How Well Do you Know Your Barrel(s)?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
RM100GUY

RM100GUY

Member
Jun 22, 2018
1,010
1,830
69
Ceder Key Florida USA
These three groups were shot yesterday during ideal conditions at 30 yards benched...using my Huntsman Regal .20 cal, I realized within a group or two that the barrel needed cleaning...two wet (MP5) one dry, quick 5 minute pull through job, and see the difference, my standard for accuracy at that range. If this Regal was a .177 or .22 I would polish the bore but being a .20 I will just clean as needed every couple hundred shots or so. My Bobcat is the same way every couple hundred pellets or so it will tap me on the shoulder and say "clean me" and that barrel has been polished...my .177 Huntsman doesn't care...it always shoots great...oldest and nonregulated best shooter, polished it years ago...my Veteran doesn't seem to care either clean or dirty also polished years ago, but all do their very
20230626_141856.jpg
best after cleaning...I can always tell after a few shots...I can only envy barrels that yield guilt edge accuracy (to my standard) with out ever being cleaned...not talking dime size groups at 25 or 30 but the pellet on pellet overlap...easy to tell the difference...(pictured example)...Clean barrels have always worked best for me.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Ranchibi, Lewis, moodyblues and 5 others
Odd man here🥴
Only a handful of my slingers have been barrel cleaned.
Some never had been yet🤷‍♂️
Brand new? I'm slinging pellets out of it straight of out the box.(oil moving parts n such though)😅
I know some of my "dirty" barrels LOVE to be dirty😕
Some like to be cleaned once in a blue moon. I don't "regularly" clean my barrels at this point in time. Been doing so much testing on random stuff; it's hard to stop and clean a barrel for me(mentally).
However I have been running out of tests(catching up is more like it) so some cleaning will become a test soon(my initial test is to see how "dirty" every barrel needs to get before it needs cleaned. My ruger has been barrel cleaned twice....in 8 years now🤭
She does NOT like being clean. But I know that she needs cleaned when my CPHPs group over a piece of paper at 75yards🤣
And after I clean her; I gotta sling at least 15 pellets out of her before she is happy again.🤪🎩🤙
 
  • Like
Reactions: moodyblues
Upvote 0
Thinking on what's presented here I pressed myself for where I fit. No firm answers that mean anything to anyone relating to my experience, but some thoughts on the overall subject.

Although I can supply lots of experiences in first PB and then air rifles, I've had both kinds in each... that is, performances unchanged by cleaning as well as some eternally dirty. I've attempted to correct the temperamental barrels and came to conclude why put up with them, and got rid of them.

In air guns cleaning never came to mind for the first 50 or so years. The guns did what they did and I was just glad to have them... if they were fun, i.e., reasonably accurate. Again, getting rid of any that I didn't enjoy. Putting-up-with has never been my thing. A much-anticipated D48 came with a crap barrel that JB and I could never make right. It's not even missed.

Then came the PCP. I have only two. Both have LW barrels, both were cleaned initially, and both have been uncleaned for the past year, at least. Some is due to using only JSB and related quality pellets. Both exceed my own or their scope's ability, but both don't miss dime-sized targets at 40ish yards, although I haven't tried much farther. Beyond that it's a matter of academic curiosity to me. That's PB land.

So cleaning isn't on my mind a lot. This thread did coalesce some of my thoughts into a question succinct enough to research. The first results of that search question confirmed my thoughts. In summary it's this... most of the "foreign matter" removed during PCP cleaning is lead, powdered lead... wherever the propellent gas gets, barrel and shrouds (on those with). Search yourself, "is lead a lubricant" or "lead is a lubricant."

So what's that mean to cleaning? Lead is a lubricant. Go from there, to me the conclusions is simple. To me it means I'm happy figuring it out the old way, which didn't include keeping needy or inaccurate guns... for whatever reason. I'm good with low maintenance quality barrels shooting quality ammo. They're fun, reliable, trustworthy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: iAMzehTOASTY1
Upvote 0
Solo1 said:
Really is it actually the cleaning or you believing it is so much so that you bear down more and shoot better, or is it you happen to get 5 perfect pellets out of the tin that suit your barrel to a T.
Click to expand...

Also known as 'the placebo effect'. Whether or not that's so in this case, I can state without hesitation it is a very real phenomenon; especially in shooting.

As defined better in this adage- "Half of athletic performance is all mental." :unsure:
 
  • Like
Reactions: iAMzehTOASTY1 and Solo1
Upvote 0
AirNGasman said:
Also known as 'the placebo effect'. Whether or not that's so in this case, I can state without hesitation it is a very real phenomenon; especially in shooting.

As defined better in this adage- "Half of athletic performance is all mental." :unsure:
Click to expand...
It's not just in athletics that one's mental concentration makes all the difference. Think racing. Or instrumental artists who have a string or key break during a performance and "work around it" without anyone noticing.

Every time I went riding during my 30+ years on sport bikes I evaluated my emotional/mental environment, then rode or not. During years of serious racing mental preparations were inseparable from mechanical preparations. And each time I am about to place my eye to a sight and my finger on a trigger, I settle myself into a sort of trance where the act becomes ritualized, the world shrinks, and my intention to touch my POA is in charge. Trigger control, breathing, focus, parallax, hold, et cetera ad infinitum have long since been assimilated into my body memory.

