The Truth About Cleaning Air Gun Barrels

[Cableaddict]

Great thread.

If you use a new bronze brush of the correct size for caliber, trying to reverse the brush before it passes all the way through the barrel will take a lot of force. Some are concerned that the brush could damage the barrel due to the very high pressure on the bristle tips, as the bristles "flip over" on stroke reversal.\

Speaking of bronze brushes,   I'm trying to place an order now, but no one seems to make a brush specifically for .25 cal.
The typical choices are either  .243 / 6mm  or .264 / 6.5mm.   So which would be better?

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Same for mops:  If I'm going to pull my barrel, and buy/use a swiveling rod system,  then I'd rather use a screw-on mop than those PITA pull cloth patch thingies.   But I only see them in "264 caliber" and larger.  Will that work?

And what about using a jag?  Are these also cleaning devices, that you put cloth patches on?  I don't understand them.
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Last:   Ballistol, Shooters Choice,  Wd40,  etc.  It seems that's the one area where everyone still "disagrees."  I've been using Ballistol.  I see Kroil bore cleaning solvent online where I'm ordering the other stuff.  . Is that worth trying?

[subscriber]

Allan,

A .243 / 6 mm caliber bronze brush is actually larger than that diameter.  When you push the brush through the barrel, the bristles have to bend backwards to allow passage though the barrel.  A .243 caliber brush will still scrub a .25 barrel. 

A 6.5 mm brush will take a lot more force to push through a .25 barrel.  One could argue that it would be "more effective"; or work faster.  It is also very likely to get stuck, should you try to reverse the direction you are brushing, before completely allowing the brush to exit.

For lead fouling in an airgun barrel, I think a .243 brush will work in a .25.  Avoiding the brush getting stuck should not be difficult with the barrel removed from the action.

Kroil is a penetrating oil.  It gets under fouling more effectively than other oils, but all oils wet metals and will work better as cleaner than water, for example.  WD 40 is actually a pretty good cleaner.  It also works as a tapping fluid for aluminum.  It is not a good lubricant for a mechanism, but that does not matter when you are using it to clean.

There are many types and ways to hold patches for bore cleaning.  Some people swear by them.  Others swear at them   The ones that make sense to me don't drop patches in the barrel.  Less of a concern, if each patch is passed through the barrel in one steady motion, and then "stripped off" at the muzzle, when reversing the rod.  The type of felt pellet, patch or mop that is used to "polish" barrels must be securely retained.

If the bearings on your cleaning rod spin freely, the patch or brush should not unscrew due to following the rifling.

[subscriber]

Peter,

To answer your direct question; if you clean your Stormrider barrel from the muzzle using a bronze brush, some bristles will have to "flip over" as you start pulling the rod out from the muzzle.  This is due to the brush being longer than the magazine cut in the receiver. 

Bristles in contact with the breech O-ring are likely to penetrant the O-ring when they "flip over".  So, if you must use a bronze brush to clean you Stormrider barrel then you stop short of the O-ring; or remove the barrel from the action first.

Cleaning from the muzzle is frowned upon, although there are many firearms where where that is the only way to clean the barrel with a rod.  Vigorous scrubbing is less likely to be required with a low powered airgun shooting pellets, hence the popularity of "pull-throughs".

What I said yesterday about lapping your Stormrider barrel is only going to make sense, if it fouls rapidly to the point of shooting poorly; and is hard to clean by means of pull-throughs (such as the patch worm).  I don't think my barrel roughness is typical.  But, deburring the breech and transfer port with these air rifles to make them load smoothly, apparently is quite common.  Lead shaved off from pellets by a rough chamber and TP tends to make these rifles not shoot to their full potential.  Hence my link to that barrel tuning thread.

[rsterne]

I posted this a year ago or more in another thread, but it answers a question I asked myself when this thread was new.... I asked if Hoppe's #9 affected O-rings, and after soaking regular Buna-N O-rings in it overnight, I can tell you that it does NOT.... There was a very slight swelling (maybe 0.001" in CS) after hours of soaking, but once dried and left to sit for a short time, they were dimensionally right back where they should be, and back to their original hardness as well, from what I could determine.... and no long term affects....

Bob

[Cableaddict]

Thx, Bob.  I'll try some Hobbes. 


Still thinking about jags, which I guess are just dinguses to push cleaning patches.  What do you guys think of this "rifled" jag?



I assume you need an exact fit, so there may not be a .25 option anyway,  but it's an interesting idea. 
Maybe too aggressive for the light rifling found in pcp barrels?

[subscriber]

What do you guys think of this "rifled" jag?

I assume you need an exact fit

Yes; an exact fit with the same land and groove diameters, width and rifling pitch - when used with a patch of an exact size and thickness.  As this exactness is not going to happen, it is marketing nonsense.  Not better than a tight fit where the patch conforms to the rifling in the barrel you are trying to clean.

