Benelli M2 Care and Other New Owner Questions and Paranoia

[EintrachtAdler]

Hey all. I just got myself a 20 gauge Benelli M2 for mainly duck hunting and all my hunting needs and it’s probably the nicest and most expensive shotgun I have ever gotten for myself so I wanna take care of it. Couple questions.

-I shot it for the first time shooting sporting clays and shot about 200 shells through it on its first outing. When I went to clean it, there were a lot of black “flakes”. Are these just pieces of plastic and all from the parts braking in or fouling clinging to oil from my initial lubrication since I had couldn’t clean it for 2 days or something else to be concerned about?

-When disassembling and reassembling, I was dumb and didn’t have the trigger group set to safe so I kept hitting the trigger when putting it back into the receiver. Can the trigger being released a few times like that with the group outside of the gun be damaging and I should be concerned of damage?

-The trigger group is darn near impossible to get in. I make sure I depress the bolt release and pivot it in, but every time it wants to slide too far forward and be about 3 mm too far forward from lining up. Any tips or tricks or is this something wrong? -For the camo coating, is wiping down with an oily rag and then wiping off excess with a dry rag sufficient care?

-I got the 20 gauge with a 28” barrel. There is a whole on the rib for a midbead but no actual midbead was installed. Is this right or did it fall out or something?

-Compared to my pump shotguns, the magazine tube is super stiff. Specifically, it seems like the shell has a lot more resistance once you get to the brass. Does this just need broken in?

-Is the extractor recess (I think that’s what it is. At about 1 o’clock when looking at the barrel lengthwise from the bore end. Like a little cutout and looks textured and stepped) supposed to be blackened? I can’t tell if that’s how it was when I first got the gun or it is now that way after my first shooting but I’ve tried cleaning it and scrubbing it and I don’t see any shiny metal come up. It just looks black and cruddy.

-After the first outing, the polished silver choke tube was blackened with fouling.  I put oil in the choke threads (normally use grease but ran out) and along the tube a bit.  The fouling wiped off for the most part fine, but does this indicate an issue like the choke tube isn't fitting properly and fouling is getting under it and could cause damage?

-When I removed the firing pin for cleaning, I noticed some scoring and marring about 20% down the pin.  Is this completely normal or a cause for concern after only 200 rounds?

-Lastly, it seems like the rib is ever so slightly misaligned from the receiver.  Is this a significant enough amount to impact POA/POI or anything else?

Thanks guys for the help with my paranoia!

Edited December 30, 2022 by EintrachtAdler

[Todd11]

I just purchased an m2 last week and my rib is misaligned with the receiver exactly like yours in the last picture. I’m curious how common this is and if it’s out of spec enough for benelli to fix it? Hopefully more people chime in.