Gunsmith advice on my Benelli M1 - is it true?

Ah, I see what the tico is now. I used to have one or two. I have no idea where they are now. Maybe the ex wife has them. She took all she could from me. ;)
 
OK tell me how much it differs from a cleaning rod and jag with a chunk of oily rag on the end that you push and pull through every bore from a .22 to a 10 ga. And, when your done with the chunk of oily rag you don't have to wash it, just toss it and rip another chunk off an old T-shirt.
Click to expand...


Amen, Pete. Got a bag of old T-shirt squares for just that purpose. Quick scrub with a bore brush attachment followed by three squares sprayed with Hoppe's, then a pass with 3 more dry suares. When I see how dirty they come out of the barrel, I can't imagine using a tool that would have to be cleaned.

Kind of like using some sort of fancy, overpainted decoys, eh? ;-)
 
Another little story about my M1 odyssey. Since I've been tearing it down so much I've been cautious because like vehicles, the more you mess with them the more they break usually. Last weekend while goose hunting I shot my second goose of the day and got up to retrieve it. When I checked the gun I immediately noticed that the bolt handle was gone. After a few excellent strings of magnum profanity I began to carefully look for the damn thing in 8 inches of snow on top of corn stubble. You see where that was going...short of a metal detector it wasn't gonna happen. Apparently I hadn't seated the handle in all the way after putting the bolt back in the last time I cleaned it and it ejected off the gun. Don't get me wrong, worse things could happen...you can still use the gun. I began my search for a replacement and while there are lots of tactical versions out there that are economical they are too big so I wanted an original which are $50 to $60!!!!! I ended up calling Benelli and explained to the cute sounding gal that this was first Benelli and I was trying real hard to not revert back to being a full-time Remington guy, in a nice way of course...her sounding cute and all. She asked for the serial number and I told her that it was really old and out of warranty. She said that everybody in the world was pretty much sold out and back ordered(what does that tell you)but she found a single chrome version. I asked her how much and she laughed and took my address...no questions asked! Now that is service. It didn't get here yet so I just use my Leatherman's middle size flat screwdriver which works better than anything anyway.
 
The old Browning Golds had a similar problem. Mine was acting up season b4 last. It's been fine for reasons unknown. I do clean it, perhaps I cleaned something away from something and now it works better.

I always wondered if adding a rag full of gun oil to the brass of shells would help. I keep forgetting to do it and now that the gun works well, I didn't have the incentive.

Guns are like women... I don't know how they are, but it was fun writing that.

A.
 
Hey Jay, I hear ya on shooting the M1 so well that it doesn't make sense to replace it. I had the gun fitted to me way back when I bought the thing and like you said, it is like the gun was made for me I shoot it that well. Make that I feel I shoot it that well.

I will go over the gun big time in a couple of weeks or so and check all the things that have been suggested. I have heard about the bolt clip thing previously and will check that out. I also laughed about you loosing the thumb thingy as I lost one of those within the first few hunts with the gun. Should have heard the discussion with the store that sold me the gun as they were backordered on the part for a few months and it was in the middle of duck season and I only had the one gun. They were finally convinced that they should just take one off of the M1 they had in the case and just give it to me. Then they ordered me a replacement and said they would call when it came in for me to make the exchange. Never heard from them.

I have been told by a few that to properly store the Benelli's is to store them barrell down, not up. This is to help the recoil spring not get as rusty. When the barrell is up, all the water flows down to the recoil spring and it rusts. Something to think about.

Mark W
 
This'll probably heat up the auto vs. double war, and that's not really my intent, but if you're going to switch guns, I'd switch to a double. Yeah, you only get two shots, but you have a choice of chokes, the action is safe from dirt and water behind wood and steel, and feeding and extraction of shells is very reliable. I've only had rare jamb ups, back in the lead shot days, when the extractor would tear off the base of a paper shell, and you'd have to dig out the rest of the case with your pocket knife. I have seen doubles with ejectors that won't pop a swollen shell, but dropping a copper tube filled with lead will remove it, ditto for a stuck wad from a blooper shell. I suppose that'd work with an auto too, but the extractor is much bigger on a double.The barrels are easy to access when open, and less exposed to the elements when closed. You can shoot any kind of shell without any adjustment to the gun, I realize some autos do this too, but all doubles do it.
Part of my bias toward doubles is probably because I'm left handed, and most pumps and autos are designed for right handed use, but I've never seen an overwelming reason to give doubles up. Just so I don't sound like a snob, and can see some advantages to autos. Autos may be easier to load under certain conditions, you don't need room to swing the barrels open, especially vs. O/Us. You can also reload with a shell in the chamber, I'd like that. They're also supposed to reduce recoil, I'd like that too. They're also a longer gun, using the same barrel length, that extra length helps even out your swing, but I have short arms, and like the more compact double. I could see where a tall, or long armed person might like an auto better. The recoil is the same shot to shot, an O/U tends to climb higher on the top barrel, and a S/S tends to swing in or out with each barrel. I'll still stay with doubles though.
 
