Beating a dead quail here

[tegridy]

Hi folks! I hope you're doing well.

I know this question has been asked a dozen times, but I just want to make sure, so I apologize for beating a dead horse quail here.

Can I use goo gone to clean my Lothar Walther barrel? I know we are not supposed to use products with an excess of petroleum, and I see goo gone has petroleum distillates, but I honestly am not sure if that is the same significance.

I also have 99% ISO - would that be suitable? I sort of figured not, because it will destroy any lubrication or maybe damage o-rings.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Hi folks! I hope you're doing well.

I know this question has been asked a dozen times, but I just want to make sure, so I apologize for beating a dead horse quail here.

Can I use goo gone to clean my Lothar Walther barrel? I know we are not supposed to use products with an excess of petroleum, and I see goo gone has petroleum distillates, but I honestly am not sure if that is the same significance.

I also have 99% ISO - would that be suitable? I sort of figured not, because it will destroy any lubrication or maybe damage o-rings.

Thanks in advance!

ISO alcohol will cause premature rotting of your orings by drying them then out. How do you plan on cleaning your barrel using ISO?

 

[coastal drifter]

I use CLP to clean my barrels then a few dry patches fallowed by silicone lube on any Orings

 

[uladz]

I would never think of using goo gone or iso alcohol to clean a barrel. Don't do it. CLP or Ballistol is the way to go. And as @coastal drifter suggested, apply silicone lube on O-rings after you are done.

 

[lonedave]

Ballistol and don’t look back.

 

[daddypaddy]

i’ve used 99% iso before. but that’s with the barrel off the block and o-rings removed. it’s perfectly fine if it’s done this way. just be sure to use a good lube after to protect the metal. i use perfluoropolyether, same stuff astronauts use. cause i’m an astro-not

 

[coastal drifter]

i’ve used 99% iso before. but that’s with the barrel off the block and o-rings removed. it’s perfectly fine if it’s done this way. just be sure to use a good lube after to protect the metal. i use perfluoropolyether, same stuff astronauts use. cause i’m an astro-not

I have friends who used lacquer thinner in the same manner to clean a barrel.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

There are lots of different seal and o-ring material. Some if not most are unaffected by oils. Acetone, xylene and other volatile solvents can be hard on some materials. It just depends what the seals are made from. The list of possible materials is long. But buna, hypalon, viton and urethane are pretty common. I'm sure different manufacturers use different materials depending on the application. If you know what the seals are made from you can easily find out what is safe to use.

I use kroil to clean my bore. It works dandy. 2 patches and a couple dry patches after. Done.

I dropped an oId HW breech seal in kroil for days. No issues. It's good stuff and cleans fast. So that's what I use. I use it on all my rifles. It will eat the replacement factory hatsan breech seals fast. But the factory seals that come with the rifles are different and or kroil wont soften them.

Muzzleloader solvent is water based and works great for me too. So does bore butter. On the pellets and in the bore. Bore butter is safe for high pressure air seals too. I've used it on about everything except oxygen fittings.

Hoppes, Butch's and Shooters Choice do just great too. They don't affect the springer breech seals I've tested. But your mileage may vary with other seals in other rifles. Hoppes might leave some oil in the bore. And the others have ammonia for removing copper. But they aren't going to hurt an airgun bore I wouldn't think.

I just use what I have on hand. i don't see the need for volatile solvents like acetone and xylene (lacquer thinner). Is there a reason for using this type of solvent in an air rifle? It does not seem logical to use them unless you are trying to strip oil out of the bore. Solvents like that wouldn't be very effective on lead or mold release coatings. It seems a penetrant would be better but I honestly don't know.

I have heard so much written about cleaning air rifle bores and a lot of it is a mystery to me. Aside from seals I can't see why there would be any difference between cleaning an air rifle bore and a powder rifle bore. If I'm mistaken I would love for someone to set me straight.

