Some Tips to cleaning your Benelli SBE II

Step one is breaking the gun down into three parts the barrel, the stock and

the inertia drive action like you got it day one.

Pop the recoil pad off the end of the gun and clean the end of the stock and the butt itself. I use the garden

hose and a terry cloth... Being sure not to get water on the moving parts.

Should look a little something like this once your done. I do this first to get rid of the mud that accumulates on the butt of the gun. That was all some nasty Wister

mud. This helps keep everything else mud free during the cleaning process.

This is one the most important areas that I clean that really affects how the gun loads. Break Free(CLP-2) makes a good solvent that I use that along with a tooth brush takes care of the powder residue that builds up in the grooves where the bolt mechanism locks into the back of the chamber.

Clean the grooves as often as you can, more than anything it helps the bolt easily slip into place and I will show what I mean by this.

Really get in there and clean out all the gunk. You can buy one of those fancy brush kits or just use a plain old tooth

brush I have both I use which ever one I find first. You can dip the tooth brush in bore solvent and that works well too!

Here is what cleaning the groves will help prevent, the way the bolt is sitting the gun will misfire. This happens if the bolt lever catches some brush and gets pulled back or sometimes when you set the gun down too hard. Also some reloads have expanded a bit too

much and don’t slide in the chamber all the way. Notice the lever is a little over a 1/4’’ from the B in Benelli.

See how the the lever is sitting up close to the B in Benelli this is how its suppose to be, also less of the silver part of the bolt assembly is visible, I just always check

mine after a long period of no birds or sometimes as the birds are coming in… I’ve been burned a few times and just hate when that happens, It’s my only beef with this

gun but there is a solution.

Here it is again, this is in the bad position also notice the front of the action

And this is in the correct position go back and forth a few times to see the difference.

My buddy Phil fixed this problem by replacing the factory spring in the stock of the gun with a stiffer aftermarket spring. He said its around $25 for both the spring in the stock and the

magazine feed spring. I asked and Phil said he has no problem shooting light loads with the

conversion. I shoot absolutely every load with my SBE II from 1 oz target loads to the Monster 3 1/2’’ turkey loads. I cycle 3-400 dove loads at the range multiple times a year in the off season and the gun never hiccups on me but I clean my gun after every use using the steps I’m putting

forth here. I just decided to make the conversion too for 25 bucks it’s a good

investment!

Next clean the barrel with what ever you prefer cleaning rod or snake bore ropes but the most important thing is to get all the gunk

off the chamber walls also take your choke out and clean that sucker up too. It should look like glass when your done and you

hold it up to light. This helps the shells slip in and out with the least amount of friction. I always apply a thin layer of oil the inside of the

barrel after it is thoroughly clean. Also again notice one of the groves I said to clean with the toothbrush.

This is the base of the receiver where all the debris from the shotshells accumulates unburned powder, sand grit, etc.. One way I get rid of this problem is using compressed air, flip the gun blow all the particles out… This amount accumulated after 3 hunts, but between hunts two and three I turned it over and shook some of it out. I was using reloads so this may be why there was so much gunk back there… but its inevitable no matter what you shoot.

Here’s the other way I get the gunk out using the Break Free CLP-2 anything that evaporates quick will work. Keep this crap out of the trigger mechanism… Seems like all the gunk is held to the back and stay

out of the trigger assembly.

This is what it should look like afterwards. The stuff I have pictured is bad for this

gun it eats away at the paint… DONT use the Winchester brand solvent.

Next I make sure the tongue has free play if

not, give it a spray with the break free at the spots where it is

pinched in by the trigger assembly. Also if you do have access

to compressed air, clean the trigger

assembly, but I rarely touch it. Maybe once a year as long as you are cleaning the gun

regularly it will be fine.

Here is where you spray and after its dry I

give it a SMALL drop of

Hoppe’s lubricating oil and work the lever up and down for a

while to get it in there.

Here is something I religiously

clean on all my guns the seat to the back of the shell… a little solvent

and oil afterwards is all it takes.

Looks nice

clean!

I wipe the action down every time I use my gun, and once or so a year break the action apart and

clean everything… The key to the action is lubricating the rail I show it you guys in a few slides.

Pretty simple to pull apart, pull the pin, with your finger on the back of the firing pin so it doesn’t fly out the

back, and everything slides out. I’ve cleaned it twice in 3 seasons this way. Wouldn’t hurt to do it more often.

Here it is all clean, looks very nice! Give the action itself a nice light coat of the Hoppe’s lubrication oil and its

good to go.

Make sure the grooves where the action slide into are clean I usually brush it out and clean it with a dry microfiber towel since the rail gets lubricated often I want to make sure there is no gunk build up, but I never have a

problem with that.

Ok so once its clean, I always put one small drop of oil on the back of the rail where it slides into the receiver,

and slide it immediately in place and put the barrel back on the gun, and work the slide back and forth to get the

oil distributed evenly.

Last, give the gun itself a wipe down and a light coat of oil…

The gun itself is pretty impervious to corrosion but its always nice to have it be as

clean as possible…

Well that’s it… your gun should be good as new and be ready to perform at 100% next time you

are out there!I am obviously very

meticulous in how I clean my gun, but hell for the price we pay for these

things, taking some time to properly clean them

should be Standard Practice. Hope this

helps.

One last tip… When you shoot the light loads, loosen up on the gun, when you hold the gun in a death

clinch, the action isn’t able to do what its suppose to do… When I bought my first Benelli from Fowlers, I was told that if you put the butt of an inertia gun to a brick wall and fire it, it won’t cycle. My uncle and I

were out shooting clays, he would shoot my 20 gauge M1 S-90 it would jam, I’d take it from him and boom, boom, boom, cycle three rounds, give it back to him

and it would jam again… I figured out he was holding the gun so tight it would jam! Once he loosed up

problem solved. So when you shoot light loads loosen up the death grip its not gona kick you that hard at all

so don’t hold the gun too tight bracing yourself.

Having a properly maintained gun leads to days like this!

THE END