I had a chance to take my new M4 to the range this afternoon. I wasn't sure what to expect, since my range is slugs-only, and I have used 12ga slugs from my Mossberg pump before and there was quite a bit of kick to it. I thought I'd let a few awesome range regular members try it out and I can see their experience with it before I tried it out. I am fairly recoil sensitive, but understood that a semi-auto may lessen the felt recoil. When I saw a couple of fellow range members shoot it, I was surprised but how little kick there was. The fellows told me "it shoots very soft".
So I tried it. And sure enough, the recoil/kick was not even close to how bad I thought I would be. It would seem like my Keltec Sub2000 PCC in .40 has more kick to it.
Here's the ammo I brought today to use:
Score Competition Slug Low Recoil 2 3/4" 1oz, 1300FPS
Remington Managed Recoil Slugger 2 3/4", 1oz, 1200FPS
Challenger Target Slug, 2 3/4", 1oz (unknown velocity)
I had a Holosun HS515CM on it, though it wasn't sighted yet (and I didn't bother doing it while there).
So now, a quick impression on the shotgun.
THE GOOD:
1. Obviously much less felt recoil using the above rounds than I had expected this is a good thing.
2. Pistol grip is extremely comfortable as is the weight of the gun. That may contribute to the lessened felt recoil
3. Loading was easier than I thought - I didn't pinch my fingers like I do on my 870. I tried my hardest to get my fingers to pinch, but they never got caught on the loading ramp.
4. It was a hoot to shoot - after a while I forgot about the recoil (there was some, though as I am typing this now, my shoulder has no soreness, which is a good thing)
THE BAD:
1. The only bad I encountered and I don't know if this was because of the lower recoil rounds - I got consistent though occasional failure to feeds, and the occasional failure to eject (maybe 1 or 2 out of 100 rounds). With the feeds, consistently 1 or 2 out of every 5 or 6 rounds would not feed properly, even though the previous round was ejected. If I work the charging handle slowly, it will feed the next round smoothly. I am not sure if this is because the gun is new, or because of the type of rounds I used (all low recoil).
2. One (1) round of the Remingtons (I believe) had light primer strike. We put it through the gun a couple of times after and it never fired, so we discarded it into the dud bin.
I am not sure if the issues in the "bad" section are "break-in" issues or if there is some way to mitigate them. I will try S&B slugs next time out and pick up some other non-low-recoil slugs to see if they feed better. If not, does anyone have any clues as to why there may be some feeding issues? Again, when it happens, I get the click and then after 30 seconds or so I pull back the charging handle and see that a round was in progress of being loaded but not fully loaded. The good news is, working the charging handle chambers the round very, very smoothly, without issues.
So I tried it. And sure enough, the recoil/kick was not even close to how bad I thought I would be. It would seem like my Keltec Sub2000 PCC in .40 has more kick to it.
Here's the ammo I brought today to use:
Score Competition Slug Low Recoil 2 3/4" 1oz, 1300FPS
Remington Managed Recoil Slugger 2 3/4", 1oz, 1200FPS
Challenger Target Slug, 2 3/4", 1oz (unknown velocity)
I had a Holosun HS515CM on it, though it wasn't sighted yet (and I didn't bother doing it while there).
So now, a quick impression on the shotgun.
THE GOOD:
1. Obviously much less felt recoil using the above rounds than I had expected this is a good thing.
2. Pistol grip is extremely comfortable as is the weight of the gun. That may contribute to the lessened felt recoil
3. Loading was easier than I thought - I didn't pinch my fingers like I do on my 870. I tried my hardest to get my fingers to pinch, but they never got caught on the loading ramp.
4. It was a hoot to shoot - after a while I forgot about the recoil (there was some, though as I am typing this now, my shoulder has no soreness, which is a good thing)
THE BAD:
1. The only bad I encountered and I don't know if this was because of the lower recoil rounds - I got consistent though occasional failure to feeds, and the occasional failure to eject (maybe 1 or 2 out of 100 rounds). With the feeds, consistently 1 or 2 out of every 5 or 6 rounds would not feed properly, even though the previous round was ejected. If I work the charging handle slowly, it will feed the next round smoothly. I am not sure if this is because the gun is new, or because of the type of rounds I used (all low recoil).
2. One (1) round of the Remingtons (I believe) had light primer strike. We put it through the gun a couple of times after and it never fired, so we discarded it into the dud bin.
I am not sure if the issues in the "bad" section are "break-in" issues or if there is some way to mitigate them. I will try S&B slugs next time out and pick up some other non-low-recoil slugs to see if they feed better. If not, does anyone have any clues as to why there may be some feeding issues? Again, when it happens, I get the click and then after 30 seconds or so I pull back the charging handle and see that a round was in progress of being loaded but not fully loaded. The good news is, working the charging handle chambers the round very, very smoothly, without issues.