Benelli M1 Charging handle.... options?

[Dangermouse]

I have a friend (honest) who broke here charging handle/cocking lever close to the bolt. She "borrowed" one from a friend / dealer and that also broke in short order. Both in the same place. She now has to buy 2 replacements, one for her and one for her friend. The lever is from a well known after market parts company and you would expect that they know what they are doing.
Bearing this in mind, I would urge that you make this from the strongest material you can and that you do not make it any lighter than it has to be, especially the bit that is in contact with the bolt.

Good luck, I am also watching this with interest as I am sure my SG could do with a nice shiny bit,

DM

[Ovenpaa]

I was thinking of a stainless steel spindle with an aluminium handle that could either be fixed or allowed to rotate on the spindle, I can see myself building a few prototypes for testing along the way though...

[Blackstuff]

You can see where i had to remove material from the part where the spindle meets the bolt knob, quite a bit IIRC

[saddler]

You can see where i had to remove material from the part where the spindle meets the bolt knob, quite a bit IIRC

YOU removed the metal yourself??!?!?!?!?!

No wonder it kept jamming at the comp on Sunday!

[Blackstuff]

YOU removed the metal yourself??!?!?!?!?!

No wonder it kept jamming at the comp on Sunday!

Before i had my way with it, it wouldn't even pass through the cut out at the back of the ejection port! Needs more dremelling . . . :lol:

[Ovenpaa]

I have the original one from BA now, plus the dimensions and something to make quite a few samples with so some questions...

What is the general preference, parallel sided with a knurl like the original post, or dished in with maybe some concentric rings and no knurling, or something else? No, I cannot easily dish and knurl at the same time...

Mark- I see you had to grind it back a bit so if I built the narrow section to 32,0mm or 33,0mm would that suffice or should I add a bit more?

All, I see the one Mark measured sticks out by around 20,0mm is this enough, the original picture looks to have a large diameter of 20.0mm and extends by maybe 30,0mm. It also looks like both after market items have two diameters on the shaft, is this needed and any idea what purpose it serves?

If I can get three suggestions I will see if I can make one of each and mail them out and maybe you can swap between yourselves to see which ones comes out top.

[Blackstuff]

That would be awesome Dave

Personally i'd prefer something like this, over the Briley 'drum' type:



But its the length thats important for me over the width (ooo matron!)

I'd say 32mm would be enough. I can only assume the spindle is slightly wider near the handle to add strength, can't think of any other reason EDIT; This blocks the spindle going any further into the bolt so its seated at the correct depth. I measure it at 22.8mm from the end of the spindle to the wider parts shoulder and it is 5.5mm in diameter



So the extra length would need to be on the wider part of the spindle - 9.5mm?

[Ovenpaa]

Personally i'd prefer something like this, over the Briley 'drum' type:



But its the length thats important for me over the width (ooo matron!)

Now that is one pattern I cannot do, well would rather not as it would probably take me an hour or so just to do the fluting as I do not have a CNC facility (Yet) Thanks for confirming the measurements, that makes sense.

[Bunnyassassin]

Not really keen on this one.... don't know why, just looks... "flimsy"....

I would prefer knurled, purely for the gloves and cold wet hands... not sure on length but 30mm'ish sounds about right?

Then again, there's the weight issue? My M1 is temperamental with light loads and I currently run nothing less than 6's through it... would a "chunky" handle cause further issues..?

I, for one, am looking forward to finding out...

Thanks for all the input and help...

[Ovenpaa]

I will build the shaft from 316 stainless and the thimble from 6082 T6 Aluminium so it should be light enough that inertia is not an issue but try it outside of a competition first time! I am as busy as a busy thing right now however I will try and find some time over the next couple of days to build a couple.