Introduced in 1999, the Benelli M4 Tactical is considered by many people to be the finest tactical shotgun ever made. It was designed specifically to address a solicitation by the U.S. Army’s Armaments Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) for a new semi-auto 12-gauge combat shotgun for the U.S. military. The M4 won the testing. It has been in use by the United States Armed forces for over twenty years (as the M1014) and has seen combat all over the world.