I just got a Benelli M2, and I find it is difficult to shove the shells into the magazine. It's not the magazine spring. The thing that is causing trouble is  a very stiff  spring catch that holds the base of the shells in the magazine tube. I also have to use two hands, because otherwise when I finally shove the shell past the catch with my thumb,  the shell carrier flips up and spears my thumb if I don't hold it down with the other hand.

Does anyone have this problem with their M2? Any suggestions for how to make the loading easier /  smoother?

Never had this problem with mine.

Before loading, try depressing the do-hickey next to the well. The same one you have to press before you can rack a round in.

What is that thing anyway?

Yeah, that's the other thing with this shotgun, I have not got a clear picture of what the thing is doing when it releases a shell from
the magazine tube and loads it into the chamber. It's not like my 870, which is pretty straightforward.

With the M2, it seems like there is no convenient way to keep gun with the magazine full, but no shell in the chamber.
To get the shell chambered, you have to basically have to pull
the trigger to get it to feed the shell from the magazine, which seems dangerous to me.

To keep it stored with empty chamber, full mag:  Load mag.  Depress shell release (next to trigger guard) to release a shell to the carrier (lifter).  Put next to bed.  When you need it all you have to do is pull/release the bolt handle.

To load the mag without getting Benelli thumb:  Push the shell in with a quick shove, but.. and this is the key, Keep the knuckle of your thumb bent.  Push the tip of your thumb straight in.  Push with the tip of you thumb, not the pad.  Your knuckle will keep the lifter up.  

Don't try to ease the shell in.  SHOVE it in hard, with the TIP of your thumb.  A lot of people get their thumb caught because when they push the round in their thumb is up (the FONZ), but if your thumb is pointed the direction of the magazine tube it works better.

And practice.  I'm in the 10 second range for shoot, load 8 off the belt, shoot.  After practicing with my 1300, the M2 loading area seems HUGE.


FYI:  The shell release is so you can unload the chamber without emptying the whole tube.  You can have a full mag, one in the pipe, pull the shell out of the pipe and change it (field to buck, buck to slug).  Also, if you modify it slightly you can ghost load it to gain an extra round.  8 in the tube, one on the lifter and one in the pipe for a total of ten.

I thought you can only ghost load on M4s. How do you do it on M2s?

Thanks, that tip about using the thumb knuckle to keep the lifter up really works. I just have to wonder if the designers
of the M2 have had any second thoughts about how awkard it is to load the thing.

The *technique* is the same, but the M2 bolt requires modification to enable the feature.