FWB 300S barrel cleaning

[GaryG]

How do you know when it is time to clean the barrel and what is the procedure using felt pellets?

[Stradman]

Usually when new right away. each person will have an opinion on this topic so here’s mine. After about 150 shots I use the patchworm system with ballistol as a lubricant and cleaner on the first few patches and follow up with dry patches.

[subscriber]

Gary,

Spring airgun pistons are cushioned by the high pressure air generated between piston face and the inside front wall of the compression chamber.  Dry firing "springers" slams the piston into this wall.  That is not good for anything, and will soon lead to damage.  Here is why this matters:

Firing a light cleaning pellet is similar to dry firing.  So, I like to load a cleaning pellet with a regular wadcutter pellet behind it to prevent the slamming effect.  Some people load 2 or 3 cleaning pellets at a time.  I know that a lead pellet is safe; so that is what I use as a "backing pellet".

I like to wet cleaning pellets with straight mineral oil, if I want to sweep out sticky deposits, or leave an oil film as a moisture barrier for storage.  If you want to shoot right away, then shoot a dry cleaning pellet or two, after the wet one/s; each with a lead pellet loaded behind it.

With many low power target airguns, each pellet leaves as much lead dust as it sweeps out.  This means that the barrel only has a small amount of loose lead particles in it, and that it never really builds up beyond a low level.  As long as this is true, you don't need to clean the barrel.  In fact, cleaning it may open groups or shift them slightly.  This shift should settle back to the original point of impact and group size over perhaps the next 10 shots.

If lead deposits somehow stick and causes a buildup to occur, the airgun will tend to throw unexplained "flyers" on target.  Or the groups will just open up.  That is the signal to shoot a cleaning pellet.  To minimize the risk of "over cleaning", shoot just one dry cleaning pellet with a wadcutter behind it.  Wet cleaning pellets will do a better job of cleaning, but may take more shots to settle groups.

If one cleaning pellet does not seem to remove the hitch, then by all means, shoot 3 wet and three dry cleaning pellets (one at a time, with regular pellets loaded behind them).

The probability of you not needing to clean often does depend on how clean the pellets are that you are shooting.  Expensive target pellets tend to be clean, while cheap pellets may have a lot of lead flakes on them.

Because the model 300 is not a very high power airgun, it is less likely that the lead or antimony would have "soldered" to the barrel bore, but at high velocities, shooting high antimony alloy lead pellets, the lead buildup can be stubborn enough that a felt cleaning pellet would not be able to remove it.  Very unlikely with your FWB.

What ultimately matters is how well your airgun groups on target.  I like to take a look through the clean, dry barrel to see if it looks uniform and shiny.  As your rifle has a fixed barrel, this can only be done from the muzzle.  If you do this be sure that the breech is open, with no pellet in it, and the spring is uncocked (if possible).  It helps to hold a light source or reflector at the breech to introduce enough light to see anything.  If looking down the barrel from the muzzle makes you nervous, don't do it.  It is also likely to scare anyone walking in on you...

Mike mentioned using a patchworm:  A pull-through will enable you to pass a dry, tight fitting patch through the bore.  This will drag out pretty much any dirt you are likely to encounter.  Pulling through several patches will show most dirt on the first and second patch with subsequent patches coming out essentially clean.   Looking at the patches is an easy way to know when you have done enough:  When at least one comes out "clean".

It may take as long or a bit longer for the groups to settle after pulling patches through, because it is potentially more effective than shooting cleaning pellets. 

The risk with pulling patches is that an oversize patch can get stuck in the bore.  So if you go this route, start small; or find out what other people like to use.  It is not just the patch size that counts to make the patch tight, but the "knot" size, or the cleaning loop on the pull-through.  A patch that takes more than 20 lb to pull through is too tight in my opinion (patch at risk of getting pulling off, and getting stuck inside barrel).  Less than 5 lb, and it is not cleaning as well as it could.