Iconic military combat shotgun Benelli M4

The Benelli M4 Super 90 is a smoothbore semi-automatic combat shotgun developed by the Italian arms company Benelli Armi SpA in 1998. The shotgun was originally intended to arm the US Army, military units of various countries, and the police. Currently used in more than 20 countries to equip combat units. Benelli M4s were used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the resulting high-quality weapon also gained popularity in the civilian market, where the M4S90 modification arrived, which in principle was no different from the army combat version of the M1014. The civilian purpose of a shotgun involves its use for hunting, self-defense, sports shooting in competitions and for entertainment purposes.

History of creation

Repeating shotguns have been used successfully in military conflicts around the world since the First World War. They are very effective in close combat, pump-action shotguns have even received the nickname “trench broom”. During World War II, shotguns performed well in the jungle. At that time, such high-velocity combat rifles as the AA-12 shotgun had not yet been created and ordinary hunting pump-action shotguns had to be used.

In 1998, the United States Army's Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center (US AARDEC) announced a tender for the development of a single army semi-automatic smoothbore shotgun (Joint Service Combat Shotgun). Strict requirements were imposed on the new weapon:

• use of a gas venting mechanism without any gas regulators;
• the ability to use cartridges from low-impulse to magnum;
• The magazine capacity must be at least 6 rounds;
• the presence of a mounting plate for installing sights and other tactical accessories;
• at least 5 of the 9 00 buck pellets contained in a 12 gauge cartridge must hit the target at 40 meters in 50% of the shots;
• the maximum time for incomplete disassembly of a weapon is 60 seconds;
• the maximum time for cleaning and lubricating weapons is 20 minutes;
• functioning without failures for 10,000 shots.

One of the tender participants was the Italian company Benelli Armi SpA, part of the largest holding Beretta Group. The company's specialists have developed a new model of the gun, sent for testing under the code name XM1014.

According to the test results at the test site, XM1014 defeated other competitors by a wide margin, since it had higher characteristics than initially required under the terms of the tender:

• 6 out of 9 pellets hit the target from 40 meters in 100% of shots;
• for partial disassembly, disassembling the weapon required only 45 seconds;
• the weapon was cleaned and lubricated within 10 minutes (to be done after every 500 shots);
• functioning without failures for 25,000 shots.

Customers were so impressed by the capabilities of the new gun that they immediately ordered 20,000 copies for the US Marine Corps. Deliveries were made through Heckler&Koch USA, Inc. The letter “X” was dropped from the code name and the Benelli M4 gun came into service under the symbol M1014.

The civilian version of the gun was named Benelli M4 SUPER 90. The name is the only difference between the civilian and military guns.

The history of guns

The Benelli company was founded back in 1911. First, the brothers Giuseppe, Giovanni, Francesco, Filippo, Domenico and Antonio Benelli, who lived in the Italian city of Pesaro, opened a small company, Fratelli Benelli Spa, where they repaired cars, mopeds, motorcycles and guns. Later, the brothers began producing their own motorcycles, specializing in racing types.

One of the brothers, Giovanni Benelli, became seriously interested in hunting and designed a hammer-operated gun with two barrels. This time occurred in the 20s of the last century. And in 1940 he made a 12-gauge self-loading shotgun.

During the First World War, the Benelli brothers began to receive orders for the manufacture of military equipment and hunting rifles faded into the background.

In the 1950s and 60s, Italy experienced an economic boom, and Benelli Fratelli continued to actively produce motorcycles.

During the same period, designer Bruno Civolani from the city of Bologna approached the Benelli brothers with his project for a hunting rifle. This is how the 121 model gun was born, capable of firing 5 shots in about 1 second.

General description of Benelli M4

The Benelli M4 Super 90 is a self-loading repeating shotgun. Automation device ARGO SYSTEM (Auto regulating gas operated) - gas removal into two gas cylinders symmetrically located under the barrel, with two gas pistons and rods. It is highly reliable and unpretentious. Long-term lack of maintenance does not interfere with smooth functioning thanks to the presence of special (internal and external) matte metal surfaces. Benelli M4 is suitable for hunting in the changeable Russian climate. The short shotgun has a corrosion-resistant housing that prevents the trigger from jamming in swampy areas. Similar domestically produced models are inferior to the Italian model due to their less compactness and unpretentiousness.

Storage, transportation, care

It is advisable to clean the gun after each shooting session. And the trigger mechanism and bolt need to be lubricated. The seat for replaceable choke constrictions and replaceable chokes do not need to be cleaned constantly; they are cleaned as needed.

