“The $18,000 price tag for the shotguns was paid for with a Recovery Justice Assistance Grant, federal money designed to help equip law enforcement while stimulating the economy.” – pressherald.com on the funding for Portland po-po’s acquisition of ten Italian-made Benelli M4s. [NOTE: Quote changed from the original rather boring excerpt about how easy the M4s are to clean.]

18 COMMENTS

  1. Well worth the price, considering you don’t ever have to clean it (although, why would you wipe it down if it doesn’t get dirty). And hey, it comes with an extra ammunition clip.

    • You do have to clean it just to get the plastic fouling from the wad out (which can collect around the gas ports and choke). That’s about it. A couple run throughs with the bore snake and you’re good-to-go. There’s no need to clean the pistons or bolt, although some do anyway.

  2. I had a shotgun class with a group of marines who were using them in 2004 or so. The guns where getting pretty unreliable by the end of the class. And the stock had two settings: Too long for body armor and too short to use.

  3. Yeah, but it takes it out of your shoulder. My tools are here to serve me, not the other way around. Cleaning my shottie’s gas system after every 1000 rounds or so (30 seconds to disassemble and reassemble and a quick dunk in some MPro7) seems like a fair trade for not beating me up while I burn that case of shells.

  4. Benelli’s website states that the M4 has a 5 round capacity. Can regular folks procure one with a magazine that holds more than 5 shells? Is there a magazine extension somewhere if not?

    • The OEM, 2-round mag extensions are no longer sold to the civilian market by Benelli, but you can find them on various auction sites for a premium price. There are many after-market extensions available, but I cannot attest to their quality/reliability.

      This info is the same for the adjustable stock in the picture as well.

      • Lots of aftermarket magazine tubes and extensions; I concur there. As for adjustable stocks, there is only one that is adjustable for length-of-pull (Benelli’s OEM). There is an aftermarket stock that has a shorter length of pull and cheek riser from Mesa Tactical; but Benelli’s is still the only collapsable stock.

        BTW: The angle of the recoil tube makes the fully-extended position the only one useful for iron sites. The middle position is good for optics. The collapsed position is only good for storage.

  5. The onlt thing newsworthy is the following quote:

    “The $18,000 price tag for the shotguns was paid for with a Recovery Justice Assistance Grant, federal money designed to help equip law enforcement while stimulating the economy.”

    In other words, its more pork-barrel spending courtesy of Uncle Sam. Stimulating the economy? B.S. Driving the U.S. further into debt? Yes.

  6. The U.S. military has developed a real talent for buying foreign made or designed small arms. Well, maybe they don’t have much choice, given the poverty of U.S. designs these days.

    However, no shotgun is worth $1700+, the going rate for one of these Benellis.

    Why do the Marines need these shotguns anyway, to clear Goony birds from Midway Island? Pump guns already in the inventory will do that just fine.

  7. Would This be the same Portland PD that managed to frig up their Remington 700’s such that they fired every time you closed the bolt(or was it opened?) with a round in the chamber and then made a video on Youtube broadcasting their Bubba-esqe gunsmithing skills.

    These Ass-hats are patting themselves on the back for spending 1400$ (1800$ with accessories!) solving a 500$ problem.
    They could have the same functionality from a Remington 870 pump.
    Same ammo, same mag capacity. Less than half the price.

    I have a used Mossberg 500 that does 95% of what you can do with one of those Benellis…Cost: 100$

    Nice work Acting Chief Michael Sauschuck, you suck. The only thing you are good at is spending Other Peoples’ Money.

    Oh, and I LOVE the part where they talk about how you NEVER have to clean it. Statements like this give license to cops to not clean their guns and basically assures that it never will be cleaned and if they ever need it, it may not work. Sure, its a nice reliable gun that can tolerate some abuse, but its not FMagic. Its a machine and it will be better if you clean it.

    Police bureaucratic stupidity at its best.

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