How often do you clean your barrels?
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How often do you clean your barrels?
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Topic: How often do you clean your barrels? (Read 194 times))
airgunaut
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Real Name: Pat
How often do you clean your barrels?
«
on:
April 16, 2024, 11:48:10 PM »
The advice I’ve read usually runs along the lines of “Clean the barrel when you notice a drop in accuracy.”
Do most of you really follow that advice, or do you go by a different way of determining when to do it?
I ask because somebody somewhere stated that he does it every x tins of pellets used (sorry, I don’t remember the number he wrote). I suppose you could go by “Clean after x tins or x pellets shot, or when drop in accuracy occurs—whichever comes first.”
Just curious about what people really use as rule of thumb.
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farrlarr
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #1 on:
April 17, 2024, 12:10:44 AM »
I don't clean my barrels at all. I have seen no changes in accuracy nor anything else that would suggest that cleaning is needed.
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Larry in Idaho
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Cope1041
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #2 on:
April 17, 2024, 12:54:35 AM »
This is totally random as this topic on the same day, but today at lunch when I was shooting, I noticed a major drop in accuracy, im talking from a ragged 1 hole group at 50 to a spread of 1.5 inchs ++, Got home after work, did a deep clean on barrel, patches came out beyond dirty, after 1 full mag, accuracy was back to 1 ragged hole at 50.
That was the first cleaning in probably 5 tins 250 per tin.
Gonna try and maybe make a 3 tin cleaning in the future.
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Xraycer
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #3 on:
April 17, 2024, 06:45:49 AM »
I hardly ever clean any of my barrels. The only gun that let's me know it requires cleaning is my .25 Benji Armada because the accuracy goes way off once it gets dirty enough.
It's usually when I do clean the Armada that I also do a few other most used guns. My cleaning simply involves pulling patches through with a fishing line and I use either Ballistol or my pb cleaning spray.
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avator
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #4 on:
April 17, 2024, 08:03:17 AM »
I rarely clean them..
I do make it part of the routine check list if I'm struggling with accuracy.
Airguns are not powder burner and don't collect the same residue as gun powder leaves.
But it's all good... I say do what ever you think is best.
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #5 on:
April 17, 2024, 08:18:05 AM »
I'm in the less is more, the less time I spend cleaning barrels the more time I have to shoot. One good cleaning when gun is new, sometimes I skip that too if barrel looks good from the start.
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #6 on:
April 17, 2024, 08:41:58 AM »
I dont clean mine….but I have so many in rotation they probably dont get shot enough for accuracy to drop off……good luck
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KevinJBrown
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #7 on:
April 17, 2024, 09:33:10 AM »
I get a profound, and abrupt drop in accuracy that tells me it’s time to clean “something” out of the barrel. I suspect it’s not a gradual build up that goes over a then abrupt point, but literally a larger “something” that lodges in the barrel causing a shift in group accuracy. Actually seems to be more of a single flyer every ten shots or so.
Once it happens I need to clean the barrel and the problem goes away. Otherwise I’m chasing my tail. This “something” has happened within a tin or so up to thousands of shots so rather than waste time cleaning I wait for it to occur. If I was in competition I’d clean before competing.
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airgunaut
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Real Name: Pat
Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #8 on:
April 17, 2024, 02:06:23 PM »
Keeping tabs on accuracy would be simple if all I did was shoot with the gun on a rest (or two of them: front and rear), indoors or in another sheltered area.
I’m also still puzzled by different instructions from manufacturers. The Daisy lady told me in no uncertain terms to just start shooting the 880 without cleaning the barrel. She also said they don’t recommend anything more later on, other than running a dry patch through (harmless). The one time I did that was when I disassembled the gun to replace o-rings, which occurred after more than 5200 pellets fired through it. The patch showed only the expected lead residue, no visible contamination, and no bits or chunks of anything. So I’ll just trust the advice to not bother until a noticeable drop in accuracy happens. The word “noticeable” being subject to the question of bench supported or not.
Yet the Beeman pamphlet clearly stated that the P3 should be cleaned BEFORE shooting it. Because I didn’t yet have the Patchworm or patches, I just shot it anyway, ordered the cleaning items, and cleaned the barrel after maybe a couple hundred shots. And wow, the Ballistoled* patch dredged up not only lead residue but also a tan-red grease. After a few more Ballistoled patches and subsequent dry patches, the grunge was removed. However, given that all my shooting of that gun had only been offhand standing, there is no way I could assess whether cleaning improved the gun’s precision.
Two days ago I cleaned the P3 barrel for the first time since that initial cleaning. Probably at a little under 2500 pellets since then. The Ballistoled patches came out with just lead residue on them. The last two or more times I shot the gun were either offhand standing or sitting with elbow on bent knee (or both elbows on bent knees). There were some flyers but it could well be Just Me anyway.
I’ll keep leaving things alone unless a big degradation occurs.
* The Beeman rep said Ballistol was OK to use for that purpose.
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USA, CO
Struckat
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #9 on:
April 17, 2024, 03:32:11 PM »
I see a drop in accuracy, then clean the barrel.
The change can be seen as dramatic, but that will depend on what you are trying to do.
Trying to kill tiny dots on paper where a miss is less .177, it’s dramatic.
Shooting HOSPS with the same gun I may never know the difference.
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bender ville
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #10 on:
April 17, 2024, 05:58:08 PM »
once when new then never
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ranchibi
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Re: How often do you clean your barrels?
«
Reply #11 on:
April 17, 2024, 07:32:01 PM »
I use a Patchworm pull thru with felt 5 buttons soaked in Ballistol then 3 dry patches every 500ct tin of ammo which is usually 250 pellets and 250 slugs.
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How often do you clean your barrels?