Im not shooting a PCP and I know nothing about them. But I've been cleaning my spring rifles with a couple drops of kroil on a patch just like my powderburners. Gets them squeaky clean fast and no issues with most seal materials. I just pop the breach seal out of the hatsan with a squirt of compressed air before I clean it. Have had no issues in many hundreds of thousands of shots.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Clean your barrel?

 

[uladz]

I have friends who used lacquer thinner in the same manner to clean a barrel.

Do they clean firearms? This would be like using a gun bore cleaning solvent, same thing practically . That's effective to take care of carbon deposits and gunk in firearms, but not necessary in airguns as there is no powder burning. Clean shots! CLP actually has some amount of solvent in it too to help with cleaning, along with oil to lubricate. But seriously, Ballistol or any mild gun oil works perfectly.

 

[daddypaddy]

Clean your barrel?

yeah man, i’ve seen some crosmans with overspray in the bore. either factory or previous owners doing paint jobs half asleep.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

The Hatsans have some real gunk in there out of the box. It took 6-8 patches to cut that stuff and a few more to get it clean. It's on the metal below the stock too. It looks like earwax. Or the old alox bullet lube. It's really nasty.

After digging the guano out of the barrel and some JB's bore paste it only takes a couple patches to clean. Even with 2-3k Crosmans with the coal black butter sauce. It takes longer to get it off my fingers after a shoot than it does inside the bore.

The hand cheese on the stocks and barrels are the biggest cleaning issue. Greasy sweat stains on the cheek rest. Beer drops on the scope lenses. I only clean the bore when I take the action out of the stock to get the sand and grit out or I have to fix something. I just don't pay much attention to bore cleaning on an airgun.

Smokeless guns as well unless I'm going to put it in the safe for a while. Every rifle shoots better at equilibrium. Unless you have lead or copper fouling spoiling the shot I think it's best to just make sure the bore doesn't rust and leave it at that.

 

[JimD]

Kroil is a penetrating lubricant something like WD-40. I've used it to clean powder burners but I do not think I've used it on an air rifle. But I think it should be fine. If I did not have ballistol on hand I would use WD-40. I've used it before and it works fine. Didn't hurt anything. I would not use really strong solvents like goo gone, lacquer thinner or xylene. There is just no need and it might do some damage. You do not have any products of combustion to remove, mainly you are just taking out lead dust. My P35s have holes in the shroud and I get lead dust build up on my barrel. I have to clean it off occasionally. That same dust is in the bore. It does not require a solvent to remove it.

I used to clean my guns a lot more than I do now. I would clean them when I shot a bad target. Easier to blame a dirty bore than my bad shooting. As I've learned to shoot a little better I clean less.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Kroil is a penetrating lubricant something like WD-40. I've used it to clean powder burners but I do not think I've used it on an air rifle. But I think it should be fine. If I did not have ballistol on hand I would use WD-40. I've used it before and it works fine. Didn't hurt anything. I would not use really strong solvents like goo gone, lacquer thinner or xylene. There is just no need and it might do some damage. You do not have any products of combustion to remove, mainly you are just taking out lead dust. My P35s have holes in the shroud and I get lead dust build up on my barrel. I have to clean it off occasionally. That same dust is in the bore. It does not require a solvent to remove it.

I used to clean my guns a lot more than I do now. I would clean them when I shot a bad target. Easier to blame a dirty bore than my bad shooting. As I've learned to shoot a little better I clean less.

Same. I stopped cleaning. Then I blamed the scope. Took it off. Now I blame the pellets. I decided to just stick with Crosmans so I don't have to keep looking for excuses.

I've cast and shot a lot of handgun bullets. In my experience a lead bullet won't be a problem under 900-100 fps. Past that the alloy of the lead can cause barrel leading. Pure unalloyed bullets work best but we never casted pure lead. It was always recycled and alloyed with antimony and who knows what else. Some bullets were a problem. There is a speed limit when shooting lead bullets.

