Sigh. Way to set an example for the rest of the membership - berate other members choice of firearm on aesthetic grounds. Very high road.
Berate?
You assume that a tool is a bad thing. I don't. Why is the comparison necessarily an insult?
I'm just saying that there are some guns that inspire one to clean the thing, wipe it down with one's favorite rust preventative, wax the stock, and just plain admire it. These guns often don't get used as much as the power tool variety, and they sometimes don't get used in the field at all.
Or have you never met someone with a few really nice engraved O/U's that only go to the range, but a few autoloaders and/or pump guns that go with him when there's dirt and mud?
I grudgingly clean my 870 Express when it seems filty; I wipe down my 1100 until it seems to be moving stiffly; I carefully clean my trap single.
Frankly, the 870 Express is the best
tool among them, and I would advise anyone who wants a first shotgun to buy one. Nobody ever regretted having one, even after he's become a shotgun snob.
The Benelli's best attribute is that you can toss it into the safe, and at 3AM you can toss it into the truck and go hunting, and it will work even if neglected. No O-rings to bring along, no worries about temperature.
It lacks the aesthetic beauty of a nice O/U, and there's no amount of engraving, etc. that can change that. However, beauty is only skin deep.
My point is that, like the 870, I wouldn't feel bad about leaving it dirty. It's a rugged tool. The dirt won't hurt it (much), and like a rugged pump, it's not the sort of gun I take out of the safe and admire when I'm not going to go shoot it.
An O/U I would feel bad. My knowledge about how easily the things can be destroyed internally by accumulated grit, and how easy it is to keep the grit out of the action, make that feeling a valid one.
If you take that as berating, well, so be it.
WRT shooting more than 2 cases without rudimentary cleaning -- I'm not talking about detail stripping, just basic hygeine -- that indicates that the owners of the things perceive them as tools, as well, things to be beaten on and used until they're used up.
And it's not something I would advise someone to do, if they rely on the gun for anything, whether that's defense or an early morning coffee-fueled hunt. That the gun CAN do it is a good thing, just like it's great that a well-made sedan CAN go 150 MPH or it CAN stop in a very short distance. Doesn't mean I think it should be
advised as a general practice.
To summarize...
1. I am more likely to neglect cleaning a gun without guilt if I see it more like the tools in the garage than a piece of art.
2. It's good that a Benelli CAN go without cleaning as long as it can.
3. It's not a good idea to actively abuse machinery just because it can take that abuse for a while and still function.
I need the money.