If parts have been exposed to negative environmental influences, their surface must be lubricated. For lubrication, only Benelli oil is used, as well as a proprietary cleaning kit.

When handling firearms, you should always remember that they can be a source of danger. When performing various manipulations with the gun, such as transportation, storage, etc., you must first make sure that the ignition chamber and the magazine are completely empty. When transporting a gun, it must be in a case.

Firearms and ammunition should always be placed separately and locked in a place where children cannot enter. It is acceptable to place the gun in a wooden box lined with metal.

Operating principle

The Benelli M4 combat shotgun has an individual gas exhaust system in the form of symmetrical cylinders located under the barrel, with two pistons and rods. The design allows for greater reliability. According to the principle of operation, shooting is possible with buckshot or live ammunition.

Low recoil is ensured by a muzzle braking mechanism. Ease of operation is achieved thanks to the presence of a safety lock placed by the designers on the trigger guard.

The slaughter rate directly depends on the following set of factors:

• type of cartridges;
• accuracy;
• flatness.

The acceptable shooting distance, taking into account the installation of a collimator sight, is 100 meters. For buckshot, it is not recommended to exceed a distance of 15 meters.

Benelli M4 Design Features

The standard chambering of the Benelli M4 is chambered for 76mm cartridges, but the design allows trouble-free operation with 70mm cartridges. The combat shotgun does not provide additional adjustment. Power is provided by an under-barrel tubular magazine with a capacity of 7 rounds. The civilian model has an unofficial feature that allows it to accommodate an excess cartridge without extensions.

The external steel parts of the gun have a non-reflective phosphate coating that protects against corrosion; the aluminum parts are anodized. This ensures the reliability of the weapon in any climate zone and in any weather.

The barrel has a chrome plated inside. Can be replaced with a shortened one 35.5 cm long. The telescopic stock can be replaced with stocks with a pistol grip and a hunting version.

An open sight with a diopter rear sight and a conventional rifle-type front sight is made using the Ghost Ring system. On top of the receiver there is a mounting strip for installing various sights (night, collimator) and other tactical accessories.

Partial disassembly does not require additional tools. The gun is easy to maintain.

Black Diamond: Benelli weapons are flawless

Photo of the manufacturing company.
We are talking about bluing and painting metal parts of weapons.

During long-term use in various circumstances, especially when hunting waterfowl, when you have to stay in high humidity conditions for a long time, parts of the weapon begin to rust, and constant contact with the hunter’s clothing, branches or boat causes abrasion of the coating and damage to the appearance of the gun.

The weapon is covered with scratches and abrasions, which certainly spoils its appearance.

The company looked for a way out for a long time, but could not find it using traditional methods.

As a result, technologists decided to radically rework the approach to coating weapons.

A completely new coating technology was ordered for all metal parts of the weapon, optimized specifically for Benelli plant equipment.

The technology, based on stimulated plasma deposition of thin films of diamond-like carbon coating, made it possible to make a multilayer coating of almost any required thickness by deposition of successive layers of material, with control of its composition, structure and other characteristics.

This allows you to create coatings with predetermined properties determined by their functional purpose.

The word “diamond” is so important in the new technology that it is even included in the name of the new model - Raffaello BE-Diamond. This model was announced at the end of 2022 and is already available for purchase today.

Perhaps all subsequent models will use this type of coating, of course, if it lives up to its declared characteristics. The new coating, according to the manufacturer, has enormous strength and hardness.

It not only protects the metal parts of the weapon from corrosion, but also reliably protects it from scratches. The coating is harder than steel, stone and even glass and, accordingly, will not allow the weapon to lose its appearance when in contact with these objects.

The new coating is called BE.ST. The company itself characterizes this coating as follows: “BE.ST is an exclusive surface treatment for Benelli shotguns with full protection that provides excellent resistance to corrosion, abrasion and wear.

Benelli's new scratch and rust protection is completely black. The BE ST surface treatment is based on a technology that produces a coating with diamond-like characteristics: high hardness and corrosion resistance, with no need for protective lubricants.”

But Benelli would not be Benelli if it stopped at just one innovation and released, for example, an old model with a new coating.

No, the new “diamond” brought a whole bunch of innovations and raised the bar for hunting weapons to a new level. Let's take a closer look at these solutions. What first catches your eye when you get acquainted with the new characteristics of a weapon?

Everything seems to be as usual: self-loading inertia, three barrel lengths: 65, 70 and 76 cm, under-barrel magazine, plastic stock, 76 mm chamber, weight 2900 g... Interesting! Weight 2900 g for a semi-automatic shotgun in 12 gauge? It's not a mistake?

