The brand new Benelli M4 EXT brings me again. My first publicity to the Benelli M4 was the army’s M1014. I fired a complete of three rounds via it one time at a variety in Afghanistan. We’d often verify the zeroes of our PEQs and ACOGs in nation, which required lots of shifting elements on our tiny COP (Fight Outpost). When doing so someday, our firm XO introduced out the M1014.
We had two, they usually remained within the armory though I volunteered loads of instances to hold one. His objective was to shoot it for enjoyable, and he let my workforce shoot a number of rounds too. I used to be hooked, bought residence, noticed the worth of an M4, and set it apart. It might price everything of an E-3’s paycheck.
The Downside With the Benelli M4
Years later, I scraped and saved responsibly and eventually bought my Benelli M4. It was a tremendous gun, however neutered as a consequence of 922R. I proceeded to transform the weapon to 922R compliance and was ready so as to add the three-position inventory, a seven-round journal tube, and basically un-neuter the gun.
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This took time, cash, and lots of assist from Freedom Fighter Tactical. I later added a Mesa Tactical Truckee handguard to get slightly M-LOK on the gun. This price an excessive amount of cash and took an excessive amount of time, particularly for a gun that prices almost two grand. You might be buying a premium-grade shotgun after which must spend a ton of cash on aftermarket elements.
For me, it was price it, however I’d typically inform folks to not purchase the M4. Weapons just like the 1301, the A300, and the Mossberg 940 Professional Tactical supplied extra shotgun for sometimes much less cash. With that in thoughts, Benelli not too long ago launched the M4 EXT, and it’s made some very needed adjustments.
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The Benelli M4 EXT: What’s New
The Benelli M4 EXT provides us an un-neutered M4 with out having to hunt out an typically troublesome and much more costly LE mannequin. Cops should purchase Benelli M4s that aren’t 922R compliant after which resell them. That is utterly tremendous, nevertheless it creates a small market, which implies much more cash. The M4 EXT goals to resolve that drawback.
The Journal Tube
Say bye to that bizarre spacer that attaches to your five-round journal tube. This bizarre plastic spacer ensures you possibly can solely match 5 rounds in your Benelli M4. As a substitute, you get a real seven-round capability. Nonetheless, it’s not a single-piece tube. It’s a five-round tube with a plus two extension.
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I attempted one among these +2 extensions up to now, and it was an absolute piece of crap. It was made by Lyman, by no means allowed me to suit seven rounds, and brought on the follower to hold up at instances. I ditched it shortly.
I do belief that Benelli does it proper, and from all my taking pictures, they’ve performed it with no drawback. You continue to want to observe the extension and perhaps add a witness mark to verify it doesn’t get unfastened.
Including a single-piece tube from Freedom Fighter Tactical remains to be an choice for those who’re not happy with the two-piece tube.
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The Bolt Launch
The bolt launch on the unique Benelli M4 was painfully small. I imply that—you needed to put lots of power on a tiny little nub, and it bought painful and annoying shortly. It made emergency reloads gradual, and nobody desires gradual with a shotgun.
The brand new bolt launch is dime-sized, which is simply good. It’s simple to seek out, simple to interact, and makes for a lot faster reloads. This was an improve I delayed on my M4 as a result of I didn’t need to take it aside, and simply realized to cope with it.
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The Inventory
We lastly get a multi-positional inventory. This inventory is the brand new era of Benelli M4 collapsible shares. The previous mannequin presents you three positions. Closed is only for storage. You’ve gotten the center, which presents a stable size of pull, however sits too excessive to make use of the iron sights on the gun and requires you to wield an optic.
The third place was extraordinarily lengthy with a 14.38-inch size of pull. That’s absurd and troublesome for many normal-sized folks. I’m a much bigger man, and I don’t even look after that loopy size myself.
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The brand new inventory provides you 5 positions. It’s additionally now not a twist to increase; it simply strikes forwards and backwards like an AR inventory. The nearer positions nonetheless create points utilizing the inventory, however positions three and 4 offer you a brief size of pull and the power to make use of iron sights.
Sling Swivels
The Benelli M4 now comes with a number of sling factors and fashionable sling swivel placement. You’ll be able to transfer the sling round and the location factors to seek out your right setup. It took no effort in any respect for me to rig the gun and sling it up in a method that finest suited me.
What’s the Identical?
Sadly, Benelli caught with the lame polymer forend. It presents no accent mounting choices, and it’s the naked minimal. The Drone Guardian Model of the M4 presents an M-LOK handguard with an optics mount, and I believe this might need been the way in which to go along with this gun.
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Fortunately, the aftermarket exists, and the lengthy Truckee handguard could be the very first thing I added. Aside from that, the M4 EXT is what I all the time wished Benelli to provide, and it’s lastly right here.
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