FX smooth twist barrel fouling quickly?

[terrymc]

Hey Tweeter,
Good to see you over here as well.
I have polished the bore on my Royale 500 and did not notice any drastic improvement.
However, it did seem to like a shoot in period once it was polished as accuracy improved after around 300 rounds of .25 jsb king heavies.
What caliber is your Wildcat?

 

[Guest]

Hey Terry, my wildcat is .22. 

The reason I started this thread is because when I noticed accuracy fall off I unscrewed my shroud end cap to make barrel cleaning easier and noticed quite a bit of lead built up in the last inch or so of my barrel. I've never seen this happen with any of my other guns with traditionally rifled barrels so I "figured" it was fouling. Maybe it's a normal smooth twist thing and if it is I'm cool with that but if my gun can be improved somehow I don't mind spending a little just to make sure I completely enjoy my very expensive airgun.

I think I worded my initial post wrong. What I should have asked is if what I'm seeing is normal? Fouling just sounds like a bad word and it looks like I'm saying I'm not happy with my gun/barrel. That's not the case at all, I think it is a great gun and if I just have to clean it once in a while than it is what it is. Time will tell I suppose. 

 

[Crusher]

For what it's worth, I shot the Royale new without cleaning. It put maybe an entire tin through it and notice it had a few fliers. Hoping to cure that I checked the barrel. Same thing. The last 2 inches or so of the rifling was really crappy. I cleaned it and reinstalled. The fliers went away, but so did a good bit of the accuracy for about 100 shots. Then it went back to being a one hole gun again.
Works the same way with my Marauder too. So I think maybe it is normal for the major part of the lead dust to collect in the end rifling. 
Just my 2 cents.

(quietly waiting for my WC to arrive. I'm grinning already)

Crusher

 

[Guest]

Thanks crusher. When you cleaned your Royale did you remove all the lead build up? I bet you're going to love your wildcat when you get it. Waiting for the big brown truck is always the hardest!

 

[Guest]

Wow, Utah airguns is the place to go! I emailed them either last night or this morning and they have been helping me all day and said they would get me the parts I need. It's nice to see customer service like that. Wait a minute, I'm NOT even a customer YET and Trevor from Utah airguns has gone out of his way all day to help me. Refreshing after not being able to get a hold of AOA through calls and email.......

 

[mcoulter]

Hey Tweeter,

FWIW, my Royale .22 doesn't like a dirty barrel either. I need to pull a dry patch through ever few hundred shots. (Mostly shooting JSB 18s.) I have not given the inside of the barrel a good inspection yet... I guess that I should do this too.

I recently pulled a couple of ballistol patches through and blew out the breech seal not long afterwards. Coincidence? Maybe. 

 

[Guest]

I changed my breech seal not long ago and used a 009 viton 75d. I think these are a bit tougher than the 70 buna and may hold up better? I also use ballistol to clean my barrel so I'll keep an eye on it to see if bothers. Thanks for sharing!

I just shot 2 groups today after work at 30 yards. 1- 5 shot group that ended up being about 1/2" because my first 2 shots were low (something to do with the reg but that's normal I think after a refill). My second group it stacked the remainder of my 2 magazines (11 shots) on top of each other in a single hole. Looks like pulling through a few patches solved my flier problem!

 

[Glem.Chally]

I push through and shoot Beeman cleaning pellets through the barrel soaked in Ballistol, never had an issue yet. I would think that's connected to the already problematic Royale 400 breech seals. I actually piled 3 of those cleaning pellets and shot it at low power against an empty box I had, I couldn't believe it went through the box then through a 30 page brochure in the box and one pellet actually made it out the other side. These are cotton like cleaning pellets.

 

[Guest]

 "Problematic Royale 400 breech seals" Really? I am at a loss to understand how or why this is an issue. The breech seal is a high wear item, it is going to wear out. Forcing cleaning tools through it only accelerates this wear. The rifle has a one year warranty, so if a person feels the seal failed prematurely, then just ask the dealer for a replacement or two or three. Or go online and purchase a bag of 100 for about $10, which includes shipping. You will then have more than enough.

