I have a Benelli M4 model 11703. I have the "low recoil" stamped on the barrel model. Should I send the the shotgun in to Benelli for the upgraded barrel? All I have to do is pay shipping to them. The upgrade is free. What are the PROs and CONs of doing this? As I understand it , as long as I am not shooting alot of 3" MAGNUM loads I will be ok with the "low recoil" stamped barrel I have. With the upgraded barrel , firing low recoil ammo may not cycle properly. What do you all think. Cheers , Michael

I'd say that since Benelli is doing barrel upgrades, they must be pretty confident that there are problems with the newer 4-port barrels. I'd say that you should get the upgrade to the original 2-port barrel design. After all, that's what the military uses on theirs.

Mine is the model 11701 (limited edition M1014), so I already have the correct barrel. Otherwise, I'd be sending it in.

Quoted: I'd say that since Benelli is doing barrel upgrades, they must be pretty confident that there are problems with the newer 4-port barrels. I'd say that you should get the upgrade to the original 2-port barrel design. After all, that's what the military uses on theirs. Mine is the model 11701 (limited edition M1014), so I already have the correct barrel. Otherwise, I'd be sending it in.

+1

I did the barrel swap and shot hundreds of the same type of loads that I had previously used with the 4 port version. My new 2 port spit out everything just as well as the 4 port. Low recoil to magnum were tested. I have no worries with the new 2 port barrel.

BTW my M4 loves the Red Box Hornaday TAP OO Buck.

I'm considering doing this, but I really don't want to mail the whole gun in -- I'm lazy. It took Benelli a month to send me a replacement gas piston. I wonder how long a barrel swap would take?
-Steve

I must've gotten lucky; my recently-arrived #11707's both have the 2-port bbl.

All new M4/M1014 weapons ship with the 2-port barrel - Benelli no longer ships the 4-port low-recoil version.

Let me tell you the tale:  I sent mine in on Dec 09, rec'd on the 12 (by Benelli); got a post card from them saying it'd be gone for 45 days; and got it UPS yesterday.  Go figure. Went out to shoot it today.  It seems lighter.

BTW, Mail Boxes. Etc/FedEx cost me $209 to ship it overnight.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to send a a rifle or a shotgun overnight -- Just handguns.
I could be wrong though. I don't do a lot of firearm shipments.

-Steve

Quoted: I'm considering doing this, but I really don't want to mail the whole gun in -- I'm lazy. It took Benelli a month to send me a replacement gas piston. I wonder how long a barrel swap would take? -Steve

If you decide to do the upgrade you really need to send the whole gun in. I was first told by the rep to only send the barrel back. I then got a call from the guy doing the work and they would not complete the work with out checking the rest of the gun as well. They need to check bolt/carrier etc... If I had sent the whole gun in the first time the turnaround would have been 2 weeks max. That was my experience anyway.
JWL

BTW my bolt began to show damage so the bolt/carrier firing pin was replaced as well.

Quoted: I'm pretty sure you don't have to send a rifle or a shotgun overnight -- Just handguns.

Correct.

Quoted: Quoted: I'm pretty sure you don't have to send a rifle or a shotgun overnight -- Just handguns. Correct.

Thats what I thought, but apparently they can't hold onto things like this overnight; building not secure enough.

You can use the US Postal Service to ship a shotgun.  Last time I sent my 870 in for repair, it cost $16 for 2-3 day priority mail.  There is no  need to use overnight/FedEx for $209, what a fucking scam!

I don't want to diassemble my aftermarket crap to send the shotgun either. I'm really avoiding talking with Benelli's CS again also. I think last time I connected to the special ed department.

I'll probably shoot it until I destroy the gun, or until I trash the finish enough to warant a new barrel. My barrel has some pitting in it near one of the gas ports that will not come off also.
You can now tell on my bolt carrier that the metal is deforming from inpingment. Look at your carriers around the rails and see how the finish is wearing differently. This is from the metal expanding due to the hammering. Basically the "rails" the bolt carrier rides in are swelling.

Mine does have about 4,000 rounds of 3 dram primarily through it. If they have to replace the receiver though that'll suck since it'll have to go back through an FFL since I highly doubt they'd transfer the serial.

-Steve