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Benelli M2

• moderate
• Shop tier 2
• medium confidence
• Shotgun
• semi auto shotgun
• inertia driven
• no gas system
• hunting
• clays

field strip ~4 min · reassembly ~6 min · detail strip ~25 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• The inertia spring between the bolt head and the bolt body is what makes this action work. If it is missing, installed wrong, or gummed with oil, the shotgun will not cycle. Never reassemble the bolt without it.
• An inertia gun needs the shooter's body to provide resistance. Holding it loosely — limp shouldering — can cause failures to cycle. That is a characteristic of the system, not a defect.
• Unloading a tube magazine takes several cycles. Verify the chamber and the magazine tube are both empty before disassembly.
• Do not over-lubricate. Excess oil in the bolt assembly damps the inertia spring and is a common cause of cycling failures.
• The magazine cap must be fully tight. A loose cap changes how the barrel is held and can cause malfunctions.

Under spring tension

• Inertia spring in the bolt
• Recoil spring in the stock tube
• Magazine tube spring

Easily lost parts

Inertia spring · Locking head pin · Firing pin and its retaining pin · Trigger group pin

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among shotguns, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Inertia action with a simple bolt but several orientation and alignment traps: the hidden link-to-recoil-plunger engagement, the locking head pin's reference line, a loose spring washer under the stock nut, and a thread-locked recoil tube that needs heat, a padded vise and care. No timing; trigger group comes out as a unit on two pins.

No sourced part count yet.

Bench time: about 50 min to strip, 70 min to rebuild (estimate). Strip of bolt, trigger group and buttstock/recoil tube; rebuild longer for the link-to-plunger engagement, locking head orientation and recoil tube.

What comes off for coating

• Barrel / magazine: magazine cap, fore-end, barrel, magazine spring and follower (retainer)
• Receiver: trigger group pin(s) and trigger group, bolt assembly and cocking handle, carrier latch / cartridge drop lever
• Bolt: firing pin retaining pin, firing pin and spring, locking head pin and locking head, inertia spring, extractor pin, extractor and spring
• Trigger group: hammer, sear, disconnector, trigger and their springs (Benelli trigger group; strip only if coating the guard)
• Stock / recoil tube: recoil pad, stock nut, spring washer and plate, stock and drop shims, recoil spring, plunger and link, recoil spring tube (bare-receiver jobs; often thread-locked) — 13-17 mm socket on extension, padded vise, heat gun

Special tools

• Long 13-17 mm socket on extension — Buttstock nut on the tension rod
• Padded vise and heat gun — Freeing a thread-locked recoil spring tube
• Punch set incl. 3/32 in. — Trigger group and bolt pins

Known pain points

• When the bolt goes back in, the link has to slide over the trigger guard and onto the recoil spring plunger hidden inside the receiver; if it misses, the gun will not cycle and the plunger can be damaged. (reassembly)
  Source: M2 Field Product Manual — Benelli USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A. benelliusa.com [2] — “make sure that the link slides over the trigger guard assembly and onto the recoil spring plunger inside the receiver once the bolt assembly is fully mounted”
• The bolt locking head and its pin only go one way: the slanted faces of the head's stem must be hidden and the pin's reference line aligned with the bolt centreline. (reassembly)
  Source: M2 Field Product Manual — Benelli USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A. benelliusa.com [2] — “the slanted surfaces on the lock- ing head’s stem should not be visible once the bolt locking head is mounted.”
• With the stock nut fully off, the spring washer is no longer held and is easily lost. (disassembly)
  Source: M2 Field Product Manual — Benelli USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A. benelliusa.com [2] — “take care not to loose the spring washer. This may easily happen as it is no longer withheld by the nut”
• Reaching the recoil spring, or freeing the recoil tube so the receiver can be coated bare, means removing a buttstock nut that on early guns was set with red thread-locker; owners report needing heat and far more torque than expected, with a real risk of crushing or bending the tube in the vise. (disassembly)
  Owners report: Benelli Super Black Eagle recoil spring replacement — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [6] — “I am fearful of getting the vice too tight and collapsing the tube.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Recoil tube support and torque — The aluminium recoil tube is easily crushed or bent; refit square and tight without clamping the tube.
  Source: Benelli Super Black Eagle recoil spring replacement — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [6] — “I am fearful of getting the vice too tight and collapsing the tube.”
• Link seated on the recoil spring plunger — If the link misses the plunger when the bolt goes in, the gun will not cycle.
• Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Manufacturer videos

Official videos from Benelli Armi's own channels, linked rather than copied. Where a video and the steps on this page differ, follow the manufacturer's manual and video.

• Video smontaggio del benelli M2 Benelli Armi field strip · 2017-01-31
  Covers: Benelli M2

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "After having fired the first few rounds, repeat check and if necessary, remove butt plate and further tighten the stock nut, with the use of the appropriate wrench." (M2 Field Product Manual, PDF p. 93) "Fit the lock washer “3” and retaining nut “2” back onto the recoil spring tube and re-tighten firmly." (M2 Field Product Manual, PDF p. 89 (stock drop/cast shim change, step 7))

Reported by other sources — not the manufacturer

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Benelli Armi. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Function check

• Verify the shotgun is unloaded, chamber and tube, before each step.
• Cycle the action by hand and confirm the bolt locks fully into battery and the bolt head rotates closed.
• With the hammer cocked, engage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• Confirm the bolt locks open when retracted and releases with the carrier release.
• Load two dummy shells into the magazine and confirm they feed and eject one at a time.
• Confirm the magazine cap is tight and the bolt handle is fully seated.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt body exterior where it rides in the receiver
• Bolt head locking lugs
• Magazine tube exterior
• Trigger group pivots

Cleaning notes

Inertia guns are famously tolerant of dirt and need very little lubricant — much less than a gas gun. Keep the inertia spring and the bolt interior clean and essentially dry. Excess oil there is the most common self-inflicted cause of cycling failures. There is no gas system to foul, which is the system's main advantage.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 2000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Inertia spring · Bolt head locking lugs · Extractor and extractor spring · Recoil spring in the stock tube · Magazine spring

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Benelli M2 Field and Tactical · Benelli Super Black Eagle series · Benelli Montefeltro · Many inertia-driven shotguns using the same system. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Remington Model 1100
• Mossberg 500 / 590

Sourcing