On my .22 Royale 400 and .22 Independence, I change the breech seals every 5,000 rounds or so, or I will change the seal just before using the rifle in a FT competition. I currently own 3 FX rifles and my brother owns a .22 Royale 400 and none of these rifles has breech seal issues. 

 

[Crusher]

"Tweeter"Thanks crusher. When you cleaned your Royale did you remove all the lead build up? I bet you're going to love your wildcat when you get it. Waiting for the big brown truck is always the hardest!

I didn't get it super clean. I pulled a couple of barely wet patches through then about 10 dry patches until they came out clean. That fixed the fliers for me. And that is sort of weird since I think most of my other guns shoot better after a 100 shots after cleaning. Just like the Royale did. Once the barrel is "leaded in" it shoots great.
And something else I found weird. My 177 Marauder shoots like a gnat killer. But I put it in the case and hadn't shot it for maybe 2 months. When I get it out the other day, it was shooting fliers and wasn't its old dead accurate self. But after about 30 shots, it came back in to zero again. My suspicion is that the lead in the barrel had oxidized and was causing the fliers. But some new lead down the rifling straightened things out again and she shoots straight again.

Glad that gentle cleaning cleared up the fliers for you too. 

crusher

 

[Crusher]

"Glem.Chally"I push through and shoot Beeman cleaning pellets through the barrel soaked in Ballistol, never had an issue yet. I would think that's connected to the already problematic Royale 400 breech seals. I actually piled 3 of those cleaning pellets and shot it at low power against an empty box I had, I couldn't believe it went through the box then through a 30 page brochure in the box and one pellet actually made it out the other side. These are cotton like cleaning pellets.

Aren't you glad you didn't put your hand in front of that instead of shooting into a box? Those things will shoot a lamp off a work table. Don't ask me how I know that. LOL

Crusher

 

[Guest]

"crusher75060"

"Tweeter"Thanks crusher. When you cleaned your Royale did you remove all the lead build up? I bet you're going to love your wildcat when you get it. Waiting for the big brown truck is always the hardest!

I didn't get it super clean. I pulled a couple of barely wet patches through then about 10 dry patches until they came out clean. That fixed the fliers for me. And that is sort of weird since I think most of my other guns shoot better after a 100 shots after cleaning. Just like the Royale did. Once the barrel is "leaded in" it shoots great.
And something else I found weird. My 177 Marauder shoots like a gnat killer. But I put it in the case and hadn't shot it for maybe 2 months. When I get it out the other day, it was shooting fliers and wasn't its old dead accurate self. But after about 30 shots, it came back in to zero again. My suspicion is that the lead in the barrel had oxidized and was causing the fliers. But some new lead down the rifling straightened things out again and she shoots straight again.

Glad that gentle cleaning cleared up the fliers for you too. 

crusher

Somethings are kind of hard to explain. Like my wildcat, it seems to shoot the first shot or two low and after that it's dead accurate. Maybe the reg settling in after sitting a while or maybe the barrel needs to be "warmed" up? Not sure but it doesn't bother me now. Every time I get a new gun it's like a journey trying to learn all its quirks.

 

[Glem.Chally]

"crusher75060"

"Glem.Chally"I push through and shoot Beeman cleaning pellets through the barrel soaked in Ballistol, never had an issue yet. I would think that's connected to the already problematic Royale 400 breech seals. I actually piled 3 of those cleaning pellets and shot it at low power against an empty box I had, I couldn't believe it went through the box then through a 30 page brochure in the box and one pellet actually made it out the other side. These are cotton like cleaning pellets.

Aren't you glad you didn't put your hand in front of that instead of shooting into a box? Those things will shoot a lamp off a work table. Don't ask me how I know that. LOL

Crusher

Very glad haha,