You got a Benelli M4 from your wife for Christmas!!! Ah...I don't know what to say...can I send my wife to your house for training? All jokes aside, I used to have a Benelli M4 and regrettably sold it. I caught the swiss rifle flu. I found that it would not eject low-recoil loads correctly, as there was insufficient energy from the recoil to cycle the action. I did a little research and found that this is not uncommon. New M4's have to be broken in a bit in order to cycle low recoil rounds. I would suggest firing some heavy load 3" shells for a while until the shotgun is broken in and then go back to your 2 3/4" shot shells. If you don't have the ammo, you can send it to me, I'll fire several hundred rounds through it, and then send it back to you when it will cycle that ammunition. Cheers.