Bettering the Benelli M4

On the short list of upgrades was replacing the Picatinny top rail with an RMR mount from Scalarworks as well as a +2 magazine extension from Freedom Fighter Tactical (FFT), bringing the total round capacity to 7+1+1. Using the “ghost load” method I am able to leave an additional round on the shell lifter, and in turn it provides me with a handy extra round in a piece of free real estate. The RMR I went with was the 9 MOA RMR05, dual illuminated reticle, that I pulled off of another project gun and was sitting on the shelf. At the time the main reliable small dot optics available were the Trijicon RMR and the Aimpoint T2, but since then the options have evolved to also include the Aimpoint ACRO, Lupold Delta Point Pro, and Holosun 509T - so take your pick. Scalarorks have a SYNC 01 mount to match all of these footprint options. Other than having it on hand my logic for choosing the RMR05 is its large 9 MOA dot would better simulate a shot pattern onto the target, whether it be birds or clays or cardboard silhouettes, in comparison to the more common 3.25 MOA dot offered in the other optic options. 

After making the gun easier to aim and able to hold more ammunition, the next logical step was adding a sling and shell caddy in order to be able to carry the gun around the range easier as well as being able to hold even more ammunition. For a sling I purchased a Magpul MS1 sling as well as a Universal Wire Loop from Blue Force Gear in order to attach it to the stock of the shotgun while continuing to use the OEM sling loop on the front of the firearm. When adding the shell caddy there are several options to choose from but I have a tendency to either go the simplest route or to completely overcomplicate things. This being a shotgun I decided to keep it simple and place a piece of 2” loop velcro onto the left side of the receiver so that I can easily add, remove, or swap out shell caddies with minimal effort. At the moment I have several shotgun shell cards from SOE, but I am also looking to add some from Essetac in the future. 

As a whole I have had minimal issues with the M4 and the modifications made to it, with the only one being with the charging handle. I’m uncertain if this is an issue with the design as a whole or simply the charging handle I picked up. The issue is that when running the gun “hard” and I get a failure to fire I will reach over or under the firearm and manually cycle the bolt, similar to how one would do for an AK-pattern firearm, and on two occasions I have had the charging handle eject itself off of the gun on the next cycling of the bolt. Once again I’m not sure if this is the gun's fault, my fault, or the fault of the added parts? Ultimately I do not know, perhaps one of the readers will have some insight to this issue. Let us know in the comments.

I continue to enjoy the M4, and I am very content with all of the modifications I’ve made to it. So much so that I am planning on getting another one to modify in a different direction hopefully later this year - stay tuned. In addition to this being my home defence firearm, this spring and summer I am hoping to get out and try my hand at clay pigeon shooting with it since the 18.5” barrel is threaded for benelli chokes and is currently fitted with “mid” range choke. Will I be as successful with this as someone with a typical bird gun? Likely not. Will I be having more fun? Most definitely.