Refinishing Benelli furniture for 14" M1S90

[cmshoot]

Picked up a 14" barrel for a good deal for my HK-marked M1S90, so I finally decided to SBS it.

Also decided to replace the factory black plastic furniture with wood furniture, but I hate that thick, shiny polyurethane finish.

I'm stripping the stock and forearm down to the bare wood, then I'll be staining and doing a sanded-in finish.

I'll also be inletting a steel QD sling socket in the left side of the buttstock. Haven't got that far down the rabbit hole yet, but it will either be secured with a nut from the backside, or screwed into a Heli-Coil that will be screwed and epoxied into the stock.

I modified a QD front sling mount from Mesa Tactical that should work nicely.

So far I've got the forearm about 98% stripped, and the stock about 60% stripped. The polyurethane finish that Benelli uses is the most difficult finish I've ever stripped.

 

[cmshoot]

The 14" barrel is the version with the rifle-style front and rear sights both mounted on the barrel, not the ghost ring set up.

I'll be adding a tritium front sight. 2 methods that I'm thinking of using:

1. Remove a tritium bead from an existing sight set, drill a hole in the front sight on the barrel, inlet the tritium, and epoxy it in place.

2. Machine off the blade of the front sight, but leave the base. Cut a dovetail in the base, install a pistol front sight, and trim the sides of the dovetail off to fit.

Method #1 would be easier, and a bit more rugged, but it also makes replacing a dead tritium vial more difficult. I'm currently leaning towards Method #2, if I can confirm that the front sight base is solid and not hollow.

 

[cmshoot]

The buttstock came off of a Benelli Montefeltro, and there are some differences between that model and the M1S90. This means the buttstock will take some fitting.

I had to carve in a notch for the tang on the back off the trigger assembly.

The wood is standing quite a bit proud around the top of the receiver, and I'll have to remove some material there.

 

[cmshoot]

Stock is sanded and whiskered. I’m gonna stop here until I can chop it and install a Decelerator pad, then go to the staining/sealing/sanding/finishing steps.

It’s got great grain, really pops when it’s wet, so I’m excited to see it with some stain.

 

[cmshoot]

Stained the forend for practice, and it’s much darker than I want. I’ll be experimenting on a junk stock with different dilution levels to lighten the stain up.

Other than being too dark, the forend is exactly where I want it to be.

 

[cmshoot]

Decided to use a WML forend instead of the wood one, but I'll keep the wood stock.

Problem is, Surefire discontinued the WML for the Benelli M1S90 years ago, and the ones I can find are all older generations that are way overpriced for what they are. So, now I'm modifying the newest generation of Surefire DSF for a Mossberg to fit my Benelli.

The front of the forend actually fits tightly, but there is nothing to support the forend at the rear. I cut the back portion off the original black forend and will be insetting it into the back of the Surefire forend. Nice tight fit, along with some good epoxy, and she'll be sound as a pound.

 

[PazAttack86]

curious to see the finished product!