Shell catch - hard/stiff to load M1014

[jlgarza]

Question,

Took my m1014 to the range for the first time (after and throughout cleaning and lubrication first), and it was very hard to load. I had to shove my thumb in with force to get it past the shell catch. Will this get easier with time, or will changing the bolt release to an after market bolt release help?

I had my wife’s Supernova and I was loading 2 shells at a time with my index finger, but the m4 was a pain in the ass to load. 
 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 
 

Thanks,

Garza

[SingleMalt]

@Doge guided me to the M2's 2-piece latch, which I think helped a lot. 

https://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/60488

You'll also need a follower with a "flatter" face, I think the OE one will interfere.

[SolidBuilt]

I make it a point to keep my thumb bent at a solid 90 degrees from start to finish when pushing the shells in... made a huge difference. 

[StreetSweeper56]

It shouldn't be as difficult to load the magazine as you're describing, neither of mine are, something isn't right. There may be fouling or who knows what in there. Stranger Danger (one of the resident geniuses here) has a whole tutorial on removing the mag spring and polishing the inner tube mirror smooth. Try a search here and you should be able to find it. Try that and I'll bet that solves your problem. 

[StreetSweeper56]

Here was his post:

I’d take the magazine tube apart and clean it well inside. Do not apply oil inside the magazine tube at all. I’d recommend making a polishing jig for the magazine tube. I put a 12 gauge cleaning rod in my drill gun, then wrap fine steel wool around a 12 gauge chamber brush. Then go to town up and down the inside of the magazine tube for 5 minutes. Clean out the residue and admire the mirror finished magazine tube. Note the difference in sound once you reinstall the spring and follower. The magazine spring won’t be fighting the resistance inside the magazine tube as much so that it can deliver more of the spring energy to loading shells onto the elevator. This is particularly important when it is the last round or two being loaded from the magazine. The polishing can be done on steel, titanium or even the Briley carbon fiber magazine tubes. 

And here was the removal tutorial:

https://forums.benelliusa.com/topic/17395-benelli-m4-magazine-tube-removal-pictorial/#comment-116591

 

[jlgarza]

Thanks for the feedback. Gonna try  and polish out the BR and Mag tube and see if that helps. I’m also gonna be cycling 50-100 rounds per day and see if that helps break it in. If all else fails I’ll order the M2 BR. 

Thanks, Garza

[StrangerDanger]

You can polish the leading face of the shell stop with a Dremel and a polishing wheel. You end up removing the phosphate finish off of the tip in short order. This smooths out the transition from the shell to the tube quite a bit.

 

J Kenny also sells a two piece billet shell stop that makes loading the Benelli a dream to load. The resistance is minimal to press the shell past the shell stop. You don't need the full kit with the modified shell elevator if you're just looking for improved loading characteristics. They take forever to get since they ship from England and their customer service is rather poor. My testing has been promising for the kit, but I'm still hesitant to outright recommend it yet. I'm not a huge fan of the button pad design, it's similar to the TTI pad that sticks out too far away from the receiver.

https://www.j-kenny.com/product/2-piece-shell-latch-benelli-m2-by-j-kenny-co/

 

[jlgarza]

I like what I see. JKenny latch has been ordered. I’ll let you know how long it takes to get here and my feedback once installed. 

Thanks SD

[D'zaster]

Looking forward to your review, jlgarza.

[TheDude]

This looks so awesome! hope you get yours quick with a pic post, would love to see how it turns out .. 

[jlgarza]

I was warned it was going to take a while to get it once purchased, and it definitely has. Even though the website said it was in-stock and immediate shipping, it took three weeks to ship. I just got the tracking number yesterday. So we’ll see how long it takes to get to California from the UK. I’ll update once it arrives. 

[Ben elLes]

In response to the original question of does it get easier.  It has been my experience that it does.  I can relate with the stiffness that you are mentioning that is and has no longer been an issue as of lately.  Not saying it’s the best or as easy as anything else because I don’t have experience with any other shotgun.  However, that said it’s far easier than it used to be.

[jlgarza]

3 hours ago, EzGoingKev said:

Is the J Kenny shell catch intended for competition or hard use guns?

The JKenny was developed for competition use. I ended up buying both the JKenny and the M2 latch to compare. I wanted to see for myself if the $150 JKenny latch is superior to the $45 M2 latch. 
 

