the longest ive gone without cleaning my 10-22 before i started to have malfunctions was in the upwards of 5,000 rounds and i dont shoot very high quality 22 ammo either unless its in my match guns. but for the 10-22 the highest quality bullet i shoot would be remington thunderbolts but most of the time i use some russian made stuff called rooster .22 its steel cases and very dirty but accurate enough and also very inexpensive i can get a brick for 4 bucks.