Of course, this is very good for casual hunting and convenient for those who carry a gun for a long time or hold it in their hands, but what will the recoil be?

Agree, it will be very uncomfortable to shoot from a weapon, and even from an inertial gun weighing less than 3 kg, with cartridges loaded with 50 g of shot.

Shooting from a “plastic” Benelli Nova of approximately the same weight with magnum cartridges left an indelible impression on me, and apparently the company took into account the wishes of hunters by offering two innovations in the “Diamond”: ComforTech 3 and CombTech.

The first is a new, improved recoil damping system located in the stock, which reduces recoil energy in magnum cartridges by up to 20%, and in conventional cartridges by up to 25%.

Thanks to this system, shooting any cartridges with shot weights from 24 to 56 g becomes relatively comfortable; In addition, reducing the toss of the weapon makes it possible to quickly fire a second shot.

The second innovation, CombTech, is essentially a new stock comb that allows you to change its shape to the most optimal one for a particular shooter, and also makes the recoil more comfortable for a person’s cheek when shooting with any cartridges.

Let's take a little break from mechanics and look at the new gun from the point of view of its design. The weapon is made in the classic style of Italian guns, the shape is light and swift. Here you need to remember that Benelli is a trendsetter in the shape of weapons, that this company has the most elegant and beautiful products, and this is recognized all over the world.

Today we see Turkish arms gradually changing the look of their shotguns, moving from utilitarian shapes to sleek and sweeping lines a la Benelli. What is this if not recognition?

So, the design is good, but, interestingly, it is completely subordinated to ergonomics and utilitarianism. You look at an element and think: it’s interesting and beautiful, but this element has a strict utilitarian function. Want an example? Please!

New notch to hold the weapon in the area of ​​the butt neck and fore-end. Do you think her shape is for beauty? Yes and no. This is AirTouch - a new knurling that increases the contact surface with the palm without creating a rough feeling.

AirTouch, according to . Or take a small, transparent narrow strip on the forend.

At first glance, it seems like an element of decoration, but in reality it is a window that shows how many cartridges are left in the magazine. Simple and effective. The polycarbonate sighting bar can be equipped with different front sights with a reflective insert; there are three of them in the set.

So we can say that everything is in order with the design of “Brilliant”: it is not only beautiful, but also one hundred percent functional.

Having become acquainted with the appearance, let's return to the technical device. Here the company remained true to itself, and we see the classic Benelli mechanism of an inertia shotgun. Note that locking by turning is somewhat more complicated than locking with a wedge, which has recently become widespread.

This is understandable: the latter is easier to manufacture and fit. But the company remained true to its principles and refused to compromise, so it again uses a bolt that rotates the cylinder when locking.

This type of shutter is considered more reliable and, importantly, durable. In “Brilliant”, the company decided to combat the main problem of its inertial shutter - the inability to lock it when adjusting it by hand.

Let me remind you that the battle was serious, hunters criticized the Benelli bolt for the fact that it was impossible to quietly chamber a cartridge by hand; during such an operation the bolt simply did not close. To securely lock it, it was necessary to pull the bolt back and release it, otherwise there was no other way.

It is clear that with such manipulation it is impossible to avoid the clanging of the shutter; it was this sound that became the stumbling block.

Another problem associated with finishing was the case when the bolt handle caught on a branch and moved back a little, the bolt unlocked, and it was possible to close it only by pulling it back all the way and releasing it. Naturally, the cartridge was thrown out of the barrel and the next one was sent out.

The company itself brushed off the problem, saying that the weapon must be loaded in advance, and the second problem is generally far-fetched, with which I partially agree. But, while denying the problem, Benelli, apparently, was looking for a solution and found it.

An additional supercharger was introduced into the design - a spring-loaded ball, which made it possible to lock the bolt manually and generally “turned off” the problem of the shutter roll speed. Now the bolt can be locked as desired, and if it is moved back, simply return it forward by hand.

Please note: my experience in operating the Benelli M3C90 says that it was possible to lock the shutter without pulling it all the way back before, just pull it back 1.5–2.0 cm and push it sharply forward with your hand.

But the sound of the clanging shutter is still quite loud. Now, as the company writes, this issue is closed.

The barrel of the gun, except for the coating, differs little in manufacturing technology from earlier models. This includes cryogenic tempering using the Crio System technology, when the finished barrel is kept at a temperature of –100 °C.

This treatment makes it possible to obtain barrels with uniform steel characteristics, which in turn gives shotgun characteristics that differ from conventional barrels.

Benelli barrels have a “narrowed” bore, 18.3–18.4 mm, which allows for good sharpness with almost any factory ammunition.

