I wanted a minimalist "combat shotgun" (read: Armadillo and deer slayer that I can fantasize about taking over the Jurassic time-period with).
This led me to the M1014 shotgun, as the military has already beaten the snot out of the operating system and proven it to be a winner.
I picked up an 11701 with the fixed-choke barrel. I hate choke-tubes. I view them as liabilities.
Then, I set about making it do what I wanted it to do.
First, structurally. I had "StrangerDanger" from the Benelli forums remove my OEM magazine tube (they are now using RED loctite). Quick shout-out to SD:I shipped him my receiver to remove the OEM mag tube. He did it in 1 day and returned it post haste! There was an invoice included with all of the work he did (remove 1913 rail, install WOLFF shell-stop spring, remove OEM tube, remove loctite residue).
The receiver was CLEAN. When I got it back, there was no trace of loctite, there were no idiot-marks, there were no scratches where the loctite was removed, nothing. Just a clean loctite and OEM-tubeless receiver. The cost for the work was very agreeable, and the work itself was very professional. OCD, even. I would not hesitate to recommend StrangerDanger for any work that he agrees to be competent to perform.
In its place, I installed the Carrier Comp Ti magazine tube with Loctite 243, along with their Wolff sourced magazine spring and aluminum follower.
Next, I installed WOLFF springs in an OEM Metal trigger-group. Benelli is now shipping M1014 and M4 shotguns with POLYMER trigger groups instead of aluminum, and the aluminum spares are pretty much gone from the supply warehouses. I was lucky to score one!
I used an Aimpoint H2, 4 MOA optic. This, I mounted in the Scalarworks mount, as it allows a legitimate lower 1/3 CW with iron sights. Speaking of which, the OEM Benelli M1014 sight has "ears" with luminescent paint "dots". I find this distracting, as you do NOT aim them like a Glock (dots lined up), but rather like an M16 (FSP tip dead-center), and the dots end up looking like Mickey-Mouse ears with the FSP dot being the "nose" of Mickey. ABSOLUTELY distracting. Luckily, LPA offers a replacement insert that is just a solid circle, as though the "ears" were milled off. Perfect!
Next up, I needed a white light. I chose IWC's excellent mount and the Surefire M300 300 lumen scout light. To this, I attached the Haley lightweight sling. I really like how light and minimalist it is.
With the illumination and sighting covered, I moved to "control surfaces". I went with Tango Arms excellent stippled fore-end grips, which prevent the hand from sliding around under recoil and biting the end of that Surefire light tail-cap! They are very well and tastefully done! Moving further back, I know a lot of people change the bolt-release button on the Benellis. I opted NOT to, because of the added torque the larger buttons place on the thin sheet-metal held "rivet" that is the bolt-release button. It was a structural decision. Moving back slightly further, I installed a Daves Metal Works oversized safety. It allows you to easily switch the safety off using the middle of the index finger, without getting in the way.
Moving back further, I removed the OEM Skeletonized buttstock, and installed an OEM pistol-grip stock. The LOP is the same, and the Limbsaver recoil pad fits the fixed stock perfectly. It's a more stable platform, and the Limbsaver really helps!
I opted not to change lifters or bolt charging handles because the reliability tests performed use the OEM shell lifter, and when you change something like that, assessing reliability PROPERLY literally takes multiple tens of thousands of rounds. I chose to piggy-back on Benelli/USMC tests, and go with what I KNOW works. So far my thumb has not been bitten. As to the bolt CH, the system was designed for a specific amount of weight protruding off-axis the carrier. I opted not to alter this.
Anyway, the results of my work are a shotgun that is dead-nuts reliable, has irons and a RDS co-witnessable, a good white light, and is durable as all get-out.
Enjoy my poorly shot 4K video:
*Excuse the poor slug grouping. That is still a 3" CTC group at 25 yards, but the shotgun is capable of much better. I shot that sitting/seated, after nearly 100 rounds of slug and buck for the day. Typically it is a large ragged-hole type group.
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Originally Posted by EPF