I can say the OEM latch has gotten a little easier over the past few months to load, but it still doesn’t compare to the M2 latch. I can load shells with the M2 latch installed with my index finger easily. No more Benelli thumb. Knowing what I know now, I would have made the M2 latch one of the first things on the list to upgrade on my M4. In my opinion, $45 well worth it if you’re okay not being able to drill and tap for the larger pad as previously noted. I’m still gonna put the JKenny latch through it’s paces once it arrives and decide which to keep on. 
 

Thanks, Garza

[RxArms]

Is the M2 latch a simple drop in part?  The link above points to a 20g latch, does that matter?  
 

Edit: found the answer (yes), here… 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by RxArms

[D'zaster]

Well, I thought I was done spending money on my 1014.....

Just ordered the J Kenny latch. They confirmed that it is currently in-stock. 

[Jaynes]

Does anyone have any updates on the J Kenny latch and if it loads smoother than the M2 latch?

[Ben elLes]

No but the more you shoot it the easier it gets.  That’s my experience

[cas]

I ordered a J Kenny latch for my "race gun" (which wasn't easy for me to do, considering the beating I took on that turd of an auto load-two carrier), it finally came last week? And while I haven't shot it yet to see what function/malfunction is like, I have done some quad loading and it's nice. 

This is the one that came out of that gun.  This one probably has less done to it that all the ones before it, it has very little contouring on the front. But once you start getting so dramatic in the changes, you have to view them as consumables.

 

Most of my Benelli's have some degree of that done to them, though most of them much less.

 

As for loading the M4...  IIRC the 5 round guns are still running the 7 round spring, so it's longer than need be. That's not helping. (I'm pretty sure I cut mine down right away (still waiting on my 7 round tube))

 

 

[cas]

It's also easier to unload from the mag than a stock or modified factory latch.

Negative on the J Kenny is that it stands farther off the receiver than the factory latch (or any other company using them like GG&G)

Edited August 21, 2022 by cas

[Jaynes]

Thank you, very helpful. I’m hopeful it will smooth out with more use and practice… My M4 seems to chew my thumb up where as I don’t really notice it much with some of my other shotguns. Any other advice on smoothing it up?

[cas]

For starters, like I mentioned above, do you have the 5 round factory setup or a 7 round tube?

If 5 and you have the factory spring, it's longer than it needs to be.

If you really want to work on the latch, there's spots you can polish the will help a little. Another old trick was to "crush the spring" which honestly I could never see what they was doing. It's a spring, it just springs back? lol  Opening up the notches will certainly help, but you have to decided where you want to stop. For longevity and durability's sake, you don't want to go crazy like in that photo above.  They're not all the same either, some need more or less than others. It also depends on what you plan to do with it. I have some with nothing done to them, some just a bit, some a lot. My M4 is below, just a bit easier to weak and load, but not even close to match gun easy.

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by cas

[Jaynes]

Thanks again. I appreciate it

 

[ThisShouldDoTheJob]

On 8/20/2022 at 8:04 PM, Jaynes said:

Thank you, very helpful. I’m hopeful it will smooth out with more use and practice… My M4 seems to chew my thumb up where as I don’t really notice it much with some of my other shotguns.

Well, I'm old enough to not really care about impressing anyone in my house anymore, so when I when I got tired of fighting this gun loading and unloading every night and morning, I ordered these from Amazon ... Povihome Black Finger Protectors, Finger Cots, Moisturizing Thumb and Finger Covers - New Thick Version - Elastic Cracked Finger Sleeves to Protect Cracked, Peel Finger and Other Finger Pain. 

In hindsight, maybe I should have ordered something more flesh colored so I don't look like I've had my thumb up my axe. The other day, my wife did ask me what in the world is that on your thumb, shook her head, and just walked out of the room. 😕

I have just enough pride left where I'm not sure I'd wear one of these on my thumb at the local gun range. I can hear the snickering and Lord knows what comments being made now. But, on the other hand, I will be standing there with a loaded M1014 so it could be one of those giggle at your own risk kind of scenarios. 😆

[ThisShouldDoTheJob]

Misfire

Edited August 23, 2022 by ThisShouldDoTheJob

[cas]

I used to do a fairly good sized shotgun match every summer ("do" as in design the stages, build and match director). Mostly knock down steel, some clay flippers, maybe a slug stage, maybe buckshot and a table of bowling pins.  First time shooters would often ask for advise or suggestions, my answer was always the same. The night before the match, cut your fingernails. Short.