New invention

[JimD]

I pretty much always store my airguns with air but without a magazine in them and without a projectile in the breech. If my dog tells me of a critter that needs a pellet, or I see it, I pick up a rifle (out of the coffee table), pick up a magazine, make sure the rifle is on 6X, flip up the scope covers, and cock the rifle but I usually do not push the magazine in. I get the shot pretty well lined up before I do that. But still I get a pellet into the breech sometimes without getting a shot. Usually that means one of the plates on my "know your limits" target gets another hit. Sometimes the golf ball on the same frame. I'd rather waste a pellet than push it out or leave the gun loaded.

 

[MikeVV]

For you "metal rod" haters, but like the "stiffness" -

Get a steel / aluminum rod, a little undersize, then add a piece of shrink tube for barrel protection.
The shrink tube is pretty tough stuff. Should last nearly for ever.

Mike

 

[sb327]

When deciding on a rod material, consider this. When lapping or buffing, a softer material is used to carry an abrasive to remove material from a harder material. Any dust, dirt, grit or grime becomes an abrasive (the reason you don’t want people writing their name in the dust on your car with a finger).

Fwiw, one of the greatest rimfire gunsmiths of all time had specifically made hardened steel rods made for cleaning his guns.

Dave