[nced]

I posted this a year ago or more in another thread, but it answers a question I asked myself when this thread was new.... I asked if Hoppe's #9 affected O-rings, and after soaking regular Buna-N O-rings in it overnight, I can tell you that it does NOT.... There was a very slight swelling (maybe 0.001" in CS) after hours of soaking, but once dried and left to sit for a short time, they were dimensionally right back where they should be, and back to their original hardness as well, from what I could determine.... and no long term affects....

Bob

Hummm....I did exac5tly the same thing years ago after my brother needed to use Hoppes #9 and a brass brush to clear the "CPL lead fouling" from his .177 R9 bore. Here was the result for a factory HW breech seal and a couple Viton orings........

Over the years I've learned that there are a few "springer taboos" that are accepted as fact that are simply "wishful thinking".

[cosmic]

 Just a addition to this thread.. I your barrel is not easy to remove, clean it      upside down so the cleaner of choice does not get into the valve..

[Strat-0]

I read this thread with interest, as I have heard such differing opinions from different sources.  The consensus here is clearly to clean, rather aggressively and often.  I have a fixed-barrel springer (Tech Force) with about 2500 pellets through it that shoots pretty good and hasn't really changed.  I have run a couple of dry patches through it once.  It consistently shoots about 2" groups at 45 yds, which I think may be my limit, eyesight-wise.  I have a nitro piston break-barrel (Crosman) with about 1000 through it that has never gotten much better than 3.5" groups on a good day.  That one recently blew the ram, and I just replaced it and the piston seal - shoots the same so far.  Thinking about thoroughly cleaning them both.

But what do you all think of this video from American Airgunner, where all three of the panel experts say they never, or very rarely clean their bores?  Only maybe when they're new, or there is a problem.  They say that air guns are largely self-cleaning.  Rossi Morreale, Tom Gaylord, Jim Chapman, and Rick Eutsler.

I think we would all agree that air guns don't shoot as well until they get leaded up a bit.  So, what do you think?

https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=tARdYsUfdp8   (remove space)   

[subscriber]

The consensus here is clearly to clean, rather aggressively and often. 

I must have missed that consensus.  I thought is was to clean when groups open up.  Or better yet, shortly before that number of shots will have been fired.  So, by experience; clean every 100, 200 or 500 shots.  Or never, if the groups never open up or throw fliers, with a given airgun and given ammo.

As it takes a number of shots for groups to settle down after cleaning, why clean when not required?

[Back_Roads]

 I clean inspect polish wax when new, rarely need any cleaning, unless accuracy falls off and it is not the tin of pellets fault etc..

[Yarddog]

I think that an important part of the process of barrel cleaning is to find a method in which you have confidence, and one that works for you. I've taken a lot of advice from threads like this and have developed my own process that works for me.

And the initial cleaning before I shoot a new barrel is different from the maintenance cleaning, for me.

[mwgm2020]

I believe that is where the "don't use brushes" came from .. Older barrel were  brass or lined with it..
1. I use Hoppe's ELITE FOAMING GUN CLEANER and a brush and it works well.. 
2. Kroil cleaning..
Lastly I use Frog Lube correctly...

Ray, are you using both the Froglube cleaners and the lubes?  Which cleaners, solvent or SD, and which lubes paste or extreme? 

I've been using the paste as lube and protector.  I was using Ballistol but switched to FrogLube after reading a lubricity report that tested many products commonly used for firearms, which ranked FrogLube as one the most slippery. 

[Jshooter71]

Never heard of FrogLube… I’m intrigued~

[Rick67]

Never heard of FrogLube… I’m intrigued~

This brand is made in the USA and cheap as well:


https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014746351?pid=178538

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014748587?pid=761842


Read it in a rimfire forum, so I put it in my cart 

The reviews appear to be stellar!

[7624452]

Were any frogs harmed in the making of frog lube ??

[lizzie]

I very RARELY clean my barrels, and so far, in ten years, I have never had accuracy issues. I am not saying I won't in the future, and am not saying the OP is incorrect, but my own experience over ten years doesn't bear it out.

[Jshooter71]

I very RARELY clean my barrels, and so far, in ten years, I have never had accuracy issues. I am not saying I won't in the future, and am not saying the OP is incorrect, but my own experience over ten years doesn't bear it out.

After I’d seen Lt. Dan’s results and there after, my own, I always thoroughly clean a new gun before I start shooting them. I won’t clean them again, ever, I don’t think unless accuracy falls off, which I’ve only done to one or two of mine. So far, I only use Ballistol and JB Bore Paste.

[nced]

I very RARELY clean my barrels, and so far, in ten years, I have never had accuracy issues. I am not saying I won't in the future, and am not saying the OP is incorrect, but my own experience over ten years doesn't bear it out.

Whenever my accuracy "goes south" and there isn't a "scope issue" (or whatever) a bore clean has ofter solved the issue. Here's some "before and after bore cleaning" targets with HW springers..........