Cleaning Question

[Zach]

I’ve been struggling with sporadic accuracy on my Impact in .22 lately. I cleaned the barrel probably 200 rounds ago. It still wasn’t shooting like I thought it should so tonight I pulled the liner out so I could really check it out. After a couple patches soaked in ballistol and letting it soak then dry patches until they came clean l thought I had it. I held it up to the light so I could see through it and I could see spots. I soaked a patch in Hoppes #9 and ran it through then I scrubbed threw it with a brass brush and these ribbons of lead flew out. Hopefully that’s my accuracy issue. I’ve been shooting nsa slugs averaging 968 fps.
My questions are how do I keep it from fouling so fast/bad and would lubing the slugs help with the fouling without affecting accuracy? Thanks

 

[HogKiller]

I’ve been struggling with sporadic accuracy on my Impact in .22 lately. I cleaned the barrel probably 200 rounds ago. It still wasn’t shooting like I thought it should so tonight I pulled the liner out so I could really check it out. After a couple patches soaked in ballistol and letting it soak then dry patches until they came clean l thought I had it. I held it up to the light so I could see through it and I could see spots. I soaked a patch in Hoppes #9 and ran it through then I scrubbed threw it with a brass brush and these ribbons of lead flew out. Hopefully that’s my accuracy issue. I’ve been shooting nsa slugs averaging 968 fps.
My questions are how do I keep it from fouling so fast/bad and would lubing the slugs help with the fouling without affecting accuracy? Thanks

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With out a shred of evidence or knowledge so a wild guess, either you have a few nasty spots in your barrel or some bad pellets. Do you lube your pellets? Hopefully a one off situation.

 

[Zach]

I haven’t been lubing my slugs but I’m to try it and see how it goes. Hopefully it doesn’t negatively affect accuracy. I hadn’t thought about a bad spot in the barrel.

 

[john8]

I polished my barrels and the frequency of cleaning went down. This was on "normal" barrels, I've no experience with FX products.

 

[Zach]

I may try that. How do you recommend polishing a barrel? Thanks

 

[Emu]

I am not an EBR shooter.

I am just a Hunter.

I have never clean any of the barrels of my rifles.

Fortunately I have not received yet a complain of any of my taken animals to have received a pellet procedent of a dirt barrel.... I would be in trouble !!

 

[Bigragu]

To some of the guys responding to Zach:
1. He says he’s using slugs, not pellets

Zach- I’m not a slug shooter so as far as pre lubing your slugs I cannot offer that advice. I shoot only pellets and I do lube my ammo.

After a thorough cleaning which involves a brass brush scrubbing along with mops back n forth with JB bore bright, I finish off with a light application of a metal wax then let it sit for 15 minutes, just as you would when applying a liquid wax onto your car.

With a new mop I then buff it out with about 20-40 passes back n forth, then I run one patch drizzled with the same lube I use for my pellets. Just a thin coat as the pellets themselves will add more.

Between January and June of this year between two impacts set up in different calibers I went thru almost 8K pellets and only cleaned the barrels twice. If my groups open up or fliers are more consistent, and nothing else can correct this(scope issues, shooting technique, etc) then I know it’s time for another hour long cleaning session.

I’ve learned after a good clean and polish it takes my guns up to 3 mags to get back shooting sweet again

 

[Zach]

I appreciate all information guys. I’ll see if can polish my barrel up and see if that’ll take care of it.

 

[LDP]

Slugs should have some lube on them. You may also be using a slug that fits the bore to tight. I have not used nsa slugs so I dont know if they are lubed when you buy them. If they are dry put some lube on them. I know nsa come in different sizes what size are you using?

 

[Zach]

I’m using 27.5 grain slugs in .218 diameter as those seem to be the most accurate for me

 

[gyeghoian]

To some of the guys responding to Zach:
1. He says he’s using slugs, not pellets

Zach- I’m not a slug shooter so as far as pre lubing your slugs I cannot offer that advice. I shoot only pellets and I do lube my ammo.

After a thorough cleaning which involves a brass brush scrubbing along with mops back n forth with JB bore bright, I finish off with a light application of a metal wax then let it sit for 15 minutes, just as you would when applying a liquid wax onto your car.

With a new mop I then buff it out with about 20-40 passes back n forth, then I run one patch drizzled with the same lube I use for my pellets. Just a thin coat as the pellets themselves will add more.

Between January and June of this year between two impacts set up in different calibers I went thru almost 8K pellets and only cleaned the barrels twice. If my groups open up or fliers are more consistent, and nothing else can correct this(scope issues, shooting technique, etc) then I know it’s time for another hour long cleaning session.

I’ve learned after a good clean and polish it takes my guns up to 3 mags to get back shooting sweet again

How often can you use JB bright I did it once and it seemed to make a big difference? Deltawolf .25 600m

 

[nervoustrig]

With airgun barrels, once you’ve achieved whatever bore surface finish you want, there is almost never any reason to use an abrasive like J-B ever again.

 

[Bigragu]

How often can you use JB bright I did it once and it seemed to make a big difference? Deltawolf .25 600m

I have both JB compounds on hand- the bore paste that does light lapping duty and then the Bore Bright compound. I rarely use the lapping type stuff, only on trouble barrels. On my own barrels and barrels that come to me from friends(that are not troublesome) I would not hesitate to use the bore bright compound at every cleaning session.

I’m glad NERVOUSTRIGGER piped in on this thread, as I consider him THE GURU when it comes to anything barrel related from service/maintenance to correcting barrel related accuracy flaws.

 

[gyeghoian]

With airgun barrels, once you’ve achieved whatever bore surface finish you want, there is almost never any reason to use an abrasive like J-B ever again.

So it’s ok to use jb bore bright ……is that a yes or no got a little mixed up , I understand what was said about job bore cleaner it’s more abrasive..don’t use alot

 

[nervoustrig]

So it’s ok to use jb bore bright ……is that a yes or no got a little mixed up

Yes and no

Bore Bright is such a super fine abrasive that I can't fathom using it so much that the bore would be harmed by it. However once you've gone through a smoothing regimen and knocked down the bore's surface fretting, its propensity for accumulating lead buildup will be greatly diminished and it will be easy to clean when the time does come around. At that point, there is no reason to continue using any form of abrasive.

 

[gyeghoian]

Yes and no

Bore Bright is such a super fine abrasive that I can't fathom using it so much that the bore would be harmed by it. However once you've gone through a smoothing regimen and knocked down the bore's surface fretting, its propensity for accumulating lead buildup will be greatly diminished and it will be easy to clean when the time does come around. At that point, there is no reason to continue using any form of abrasive.

Got it thank you …makes sense