With the speeds a PCP shoots it seems they would be approaching the limit. Do you guys have lead build up in the rifling when shooting hard lead?

 

[uladz]

@Bedrock Bob is killing it .

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

The Hatsans have some real gunk in there out of the box. It took 6-8 patches to cut that stuff and a few more to get it clean. It's on the metal below the stock too. It looks like earwax. Or the old alox bullet lube. It's really nasty.

After digging the guano out of the barrel and some JB's bore paste it only takes a couple patches to clean. Even with 2-3k Crosmans with the coal black butter sauce. It takes longer to get it off my fingers after a shoot than it does inside the bore.

The hand cheese on the stocks and barrels are the biggest cleaning issue. Greasy sweat stains on the cheek rest. Beer drops on the scope lenses. I only clean the bore when I take the action out of the stock to get the sand and grit out or I have to fix something. I just don't pay much attention to bore cleaning on an airgun.

Smokeless guns as well unless I'm going to put it in the safe for a while. Every rifle shoots better at equilibrium. Unless you have lead or copper fouling spoiling the shot I think it's best to just make sure the bore doesn't rust and leave it at that.

That orange looking gunk is cosmoline. That $hit is nasty, but it'll stop rust from forming on an AK that's buried for 50 years. Just ask the Afghannies.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

With a new barrel, if its Chinese especially, I will remove from the action and carefully spray brake cleaner down the bore from breech to muzzle while the barrel is verticle. Let it run down the inside and drain out, then a few oily patches, and it's usually clear after that.

Don't get the o-rings wet obviously. Then after test and tune of the gun, I remove and clean once more as a standard cleaning, and slap it back together, scope it and zero, and kill things indiscriminately after

 

[Bedrock Bob]

With a new barrel, if its Chinese especially, I will remove from the action and carefully spray brake cleaner down the bore from breech to muzzle while the barrel is verticle. Let it run down the inside and drain out, then a few oily patches, and it's usually clear after that.

Don't get the o-rings wet obviously. Then after test and tune of the gun, I remove and clean once more as a standard cleaning, and slap it back together, scope it and zero, and kill things indiscriminately after

I've found no matter how hard you clean a new hatsan a few shots will break a bunch more loose. Just a patch or two is all it takes. But there is still a little ear wax in the grooves no matter how good you clean it the first time.

I think it's pressure. The oils under pressure oxidize on a micro scale just like they would in dieseling. It takes that to knock it out of the nap of the metal. It wipes right out after you nuke it with a JSB jumbo.

Oh cosmoline oh cosmoline. The ear wax bit sounded better. It is a smell I remember from childhood. I've spent more time toothbrushing that sh!t out of the cracks than brushing my own teeth. Bought an old surplus 1902 Springfield 06 when I was a lad and the barrel was stuffed full solid. Had to dig it out with a copper wire and a pan of Gasoline.

I stank like that grease for a week. I loved it. I smelled just like a truckload of carbines. I was in hog heaven bro.

 

[daddypaddy]

The Hatsans have some real gunk in there out of the box. It took 6-8 patches to cut that stuff and a few more to get it clean. It's on the metal below the stock too. It looks like earwax. Or the old alox bullet lube. It's really nasty.

After digging the guano out of the barrel and some JB's bore paste it only takes a couple patches to clean. Even with 2-3k Crosmans with the coal black butter sauce. It takes longer to get it off my fingers after a shoot than it does inside the bore.

The hand cheese on the stocks and barrels are the biggest cleaning issue. Greasy sweat stains on the cheek rest. Beer drops on the scope lenses. I only clean the bore when I take the action out of the stock to get the sand and grit out or I have to fix something. I just don't pay much attention to bore cleaning on an airgun.

Smokeless guns as well unless I'm going to put it in the safe for a while. Every rifle shoots better at equilibrium. Unless you have lead or copper fouling spoiling the shot I think it's best to just make sure the bore doesn't rust and leave it at that.

yeah, i noticed that about the two hatsan i had