M2, low-recoil rounds, lots 'o doo-dads, and reliable cycling

[Derek Zeanah]

I did some searches and while I'm sure this has been discussed before I couldn't find it.

I have a Benelli M2 Tactical configured with:

• Surefire forearm
• 6-shot Mesa sidesaddle
• A cute little Holosun red dot

I'll be taking it to a multi-day training course later this year, and I bought a few hundred rounds each of reduced recoil Federal Flitecontrol and Hornady Versatite to test, and I'm glad I did, because the gun won't cycle reliably with either.

I love the nearly non-existent recoil though.

Sooooo, since I can't return 500 rounds of ammo bought online I figure it's time to do what I can to make this thing more reliable with low recoil loads, while making sure it still feeds full-power loads reliably as well.

The first thing I did was go to Taran Tactical and found a reduced-power buffer spring that looks like it will help, so that's $20 I'm likely to spend.

Beyond that I'm at a loss. @Justin used to run a lightweight bolt when he ran 3-Gun if I remember correctly, but I can't remember any details and I don't want to spend more on this than necessary. Yes, I'm likely to run some competitions after I get some shotgun training, but for now this is still a toy.

Where else should I be looking?

 

[RecoilRob]

Hmmmm...interesting question. I had an M1 Super90 years ago that would function with low brass birdshot, but just barely. With the inertia-driven action you need a certain amount of recoil to run it, so you're going to run into a limit somewhere of how light the ammo can be made and still have it run. The reduced power spring will let it cycle with less input energy, but will also then not feed quite as positively as it returns to battery.

One thing that might help is tinkering with the hammer spring seeing as it needs to be overcome for the action to cycle, and if my gun was any indication there is plenty of overkill in the hammer strike. I reduced the strike trying to improve the trigger (mostly) and found this did help with it cycling the lighter ammo...but you obviously can't get carried away or light strikes will happen.

An experiment with holding the gun against a tree to see if the recoil action would cycle showed that there was enough give in the recoil pad to allow it to function even when the butt was firmly held, so expanding on this thought might offer something that would help you in your quest. I always wondered if a much softer recoil pad wouldn't allow the action to move back in recoil easier and thus compress the action spring enough to make it run? In the end...that action absolutely needs the receiver to move smartly rearward far enough quickly enough or it won't cycle, so once you lighten the springs as far as possible the only thing left is to permit the gun to move rearward more easily. I think. Good luck and be sure to report on your experiments.

 

[amd6547]

How many rounds of full power ammo through your Benelli?
When I bought my Beretta 1201FP, which is basically an M1S90, I read that low recoil loads function better after a good break in with full power buck and slug.
My shotgun, though it looked new, was surplus from Detroit PD. I don't have anything mounted to it, but when I tried low recoil flitecontrol #1 buck and Hornady versatite 00, it functioned with no problem.
BTW, the Hornady patterned tighter than flitecontrol 00 buck.