I Just Ordered a Benelli M2 Modified by TTI

New year, new guns!  My first firearms purchase for 2017 is a new shotgun – a 24″ field grade Benelli M2 ordered straight from Benelli.  But I’m not having this M2 sent directly to me.  Instead, it’s going from Benelli USA straight to the Simi Valley, CA headquarters of Taran Tactical Innovations – TTI.

In the competitive shooting world, Taran Butler is a legendary competitor.  But he’s also the owner and founder of Taran Tactical Innovations, Inc. which specializes in manufacturing competition shooting components as well as performing modifications to existing firearms to make them perform better in the competition arena.  For shotguns in particular, TTI is a dominant force.  While there are a handful of shotgun models out there that are ready to go out of the box, most serious 3-Gunners send their shotguns to have very specialized modifications made with the end goal being to transform them into truly competition-ready shotguns.  TTI is one of the premier gun smiths in the US which not only has the technical experitise to do the work but also has someone like Taran Butler at the helm who understands the unique requirements 3 Gun competitors have – because he is a top competitor himself.  TTI shotguns are also used by some of the top 3 Gun competitors at every level including one of my favorite 3 Gun Pros, Keith Garcia.  I have to admit that seeing many videos of Keith’s unbelievable shotgun feats is a strong motivator to purchase a TTI M2.  Keith could choose to shoot any shotgun he wants, and he chooses a TTI M2.  That means something to me.

But John…what about your Benelli M2 3-Gun Edition?

Readers of ThruMyLens will recall that in 2016 I purchased a Benelli Performance Shop M2 3-Gun Edition –  which you can read my review of here.  In short, I still own it – it’s been a great shotgun for me.  I recently but a longer magazine tube on it, giving it a 13 round total capacity:

Having shot this version of the Benelli M2 for about a year, I still maintain it’s one of the best available choices for the new 3 Gunner coming into the sport because you don’t have to send it off somewhere and wait some number of weeks for it to be completed. When I bought it, my shotgun skills were weak at best – of the three required weapon systems used in 3-Gun, I had the least amount of experience, practice, and training with the shotgun.  At the time, I couldn’t really justify buying the absolute pinnacle of shotguns until I really determined whether or not I actually liked shooting a shotgun in competition.  Now that I’m totally hooked on 3-Gun, and really enjoy shooting the shotgun, I want a top shelf choice like the TTI M2.  I have no plans to sell my current Benelli M2 3-Gun Edition and will continue to train and shoot with it for the next approximately eight weeks until my TTI  M2 is completed.  I’ve also signed up for a shotgun training class with the aforementioned Keith Garcia that will take place a day before the 3-Gun Nation Eastern Regionals.  I’m almost as excited for that as I am the new shotgun.  A full day of training with legendary Keith Garcia before the Eastern Regionals, as well as the Shotgun Side Match taking place at the Eastern Regionals, is bound to improve my performance at both.  Needless to say, a full photo review of the TTI modified Benelli M2 is coming in about eight weeks…or less I hope.