Help with Benelli M2 Field Compact shim kit

[bigbearbear]

When trying to adjust the drop of the stock for wiife's Benelli M2 Field Compact 12 gauge, I ran into an unexpected problem. According to the manual, you use a cast shim labeled "DX" (for right hand), along with a drop shim label "A, B, C or Z" and stack them together between the receiver and the stock itself.

In Benelli's manual, you can stack both the cast and drop shim together because the cast shim has 2 holes while the drop shim has male pins, allowing you to pin the 2 pieces together to the receiver. In the manual, the cast shim looks like this:


However, when I removed the stock on my wife's M2 Field Compact, the cast shim looks very different compared to the illustrated in the manual. It has pins and no holes.


Which means I can't use the "C" drop shim with it because the "C" drop shim also has pins.

I went ahead and put back the cast shim (DX) and installed the stock lock plated "C DX" for the most drop. Not sure if that's the way to do it?

I did it this way because the factory installed the shims as "DX" for the cast shim and stock locking plate "B DX". There is no "B" drop shim included with the shotgun.

Am I doing this wrong? Thanks.

[squeeze]

I have a Beretta A400 that I believe uses a similar set-up for drop and/or cast. On mine, the cast is set by using a metal plate that has an off-center hole in the butt end of the stock. It acts as a cam to cast the stock off or on by reversing the plate one way or the other. The "Shims" are just spacers that fit between the receiver and the stock. They get either thinner or thicker in the vertical axis and ditto for the horizontal in oder to properly fill in the space you have created by dropping or casting the stock. My gun came with different spacers and a dx and cx "cam". You should not have to stack the spacers as that will increase your LOP. If yours uses the same system-make sure the spacer and "cam" face the same direction after installation.
My Beretta directions were not helpful at all. and this may not be either.

[bigbearbear]

A quick update on this. While I have not had any answer as to why the cast shim and drop shim no longer works together with my wife's Benelli M2, I'm now convinced that Benelli has changed the design of the receiver on the M2.

I recently ordered a Burris Speedbead for my wife's M2, the same one mentioned in my original post. It is listed as compatible with the M2. However, when I tried to install it, I found it incompatible. The Speedbead expects the cast shim to have holes instead of pins on it, and pins on the Burris Speedbead does not fit into the holes of my Benelli M2 receiver and stock. The pins are slightly too large and simply won't fit in, that is if you decide to ignore the cast shim and install only the Burris Speed bead adaptor, it won't fit anyway.

So if you own a Benelli M2 and if for some reasons you need to purchase something that has to do with stocks and shim kit, make sure you check if you have the newer or older design. To do this, remove the stock and look at the cast shim (DX for right hand, SX for left hand). If it has holes and is used together with a drop shim, it is the older design which many 3rd party products are compatible with. If the cast shim have pins on it, it is a newer design which will most likely be incompatible with many 3rd party products on the market.

Unfortunately for me, my wife's M2 has the newer design, so the Burris Speed Bead is going back to Amazon.com.