Brand New M4 EXT Muticam Black - Damage?
I already submitted this to Benelli support a few minutes ago, but thought I'd ask here just to see if I'm crazy or not.
I bought this gun about a month ago and just today got a chance to take it out of the packaging to do disassembly and cleaning/lubrication. The first thing I noticed was all this damage to the barrel retention ring, which seems very unusual. The inside of the ring is smooth to the touch, and clp/nylon brush scrubbing for a bit didn't make any changes. But it really looks like corrosion to me.
On the retention ring towards the barrel throat, the outside also seemed to have wear around the inside of the ring, which also looks like corrosion.
Lastly, the bolt face had markings on it that didn't scrub off. It also seems marked up a lot more than I'd expect, even after the test firing they did at the factory.
It seems very unusual for a brand new M4. Am I crazy?
Update 1:
My LGS took the time to open each of their Benelli stock and found all of them had the same wear patterns and bolt faces. They sent me a photo as well, and the boltface I saw looked way worse than even mine did. They reached out to Benelli to find out what happened. Hopefully, this leads to a resolution.
Update 2:
Already got a reply back from my LGS (who contacted Benelli) and Benelli said the following:
They are going to replace the barrel as they found it unacceptable. They said the multicam black look faulty.
They are not going to replace the bolt as they said all their latest bolts are nickel-plated and exhibit similar wear by default.