Question on Oiling and Cleaning my M1.

[Nala]

Hey all. 
 

How often should I take the bolt assembly out, take it apart, clean it and then lube it?

I ask because I’ve been getting intermittent failures to fire.  When  releasing the bolt, the top part of the assembly that rotates after it pushes the shell into the chamber, doesn’t fully rotate and stops slightly before being completely seated.  I would have to retract it by hand and release the charging handle and it would then fully rotate and seat the shell to fire.  
I don’t know the name of the part of the bolt I’m talking about.  I can take a picture of it with an arrow if it’ll help with you being able to visualize what problem I’m describing.  Just let me know. 
 

I’m wondering how often the bolt assembly and its internals should be wiped down, cleaned and lubed.  Can you all give me some pointers on frequency of lubing and what kinds of oil is best to use?

Aby other info you can give me will be appreciated. 
 

larry

[remarkable]

Hi Larry,

I can comment on this tonight, if you could post your photo, that would be great.  

[bambihunter]

More often than not, it is the recoil spring that goes into the buttstock that causes the bolt not to lock. If you tap forward the bolt handle and it rotates and clicks in, I'd bet that is what it is unless it is in fact dirty. Benelli has gotten an undeserved reputation for the bolt not locking when shooting heavy loads at high angles (and eventually any angle) with the factory spring. Sometimes it is the spring itself, other times crud gets down in there and mucks up the smooth travel. StrangerDanger has a great how-to somewhere on here if you want to tackle opening it up. Here it is:

Here is the spring if you end up needing it. This goes into the buttstock portion. https://freedomfightertactical.com/collections/benelli-m1/products/the-fft

First though, to your original question, I've gone well over a thousand rounds in between ANY cleaning. I normally clean more often than that, but it rarely is dirty. I always use only dry lube on friction surfaces on the bolt sliding portion, as well as on the frame rails where it meets. Your issue isn't a failure to feed, but another thing I have seen is people use wet lube in the mag tube. In the fall hunting, this will get dried dust and grasses inside and they it won't feed properly. Some of my fellow hunters were complaining about how Benelli sucked. Sometimes I'd buy it from them, clean it up properly, and then use it on our next outing together. Quite a few times, they ended up buying it back from me (after admitting it wasn't the guns fault).

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by bambihunter

[Nala]

Hey all. 
I just remembered I posted this.  I will get a picture up today as soon as I can do you’ll know exactly what I’m needing help with. 
 

talk to you soon. 
larry

[Nala]

Hey all. 
 

here is the pic.  At the end of the bolt, where the shell is held and pushed into the chamber you’ll see a “hook” type part. This “hook” rotates counterclockwise as it is feeding the new shell. When I was having mis-feeds, this “hook” would stop rotating before the shell was completely seated and ready to fire.  I wasn’t able to push it forward the rest of the way with my hand.  I had to pull the bolt back all the way just like I was cocking it and then release it.  It would then fully rotate and seat the shell and then fire. 
 

This happened probably 8-10 times.  
 

I know it hasn’t been oiled or thoroughly cleaned since changing it over to a Tactical styled shotgun.  I fired 100 target rounds and then about 20 more target rounds 2 years later and then the feeding problems started. 
 

[Doge]

Benelli click. Happens if the the bolt isn't slamming vigorously. Could be a soft recoil spring.

[Nala]

I got it from my best friend.  He didn’t like the recoil as he was a new shotgun shooter.  It sat in his safe for several years until he traded it to me for some old stereo gear I wasn’t using.  
 

He and I both probably put no more than 150 rounds thru it.  Since I’ve had it, I have put exactly 150 rounds thru her.  
 

I have never done a full, thorough cleaning on it. Just wipe down and if something looked like it needed lube, I’d give it a couple drops and spread it around.  
 

That brings us to now.  The failures I experienced were the only failures it has ever had.  It was brand new when my buddy bought it.  I’m hoping it’s just a dirty part or it needs lube.  
 

thoughts??

[Nala]

If there’s some other pictures you want to see, I’ll try my best to get them.  Just let me know. 

[31b]

It sounds like your buddy did not give it any maintenance while it sat in his safe either.  Field strip it, clean and lube it and it will likely solve your problems.  Mr Gunsandgear has a video on this very topic.  Good luck.

[Nala]

I just got finished stripping it down, even taking the trigger group out, using some newfangled spray that cleans, lubes and protects on all the metal I could see.  I wiped off the excess.  
 

it’s nice and clean now.  Gonna dig out my dummy rounds and see if I can duplicate the problem that I was having.  
 

thanks all.