Cleaning barrel when switching to a different pellet

[jetpopt]

Some online articles and comments recommend cleaning airgun barrels when switching to a different pellet, at least when comparing accuracy between them. It could be as simple as firing a few of the cleaning pellets through to, supposedly, remove differing lead deposits that, again supposedly, result from firing pellets of different styles.

Do you do this? I’ve fired more than 1300 pellets, constituting three different kinds, one of which is copper-clad. Have not yet used any cleaning pellets. I’ll soon try two new-to-me pellets and wonder if the cleaning pellets really make much difference for “palate cleansing between courses.”

 

[elh0102]

If you need to clean the barrel, cleaning pellets won't do it. In most cases, a pull-through system with a tight patch and cleaning agent will suffice. If you have more stubborn deposits, a rod and brush should be used. I believe that in most cases, the new pellet will season the bore with its unique deposits within a few shots. But, if I were seriously testing different pellets for accuracy (as in preparing a review), I would clean the barrel just to be as consistent as possible with each pellet. But I rarely do anything "seriously" anymore, so no, I don't generally do this. As for the copper plated stuff, I have no idea what they may transfer to the bore or how difficult it is to clean it.

 

[Sqwirl57]

When I get a new gun and am testing pellets I simply fire a few of the new pellet through the barrel before going for a group. The POI is usually off a hair for the first few but then it usually settles in fine.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

Dont see how its hurts .. i clean mine regular. Most times 500 or less shots so basically every tin i open or if i see any funny business affecting shots .

Everyone got there thing on what they feel best it just you do as you thing and draw a conclusion on what seems to work or not for your needs .. nuttin set in stone ..,

P.s i aint too hip on them cleaning pellets as well.

 

[Mycapt65]

This is a subject very dear to my heart. Seasoning a barrel is important for proper accuracy evaluation. Usually 25 or 30 shots are required before groups can be accurately evaluated. There's really no need to clean a barrel between brands unless the last one was Crosman.. Crosman uses more antimony than other brands. That creates a harder lead seasoning that can't easily be cleared with soft lead pellets.

Cleaning pellets are absolutely worthless. If you're going to clean a barrel you need at least a jag and a patch. Contrary to popular opinion you can use bronze brushes on good quality steel airgun barrels. If you aggressively clean a barrel with a bronze brush and or polishing agent like JB bore paste it can take a couple hundred shots to properly reseason a barrel. It's best to stay with soft lead pellets and leave them alone. I have barrels with at least 20k pellets through them that shoot fantastic.

Barrels vary greatly from piece to piece and my statements are generalizations but still typically hold true. All of my experience is with Weihrauchs airguns and many powder burner brands. I have found importance of barrel fouling has held true with both types but your mileage may vary.

In short stay with soft lead pellets, skip cleaning and shoot 25 or 30 fouling rounds before judging accuracy.

 

[SilentSquirrel]

If one cleans the barrel (as @jetpopt says "palate cleansing"), how does one know whether to attribute the POI and accuracy changes to the new pellet or the newly cleaned barrel?

 

[elh0102]

If one cleans the barrel (as @jetpopt says "palate cleansing"), how does one know whether to attribute the POI and accuracy changes to the new pellet or the newly cleaned barrel?

Take your pick and be happy.

 

[Sqwirl57]

If one cleans the barrel (as @jetpopt says "palate cleansing"), how does one know whether to attribute the POI and accuracy changes to the new pellet or the newly cleaned barrel?

Once you know what pellet your gun likes, start fresh from a sparkly clean barrel. You don't have to scrub the barrel between pellets to figure this out though.

 

[iAMzehTOASTY1]

so after about 7 years...I finally cleaned my ruger barrel. Never cleaned it out of the box either.
But once I did; accuracy was all over the place for about 20 rounds. Then out of nowhere I was slapping 120yard targets with H&N 14.66gr round noses.
She's been spot on pretty much since* this was about 4 months ago

 

[jetpopt]

Some of the comments here and elsewhere mention that after cleaning the barrel, firing 15 to 25 pellets is necessary to, uh, season the barrel to that pellet. (Why does cooking keep coming up by analogy? I’m not hungry.)