That's the why of having only trustworthy guns (people, partners, friends, cars etc) in my life. Trust in what we know, faith in the process. Otherwise one becomes a working part of an ongoing failure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagbender and iAMzehTOASTY1
Upvote 0
This thread speaks to me. 😁

“How we’ll do I know my barrels?” As many have stated here on AGN, cleaning intervals do vary widely depending on the Brand.

My FX Royale ST .22 and Huntsman Revere .22 seemingly shoot very accurately for a long time without the need for barrel cleaning. The words ‘almost never’ come to mind.

My Red Wolf Safari.22 HP and RAW HM1000x .22 HP both needed patchworm after 100-125 pellets for 50 and 100y bench rest range shooting. I could always tell because I would see accuracy drop off and when I ran 4-6 patches, three would always have lead sediments. Plus, Martin recommended I clean at this interval with the RAW. Same was stated to me by Daystate / AoA for the Safari.

The Taipan Long .25 seldom needed cleaning, and the HW100 .22 Carbine was similar.

Newer BR guns include FX Boss (.25 and .30 cal barrels) also need regular cleaning and the .30 Paradigm does also as recommended by Tom Costan.

All that said, what I wouldn’t give to have one of those Thomas HPX barrels on some of my guns! They stand out in my mind in the air gun world.

Tom
 
Upvote 0
Fate said:
I settle myself into a sort of trance where the act becomes ritualized, the world shrinks, and my intention to touch my POA is in charge. Trigger control, breathing, focus, parallax, hold, et cetera ad infinitum have long since been assimilated into my body memory.
Click to expand...
As a long time Bullseye shooter I can attest to the "mental" preparation. When I read this, I instinctively rehearsed my shot sequence in my head.

As for cleaning the barrel, For decades I have have only used a bore snake prior to each competition.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: orangeokie, Motorhead and iAMzehTOASTY1
Upvote 0
RM100GUY said:
These three groups were shot yesterday during ideal conditions at 30 yards benched...using my Huntsman Regal .20 cal, I realized within a group or two that the barrel needed cleaning...two wet (MP5) one dry, quick 5 minute pull through job, and see the difference, my standard for accuracy at that range. If this Regal was a .177 or .22 I would polish the bore but being a .20 I will just clean as needed every couple hundred shots or so. My Bobcat is the same way every couple hundred pellets or so it will tap me on the shoulder and say "clean me" and that barrel has been polished...my .177 Huntsman doesn't care...it always shoots great...oldest and nonregulated best shooter, polished it years ago...my Veteran doesn't seem to care either clean or dirty also polished years ago, but all do their veryView attachment 368019 best after cleaning...I can always tell after a few shots...I can only envy barrels that yield guilt edge accuracy (to my standard) with out ever being cleaned...not talking dime size groups at 25 or 30 but the pellet on pellet overlap...easy to tell the difference...(pictured example)...Clean barrels have always worked best for me.
Click to expand...
Curious as to why you don't see a need to "polish" your .20 Regal. I have one by the way and its accuracy exceeds mine.

Also, another opinion on cleaning barrels FWIW . . . Tom Costan, owner of American Air Arms, says to clean the EVOL barrel "regularly."

Sub 12 Airguns polished his Akela barrel and improved his groups substantially.

 
Upvote 0
carlos_hathcock said:
I like that. I’ve been using that word intention in my head at the range. Rather than just seeing where the shot lands when I try my best, I’ve been trying to visualize and intend it onto the POA.
Click to expand...
Reminds of the rifle range in the Marines back in 1972, shooting the M-14. Each of us kept a dope book and one of the data points, immediately after each shot, was to put a "dot" on the dope book target as to where you thought the front sight was when the rifle fired. Amazing how concentrating on the front sight post and BRASS were the most important factors in an accurate POI.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagbender
Upvote 0
orangeokie said:
Curious as to why you don't see a need to "polish" your .20 Regal. I have one by the way and its accuracy exceeds mine.

Also, another opinion on cleaning barrels FWIW . . . Tom Costan, owner of American Air Arms, says to clean the EVOL barrel "regularly."

Sub 12 Airguns polished his Akela barrel and improved his groups substantially.

Click to expand...
My Huntsman .20 was bought from a fellow AGN member for a "friend's price" with the first right of refusel to him...for the same price and condition if I ever want to get rid of it...that was about three years ago...even so .20 caliber Huntsman's aren't easy to find and I am inclined to keep it as original as possible, that's why I don't polish the bore...it has a particularly nice stock and shoots fine as is...I KNOW this barrel and when it needs to be cleaned...I won't say it's a purely collectible but I don't shoot it that much anyway...I reailly like this Huntsman .20 and Huntsmans in general...I like the Regal bolt actions versions and plan to get a .22 one day...A month or two ago I I posted a thread concerning this .20 shooting a 30 shot group followed by a 20 shot group from a just cleaned barrel in an awful cross wind (more impressive to me than a simple 5 shot clean barrel group)...first 50 shots from a full air fill...could do no wrong that day...thought all these examples were note worthy so I posted them, I don't consider this gun even in my top three for my most accurate.
20230502_152516.jpg
20221020_104257.jpg


20230502_152516.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: orangeokie
Upvote 0
Phil

Some of the guys on this thread know a whole lot about the benefits of barrel polishing. Will let them answer.

I polished a few barrels with JB Bore paste and I did it to prolong the intervals between cleaning mainly. I honestly don’t know if it enhances accuracy, but am not qualified to cast an opinion.

I actually enjoyed doing it, and it was experimental for me. Made me ‘think’ I was shooting a more accurate barrel, even if I couldn’t prove it. 😀😀😀
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu