Issues with Benelli M4 charging handle by Freedom Fighter Tactical

[Ianski]

Howdy Guys and Gals,

I have a Benelli M4 that I purchased used from somebody and it runs flawlessly minus one pretty serious issue. The charging handle the previous owner installed is the FFT Ti charging handle and while it looks nice and is gnurled up nice and grippy, it has an catastrophic tendency to pop out while cycling. I've done a bit of reading and have found that this is not a completely uncommon thing to happen with this brand of charging handle and so I'm looking at replacing it.

My reason for posting about this is to find out if anyone has had similar issues and if so what did you replace it with (brand/product)/how did you fix it?

Thanks for the time and I look forward to any and all insight into the matter!

[beast556]

I don't have a benelli m4. In my experence over the last 25 plus years of messing with guns the more you change factory parts the less reliable it becomes especially with military weapons. I would personally go back to the factory charging handle. Just my 2 cents

[Grant H.]

I have an FFT sitting in my box of M4 parts, because of this.

I went back to the factory charging handle, and have had no issues. I ran a TTI (http://tarantacticalinnovations.com/tti-benelli-m4-ultimate-charging-handle/) for a while, and it didn't fall out, but I ended up trading it off to a buddy, and still running my factory one. The TTI one was good, and I may actually buy another one at some point, but I'd be lying if I said I had shot my M4 in the last 2 years. I've been interested/focused on other disciplines, and my shotgun shooting has been limited to clays, which the M4 is not as adept at when compared to the O/U.

[BPTactical]

Ooops

[Grant H.]

Due to the "Inertial" cycling system of the Benelli ANY change to the weapon can be a source for problems, they are very sensitive.

The M4 is a Piston driven shotgun.

For the Inertia driven Benelli's you are correct, small changes can make big differences, but the M4 is pretty resilient. They give it to Marines after all...

I had an M2 that I bought from a 3-gun guy, it ran great with target loads, but it didn't like bird loads at all. My M4 runs anything and everything I have ever fed it in 2.75 and 3.

[Ianski]

The M4 is a Piston driven shotgun.

For the Inertia driven Benelli's you are correct, small changes can make big differences, but the M4 is pretty resilient. They give it to Marines after all...

I had an M2 that I bought from a 3-gun guy, it ran great with target loads, but it didn't like bird loads at all. My M4 runs anything and everything I have ever fed it in 2.75 and 3.

+1

It didn't generate any cycling issues, it was purely an issue with the retaining slots milled into the stem of the charging handle not being the correct dimensions for the detent ball in the bolt to hold it in during a firing cycle. I have read that using a titanium charging handle can increase the cyclic rate by a little bit by decreasing the overall mass of the bolt assembly, but not enough to cause feeding issues.

[BPTactical]

The M4 is a Piston driven shotgun.

For the Inertia driven Benelli's you are correct, small changes can make big differences, but the M4 is pretty resilient. They give it to Marines after all...

I had an M2 that I bought from a 3-gun guy, it ran great with target loads, but it didn't like bird loads at all. My M4 runs anything and everything I have ever fed it in 2.75 and 3.

Corrected-sorry for any confusion

[Grant H.]

Corrected-sorry for any confusion

C'mon Bert, how dare you not remember every detail for every gun, since you know, ever...

LOL.