Very interesting, because with the PB gun I clean it after literally every range session. I don’t recall anything anywhere about needing to fire rounds to make the gun shoot better by preleading it. The idea is to remove the lead deposits in the barrel, not add it as “seasoning.”

That seems counterintuitive, but if it works for airguns, then that’s what I’ll do. In a few days I should receive the new pellets (RWS Super Dome 8.3 gr and H&N Field Target Trophy 8.64 gr). I will try the cleaning pellets after using the last of the Crosman copper-coated pellets. And then warm up with a few more new pellets than my usual 5 to 10 on easy targets before working on the harder ones.

The copper domes are pretty good, in my inexperienced view. I was afraid my gun was underpowered for them, but at only 50 ft this isn’t a problem. Don’t need to use 10 pumps, or even 8. The worst thing is that they’re pricy, like almost $12 for a tin of 200. Time to try some plain lead dome pellets instead.

Hmmm, maybe Daisy would have good advice on if/when/how to clean the barrel. The owner’s instructions only say to lightly oil hinges about every 1000 pellets. I’m overdue.

 

[Mycapt65]

All of my powder burners shoot better after a few fouling rounds. Most competitive shooters shoot a few fowling or seasoning rounds before a match. I either don't clean the bore at all or at least agrresivly clean the bore on PB after a range session. The guns hold their groups and POI this way. If I clean them aggressively with a brush and solvent after a session the groups open up and the POI moves. It will take several shots to season/foul the barrel again before the POI and group sizes return to earlier results. The only competitive shooters I see shoot well through just cleaned barrels are those with custom hand lapped barrels that can cost $1000.

I could cite many instances over several rifles that validate what I say. However the tie in with airguns isn't exactly the same. Powder burners can attain velocities that can perpetually foul a barrel to the point it will need a good cleaning. They also have chemical residues left from different powders and primers that don't apply to airguns.

As far as airguns go. I used the cooking term seasoning to avoid the negative connotation of the word fouling. Everything I said in my earlier post is true. Whether or not you can notice it, I can't say. Different barrels and types of airguns have different levels of susceptibility. The tens of thousands of shots I put over a chronograph with different brand pellets verify the effect one brand has over the other. This has been discussed and mocked before but extensive documented experimentation has proven what I say to be true. Utilize the information if you like.

 

[Simplemann]

All good information and I thank all that contributed I have found that its a good practice to listen to individual with more experience (in anything) and try what they recommend, however after that I go with my experience in whatever I'm doing, like they say YMMV. So on this topic my experience showed me that cleaning the barrel improved the grouping, but now you have brought something up I haven't tried, cleaning the barrel when switching to a different pellet

 

[Spartan]

I notice a decrease in accuracy/precision when shifting between projectiles that use either harder or softer lead, and this is when I need to clean the barrel. If the projectiles are using the same or similar lead, it doesn’t seem to matter as much. Just my experience.

 

[drpietrzak]

...

Very interesting, because with the PB gun I clean it after literally every range session. I don’t recall anything anywhere about needing to fire rounds to make the gun shoot better by preleading it. The idea is to remove the lead deposits in the barrel, not add it as “seasoning.”

...

This is a common rimfire practice.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@jetpopt Since there are no carbon deposits and corrosive residues to deal with in my air rifles I’m not cleaning a barrel to test a new projectile, especially with pellets. I try to clean my airgun barrels as infrequently as I can get away with. If the gun shoots well consistently, then I’m leaving it alone. I don’t shoot cleaning pellets. As others have suggested, a pull through system works well so long as I’m not shooting a bunch of slugs often. In the event that I do, I have nylon and brass brushes to loosen up the sort of leading that accompanies prolonged and voluminous slug shooting. I haven’t brush-cleaned a leaded airgun bore, but purchased some brushes after reading about how slugs have more contact surface area with the bore and deposit more lead than pellets. When that day comes, I think it is better to be prepared for the task.