It is especially worth focusing on the chamber design. Many people ask why a long transition cone is needed in the Benelli chamber, because the cartridge case, when unfolded, must completely occupy the chamber, and the shot column simply must move from the cartridge case to the barrel; what kind of rebuilding and crushing of pellets that Benelli is struggling with can occur.

Logically, this is true, but the good times, when the inside of the cartridge case passed into the bore, ended approximately when brass cartridge cases and, most importantly, guns with a drilled barrel for them went out of use.

Since we use folder and plastic sleeves, everything is not the same. In addition, we must remember that the “Brilliant” has chambers for a 76 mm cartridge case, and when firing cartridges with a 70 mm cartridge case, problems with rebuilding the shot cannot be avoided.

Can you imagine what will happen when the pellets, coming out of the cartridge case, rearrange themselves in the chamber, and then fly onto the chamber ledge? It was the gradual gentle cone that made it possible to once and for all solve the problem of crushing pellets when firing cartridges with any length of cartridge case.

Overall, the new gun leaves a very good impression; you want to pick it up and go hunting with it.

Unfortunately, there are practically no reviews from real gun owners, but I think we’ll just have to wait a little. In the meantime, we will look for opportunities to shoot with this interesting gun.

Alexander Kudryashov September 28, 2022 at 10:01

Specifications

The performance characteristics of the Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun are as follows:

• weight without cartridges - 3.82 kg;
• length with butt – 1010 mm, without butt – 886 mm;
• standard barrel length – 355 and 470 mm;
• caliber - 12;
• the cartridge used is 70 or 76 mm;
• magazine capacity 4+1 or 8+1;
• favorable firing range - from 30 to 50 m;
• sight - front and rear sight.

Advantages and disadvantages

The Benelli M4 shotgun has a certain set of individual pros and cons.

Among the strengths of a pump-action shotgun, we highlight:

• ease of maintenance;
• integrity of the shutter frame;
• large safety button, eliminating the possibility of an involuntary shot;
• for partial disassembly there is no need to use specialized tools;
• the presence of a mechanism for tightly fixing the butt;
• moderate recoil when firing magnum cartridges;
• almost silent charging;
• equipped with a smooth muzzle;
• clear descent;
• minimal sight drift after several shots, contributing to the ergonomics of the gun.

A great advantage is the presence of a Weaver rail, which significantly expands the possibilities for upgrading weapons.

The disadvantages of the Benelli M4 include:

• inconvenient shooting with the butt folded;
• the automation is designed to work exclusively with a fully compressed return spring, which limits the possibility of normal recharging in a number of situations;
• low frost resistance;
• medium lightness;
• the difficulty of effectively maintaining the phosphate coating of the barrel.

The high price of the Benelli M4S90 is due not only to its foreign origin, but also to the high costs of developing the technologies embedded in its design

About the operation of the inertial system

If in the past guns worked using a gas release mechanism, then the new weapon of the 121 model came into action through the force of inertia of the mass.

The inertial reloading mechanism has a number of advantages:

1. When using such a mechanism, there is no urgent need to clean the gun after each hunt.
2. The weapon does not need a pressure regulator when using cartridges of different power.
3. The guns have a very low vibration level and a high rate of fire
4. Easy to use, small number of parts, which means disassembling the gun will not be difficult, just like assembling it.

Benelli shotguns with an inertial reloading mechanism have created a real sensation in this industry, they do not have the same disadvantages as traditional self-loading systems.

Benelli M4S90 modifications

The classic telescopic stock can be replaced with analogues with a pistol grip or with a version for hunting. Open-type sights, made on the basis of the Ghost Ring system, have 2 variations: with a regular rifle front sight or a diopter rear sight. The receiver has a rail for mounting various accessories (collimators, night sights).

Replaceable choke allows you to install the following chokes:

• cylinder;
• pressure cylinder;
• pay;
• medium choke;
• full of shit.

Accessories and additional equipment are available for Benelli M4 shotguns:

• tactical flashlights, including those integrated into the forend;
• folding and telescopic stocks, for example, Speedfeed IV Tactical Stock;
• tactical belts.

Benelli M4 military shotguns show decent results under different shooting conditions. A more ergonomic analogue of the Russian Saiga shotgun, it has a wide range of options for modernization thanks to the presence of a Weaver rail. In the Russian Federation and the United States, the M4 was able to establish itself among hunters, who noted its convenience and reliability in performing a range of tasks.

Based on various tests, even the standard modification of the Benelli M4 is a leader among many combat shotguns sold in the Russian Federation and many foreign countries. The main purpose of the Benelli M4S90 is recreational shooting, practical shooting sports competitions, and self-defense.