This is off the beaten path. I buy shells by the pallet from Max's never been a problem there. Three years ago I found a wally world end of season sell. I bought 6 cases of a major brand of steel. Those shells caused the same problems that everyone is talking about in two m1's and a sbe. The shells sounded fine, kill fine but would not cycle worth a crap. Before I did any gun smithing I would change amo. If allowed or get permision to shoot duck loads on the skeet field. Try out a new brand or "lot" of shells. One box of shells is cheaper than work being performed on your gun.


James Roberts
 
All firearms SHOULD be stored muzzle down so oil and cleaning fluids don't run down and into the stocks. It can cause wood to soften,discolor and crack and sludge in a plastic. I hope you get your gun fixed up right. Shells seemed to be the biggest problems with the ones my friends have.
 
Lee
You are the first person on this forum that I've heard advocate storing guns muzzle down. I store my guns horizontally with muzzle slightly below the stock and have for over 60 years. It seems many on this forum store butt down in metal lockers. I have no idea what is correct but have never had problems my way. Might be an interesting discussion from all concerned?
wis boz
 
I do not have the luxury of storing my weapons horizontally with exception to my handguns watch I fabricated a rack for my safe to store them. I agree with Lee on storing the muzzle down to keep the lube from running into places it shouldn’t unfortunately I can’t fit everything in my safe with out rotating muzzle up muzzle down.
In college a buddy of mine brought me to his grandfather house on our way back to the east coast in the summer. His grandfather was an optometrist and has some money. My buddy insisted that his grandfather show me his gun collection. His grandfather unlocked a hidden panel on the wall behind a painting and hit a release that allowed the entire panel wall to unfold in sections reveling a collection of side by side over and under masterpieces hanging horizontally from floor to ceiling for a good 20 feet. I was not into hunting or firearms at all at that point in my life but I remember specifically a couple of model 21s and his grandfather handed me a purdey and said be careful don’t drop it that shotgun is worth more than your first house will cost.
 
Jim, I say SHOULD. Don't always have the luxury to do it. I use RIG on my guns so they don't have thin oil that runs with gravity. If you look at old firearms at gun shows and used racks, you can usually see a dark ring where wood and metal come together. If you try to work on one, you will find the wood soft and mostly unworkable.
 
I agree,
Use a 10 Ga. bore brush with break free etc. at least a coupla times a season. Get all the break free out and use a light lube, I like Rem Oil, but will use 3in1 in a pinch. If you have used WD 40 clean it all out and then use a very light coat of thin oil on your moving parts.

One of my buddies was having trouble with a Browning gold that a sure cycle kit fixed.

Also it could be the ammo you are using. My Remington and my Beretta have a decided preference for Federal ammo. Don't know if was a certain lot but I had a lot of jams with Fasteel coupla years ago.

Keep trying, those Benelli's are just too "spensive" to get rid of.

JMO,
Harry
 
Slip 2000 products are awesome for shotguns. You can soak parts and blast out crud you'd have to scrape with water or compressed air. Dry it out, oil it up, and go. Your wife/GF will love it...smells like oranges and is notox. Eezox does better anti-rust than any of the others I've tried....stinks to high heaven, though. Protec slip, and others have high end lubricants. WD-40, Rem Oil, and CLP/break free are fine, so long as you don't actually LEAVE any in/on your firearm. They'll either harden into a laquer -like stuff or pick up every stray piece of grit and carbon around and take it places you really don't want it. Storing muzzle down IS the preferred way or storing. However, if you do it for a few days after a cleaning, then you should be able to revert them to horizontal or even butt down storage, as most fluids will have drained by then. Muzzles should always be placed on a soft surface, and on a rag if after a cleaning. You can get lots of great firearms lubricants and lots of junk, too. I've been using some commercial refrigeration lubricant for a few years with excellent results.....made to run clean and stay fluid from VERY high to VERY low temps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top