In testing pellets I just shoot them until I find something that groups well consistently. I have gone from one tin/brand to the next on multiple guns and found what I was seeking for each gun without going through extra cleaning and leading cycles. This method hasn’t adversely affected my purchasing decisions or my shooting. When a projectile that has been grouping well stops doing so, then that’s an indication that I should investigate the root of the change and probably clean my barrel. Using a bore scope from time to time doesn’t hurt if you have one. I shoot paper to practice and prepare for hunting. I’m not a competitive shooter. My two pennies based upon my experience. Hope it helps.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

@jetpopt Since there are no carbon deposits and corrosive residues to deal with in my air rifles I’m not cleaning a barrel to test a new projectile, especially with pellets. I try to clean my airgun barrels as infrequently as I can get away with. If the gun shoots well consistently, then I’m leaving it alone. I don’t shoot cleaning pellets. As others have suggested, a pull through system works well so long as I’m not shooting a bunch of slugs often. In the event that I do, I have nylon and brass brushes to loosen up the sort of leading that accompanies prolonged and voluminous slug shooting. I haven’t brush-cleaned a leaded airgun bore, but purchased some brushes after reading about how slugs have more contact surface area with the bore and deposit more lead than pellets. When that day comes, I think it is better to be prepared for the task.

In testing pellets I just shoot them until I find something that groups well consistently. I have gone from one tin/brand to the next on multiple guns and found what I was seeking for each gun without going through extra cleaning and leading cycles. This method hasn’t adversely affected my purchasing decisions or my shooting. When a projectile that has been group well stops doing so, then that’s an indication that I should investigate the root of the change and probably clean my barrel. Using a bore scope from time to time doesn’t hurt if you have one. I shoot paper to practice and prepare for hunting. I’m not a competitive shooter. My two pennies based upon my experience. Hope it helps.

Ya, bit uou still get lubr and lead build up in the rifling that could deform a pellet instead of cleanly engaging the rifling.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Ya, bit uou still get lubr and lead build up in the rifling that could deform a pellet instead of cleanly engaging the rifling.

@Hateful McNasty If I understand you correctly, I’m not concerned about a pellet slightly deforming as long as my shot consistentcy is not noticeably and adversely affected. I load deformed pellets from the tin frequently enough. If I start seeing animals getting away after being wounded then I will become seriously concerned. I do what I can to prevent this. I allow my paper targets and chronograph to tell me when it’s time to clean or investigate an issue. I’m concerned about consistency in killing and I have enough data to usually determine whether I’m the issue, the gun is the issue, or another factor is in play. I’m only sharing my experience. Aside from using a bore scope and a pull-through cleaning system, I didn’t really make a recommendation for you all. Do what suits you. But for me and testing pellets, I’m not going through unnecessary cleanings.

 

[elh0102]

I've never had a match quality barrel that did not shoot its best when clean. With quality pellets at sub-sonic velocities a high quality barrel should last many shots before needing cleaning. I believe the "seasoning" process is often merely the shots required to remove the remnants of what was left in the bore after cleaning. If an air rifle barrel is lead fouling within a few hundred shots to the point that accuracy is diminished, I would question the quality of that bore.

 

[jetpopt]

This is a common rimfire practice.

The gun is centerfire.

 

[jetpopt]

I've never had a match quality barrel that did not shoot its best when clean. With quality pellets at sub-sonic velocities a high quality barrel should last many shots before needing cleaning. I believe the "seasoning" process is often merely the shots required to remove the remnants of what was left in the bore after cleaning. If an air rifle barrel is lead fouling within a few hundred shots to the point that accuracy is diminished, I would question the quality of that bore.

The gun is shooting as well as ever, or better. I was wondering why some recommend cleaning between pellet types. Maybe the thing to do is try at least 30 of the new pellets and THEN decide whether to use the cleaning pellets. Followed with another 30+ of the same pellets.

The PB handgun is going to be cleaned after each range session. I use bronze brush, CLP, and lint-free patches, nothing more. It’s not a disassembly.