Breaking in a Benelli!

[rubbman]

So let me be honest, 98.7% of what I know about guns came about in the last 20 months! I understood different calibers but not about grain or charge. So I have read that the way to break in my m4 was to run about 100 "hot" loads through it first. My question is there a wrong way to break one in?? I am cheap so I bought about 300 cases of the wallmart bulk ammo (at 27bucks a box of 100 can you blame me??) and use that. I use my M4 as my home/ranch defense firearm.

[ironmike]

Just feed it with what you bought at Wally. Just be sure before you take it out that you have read the owners manual and oiled the innards. After that, have fun.

[Southpaw45]

I never heard of having to "break in" a semi auto shotgun before. Especialy a fine Benelli like you have. Shotguns like these dont have tight tolerances like pistols would have. I bought a Benelli M1 Super 90 back in the 90s and just used that thing from the box to the duck blind for many years now. It was slick when it was new 20 years ago and its still slick today. Just lube it and shoot it....

[Jeffy]

As long as your not using reduced-recoil or light bird shot, you should be okay. Most people say just use what you plan on shooting since it's usually full-loads.

[ERdept]

Just shoot it with full power loads. Then it May, or may not cycle the low wall stuff well.


Depends upon the Benelli. They're all different.

[kdruff2]

Dude, you've got a go-to-war shotgun. Go to town on it.

....Wally ammo is just fine for it.

[bigbearbear]

Hey rubbman, I too am new to shotguns (my 1st one actually, and I'm assuming you're new to shotguns too?) and I tested out a Benelli SuperSport today. It uses a different system, but I don't think you'll have any problem with it.

My recommendation though, would be to stay with those light bird shots if you're new to shotguns like I am. If you try some heavier loads in the beginning, you might get a sore shoulder. I shot some Winchester 3inch 00buckshot with 15 pellets today just to see how my shotgun do, they really walloped my shoulder.

[tinman1975]

As long as you have plenty of lube on it....I don't see a wrong way. I broke mine in with about 100 rounds of standard 00 buck because i wanted to pattern it to what i planned on using, and that's the minimum amount of rounds I would need to instill confidence in my hd load. then I tried 100 rounds of low recoil buck and it ate them all up. Some people claim theirs cycled birdshot right out of the box....mine may have, but I never tried. Since you already bought Walmart stuff...I would say lube it up good and give it a try.....worst case you may get a few failures. Either way, I'm assuming you bought a m4 for defense......so get some of the stuff you think you want to use for hd and run that through also. Just don't be discouraged or question your guns reliability if it chokes up a little bit on birdshot in the beginning. FWIW ....mine will cycle anything now.....even 1 ounce target loads.

[midlife]

Hey rubbman, I too am new to shotguns (my 1st one actually, and I'm assuming you're new to shotguns too?) and I tested out a Benelli SuperSport today. It uses a different system, but I don't think you'll have any problem with it.

My recommendation though, would be to stay with those light bird shots if you're new to shotguns like I am. If you try some heavier loads in the beginning, you might get a sore shoulder. I shot some Winchester 3inch 00buckshot with 15 pellets today just to see how my shotgun do, they really walloped my shoulder.

Are you holding gun firmly against your shoulder and cheek bf you fire? That helps.

[hermosabeach]

DRY

As long as you have plenty of lube on it....I don't see a wrong way.

I go the opposite way... I run mine dry for the first few boxes to increase the metal on metal wear and to let high spots reveal themselves...

Low cost birdshot might hang up in the gun... no big deal... clear the malfunction correctly and move on....

[GUNNTZ]

My M4 was picky right out of the box, as have many others. I shot several boxes of the Winchester bird/target through it. 1 out of 6 would FTE, the loads were just not strong enough to cycle a new gun. Before anyone gets crazy and says I didn't lube the gun, wrong...she was real wet when we played the first time. Try some buck shot if it doesn't cycle well or just clear it and move on. Given time it will loosen up some, just like any other gun.

[jdben92883]

I had a moderately used M4 that ate anything and everything. I was able to sell it and buy a new one for basically no cost. I took the new one out and it wouldn't cycle Ranger low-recoil buckshot at all...100% FTF. Shot cheap Wolf 00 and slugs just fine. Haven't had the chance to take it out again, but I assume it just needs to loosen up a bit. I too didn't think about "breaking in" a shotgun, but my recent experience tells me otherwise.

[9mmrevolver]

I usually shoot dimes out of my new shotty barrels.

[L84CABO]

Some M4's are more sensitive than others. At least that has been my perception based on feedback that I've read. Mine ran flawlessly right from the start. And when I say flawlessly, I mean on the light birdshot and reduced recoil stuff. The full power stuff it fed fine, of course. Others have reported some challenges on the light stuff...especially in the beginning.

There's only one way to find out what you've got. Go shoot the WallyWorld birdshot you just bought and see how it goes. Odds are it will probably run fine. But take comfort in the fact that if it doesn't, it usually gets better as time goes by.

Note to that the Benelli forum is another really good source of information for all things M4. You can learn a lot over their and there's a much higher number of folks that have direct experience with the M4 than there usually is here.

[sparrky]

Thanks for the topic replies . Helps a bunch .