Thanks for the response. I wound up sending the bolt carrier to C-Rums for the mod for $20.00 plus shipping. I’ll probably just use ghost loading at the range. Thanks again for your response