The old question? Do you clean your barrel?

[smbob]

1000% YES! I clean my barrel and my entire rifle after every shooting session!
I have some friends that went to a school that Weatherby puts on where you purchase a high end bolt action rifle from them and it includes a multi day course that includes classroom and range time to teach everyone how to shoot long range. How to dope your scope. How to dial the turrets. Everything! They were told not to clean their bore. That once their bore is "seasoned in" it is good to go. Maybe that works for them.
Think about it. If you have been in the Military, would you get away with not cleaning your barrel, let alone your entire rifle? I doubt it.
Tell a Marine Gunny, "Hey Gunny. I heard if you don't clean the bore after every range session, you will get better accuracy." They will P.T you until you drown in your own sweat! Just saying.
Although I have never served in the Military, I clean the Sugar Honey Ice Tea out of all of my firearms after every session. Just out of habit and respect to my firearms and air rifles.
If you choose not to, that's your business. It's how I roll. Your mileage may vary.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I dont know why but I just clean my barrel after every session, it doesnt take long and in my opinion is worth it
I am going to try my hand at polishing my barrel bores but need to look into it more, never done it.

 

[ThomasT]

I dont know why but I just clean my barrel after every session, it doesnt take long and in my opinion is worth it
I am going to try my hand at polishing my barrel bores but need to look into it more, never done it.

Hello CTairgunner1288
I just ordered all the required supplies to polish my barrel and I got the list from this video.

Have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

Hello CTairgunner1288
I just ordered all the required supplies to polish my barrel and I got the list from this video.

Have a great day,
ThomasT

Awesome, thank you for the link! I will definitely be looking into that later!

 

[baloo]

I clean mine after every couple tins. I clean my powderburners after every trip to the range or hunting trip. I know you're going to think me wierd but I enjoy cleaning my guns.

 

[douger]

i clean my barrels every few weeks clean is accurate to me. never ever noticed and off the wall flyers or accuracy issues. my barrels are polished from the start and seems to have alays been great for me. patchworm with the felt pads i like best. nice tight cork sound and then lube breach seal

 

[ThomasT]

I clean mine after every couple tins. I clean my powderburners after every trip to the range or hunting trip. I know you're going to think me wierd but I enjoy cleaning my guns.

Hello baloo,
Actually no I do not, because I also enjoy taking care of my guns and a clean gun is a happy gun .
Have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[Cannonball]

1) Do you clean your barrel
2) How often do you clean
3) How do you clean

Here is my method, others have their own way and I’m sure it works just as well.

I clean every airgun when I first receive it, new or used. I run a wet patch of Ballistol through the barrel using a JB Crown Saver. I then run dry patches until they come through clean and dry. I might run another wet patch if it’s still looking dirty after a few dry patches and follow that up with more dry patches until they come out clean and dry. I will then shoot the gun and note accuracy. I always give a clean barrel about 20 pellets to lead up before seeing how it groups. I then like to shoot a few hundred pellets through it and clean it again like I did the first time. After this cleaning I polish the barrel using the same basic method as the video already posted in this thread. I do a visual inspection of the crown after polishing and touch up if needed. I will also do anything else I feel the rifle needs at this point since I already have the barrel off. This could include polishing the hammer, de-burr and polishing on the barrel transfer port hole and the transfer port itself. I would also do any porting at this time although it’s very seldom. I usually pull the trigger to polish, adjust and lube to my liking if applicable. I should probably stop here as I’m adding things that most people don’t do. I just make it a point to do whatever I feel is needed while the barrel is off so I don’t have to disassemble it again later down the road. As for future cleanings, whenever accuracy drops off or if I’m out with it in damp weather.

 

[ThomasT]

Hello Cannonball,
I really like the "other/extra" things that you do from the get-go. I will do this on my next new rifle.
Thank you and have a great day,

ThomasT

 

[maven]

relatively new here but I have been doing a bunch of reading on this and decided to to it this way for my 22 barrel I cut a piece of weed whipper cord and got a lighter and melted 1 end to a ball. I stick a patch through the end without the ball and pull it through from the breech out the end of the barrel. I use good ole Hoppe's #9 and actually leave the barrel wet for awhile to let the solvent work. Then I just pull some dry patches through. I do it twice wet and it's good. I never heard of polishing before but I will look into it. Thanks for the info.

 

[tor47]

The black gunk you see on the patches does no harm. But if there is allot of silver colored lead flakes, the gun might shoot better after a clean.

 

[ThomasT]

The black gunk you see on the patches does no harm. But if there is allot of silver colored lead flakes, the gun might shoot better after a clean.

Hello tor47

I just have to think that any material buildup inside the barrel can in some way effect the Pellet negatively.

Thank you and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[nervoustrig]

The black tor47 is referring to is graphite. It cannot accumulate in any meaningful way on account of being a soft, friable material. It is used as a release agent in the manufacture of many pellets. As such, it plays a beneficial role in helping prevent lead from sticking in the bore.

 

[qball]

Let your barrel tell you when you need to clean it, your accuracy will degrade. Every barrel is different, smoother or finer finish the barrel has the less you need to clean it. Then your ammo/lube combo would change the cleaning requirement also.

My polygon and FX barrels all have mirror finish inside and I don’t clean them at all. In fact I need to season the FX barrel after cleaning and they need quite a few shots to “settle”. Interestingly my normal 12 groove LW barrels don’t need cleaning much either but I don’t shoot them much.

 

[tor47]

I agree with qball about the black gunk. In my opinion, if my fingertips get a litle dirty when loading my magasine, I see that as a good sign. Thouse pellets usualy shoot good in my gun. The black stuff will be back after 50 shots or so, after a cleaning, and do no harm. In powder burners it is probably different, as the black you see on thouse patches is not the same as in airguns.

 

[3DAirgunWorks]

Simple answer is slugs like a clean barrel. Pellets are not as picky.

 

[Peashooter]

Yes, and TBH as always, after a couple of hours of shooting today i think it is long overdue

 

[ThomasT]

Simple answer is slugs like a clean barrel. Pellets are not as picky.

Hello rmauldin

I have not shot that many slugs but that is good to know.

Have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[qball]

Simple answer is slugs like a clean barrel. Pellets are not as picky.

Interestingly in my FX barrels the slugs seem to self clean the barrel. No experience shooting slugs out other barrels except for TJ and FX. But your comment makes a lot of sense.


I digress on my comment about not needing cleaning with my polygon barrel, I noticed a little inconsistency in my poly barrel yesterday that only shoot pellets. After cleaning and few shots to settle the barrel it is back to laser accuracy, need to remind myself to clean the poly after 2-3 tins.