I deliberately did not clean my Benelli MR1 for a year. I fired around 400 - 500 rounds of Norinco non corrosive ball and American Eagle ball during that time.
No photos didn't think to take any.
There were no malfunctions during the year and no changes in accuracy (other than me not shooting enough).
I stripped it down to the bolt and removed the trigger assembly.
The main carbon buildup was on the gas piston. It was not thick and cleaned up easily with Hoppes Elite gun cleaner and a soft toothbrush.
There was hardly any carbon buildup in the piston cylinder. I was surprised at how clean the gas assembly was.
The bolt had a little carbon build up over a quarter of its face. This came off easily with Hoppes and the toothbrush. I stripped the bolt down (lost the firing pin spring but found it) and the firing pin, spring and retaining screw were all clean. I really didn't need to clean anything in it.
The inside of the receiver had a bit of carbon in it and brass micro bits from cases but was easy to clean with a rag.
The trigger group was clean.
The plastic forend had a carbon film on the inside that came off with a rag.
The barrel was dirty. I wetted it down with a patch with Hoppes, bronze brushed it 4 times from the breech and then ran patches through it with Hoppes till it came clean.
It took about 12 solvent patches to come clean then I dried it, ran an oiled patch and then a dry patch and it is shiny bright.
I had not previously greased the rails/bolt edges but I did this time with Red N Tacky #2.
Overall it was very clean and I think that I could have easily run it for much longer without a cleaning.
No photos didn't think to take any.
There were no malfunctions during the year and no changes in accuracy (other than me not shooting enough).
I stripped it down to the bolt and removed the trigger assembly.
The main carbon buildup was on the gas piston. It was not thick and cleaned up easily with Hoppes Elite gun cleaner and a soft toothbrush.
There was hardly any carbon buildup in the piston cylinder. I was surprised at how clean the gas assembly was.
The bolt had a little carbon build up over a quarter of its face. This came off easily with Hoppes and the toothbrush. I stripped the bolt down (lost the firing pin spring but found it) and the firing pin, spring and retaining screw were all clean. I really didn't need to clean anything in it.
The inside of the receiver had a bit of carbon in it and brass micro bits from cases but was easy to clean with a rag.
The trigger group was clean.
The plastic forend had a carbon film on the inside that came off with a rag.
The barrel was dirty. I wetted it down with a patch with Hoppes, bronze brushed it 4 times from the breech and then ran patches through it with Hoppes till it came clean.
It took about 12 solvent patches to come clean then I dried it, ran an oiled patch and then a dry patch and it is shiny bright.
I had not previously greased the rails/bolt edges but I did this time with Red N Tacky #2.
Overall it was very clean and I think that I could have easily run it for much longer without a cleaning.
