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Smooth Twist X Barrel needs frequent cleaning

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bzizzi373

Member
Jan 28, 2018
342
13
PA, United States
I have been noticing my new FX Crown .25 cal barrel needs frequent cleaning, after a 100-200 rounds I remove barrel and the first patch is black and loaded with lead slivers.
I do lube my pellets with Slick 50 One Lube, this seems to be excessive, my other PCP's with LW barrel hardly ever need cleaned. I noticed groups shifting and opening up and cleaning the Smooth Twist X liner corrected the problem. I was at Shot Show and spoke with another Crown owner with exact same issue.
I was thinking of polishing the bore because after cleaning I could see orange peel type finish inside. Don't want to screw things up though.
When barrel is clean Crown is extremely accurate.
 
4500 rounds through my sample gun, 15 tins of 25 grain. I have had to clean my barrel after every 2 tins. I have about 2000 rounds through it with unwashed and unlubed pellets and I needed to clean after every tin. I switched to washed and lightly lubing with ballistol and I now clean after every two tins.

What I noticed was that with unwashed I was finding loads of crescent shaped lead fouling, I suspect from the stamping process, washing has eliminated that issue. I now only find lead specks.

@Ernest, would JB bore paste work instead of the polishing cloth?
 
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I'm not trying to be a jerk, but there is no reason to lube pellets, and not only will it mak the pellet shoot slower, the lube can throw off the ballistic design of the round, it makes every single molecule of dust stick to the inside of the barrel, and it has no effect on accuracy except a negative one or none at all. This is one of thoese things that got started a long time ago but does not have any evidence for its use other than some vague notion that it somehow helps. I promise it doesn't. If it helped with accuracy snipers would be using this on their powder burners, it would be standard issue military kit. It's not, and there is a reason for it. 

There is no reason in the laws of physics that one should have to lube the pellet, but many reasons in the laws of physics of why the lube will effect the trajectory, velocity, and fouling of the barrel. My personal opinion after shooting every kind of gun, bow, slingshot, blow gun, etc., for 25 years, IDPA instructor. It's just not necessary. 
 
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Yeah, tell that to my groups and how my patches look after cleaning...

With all due respect, I think there have been many posts and a few videos, by some very respected airgunners on how, why and when to wash and lube the two go hand in hand along with sorting and weighing for ultimate accuracy. The quality of manufacture inherently introduces swarf to every pellet stamped, usually around the skirt, sometimes longitudinally , are you comfortable shooting that debris along with your pellet? I would personally take a dry lubed barrel or pellet vs a swarf fouled barrel or pellet.

Oxidization is a great reason to lube, in fact most good pellets are pre lubed to mitigate the oxidization. The stuff that JSB use on their pellets sure does gunk up fast...The coefficient of drag is affected by unpolished surfaces, just ask any pilot why wings are de iced and any cyclist why they wear those tights during time trials. Bullets are slick by design and very rarely have swarf disguised under waxy stuff like pellets do.

Good lube doesn't gunk up, think Ballistol or Eezox. I invite you to my 100 yard indoor range to show you evidence if you wont take my word, or the word of people who do this competitively. I think that comparing powder to air is naive, as subsonic drag stabilized hornet shaped vs spin stabilized sub and supersonic slug shaped are different beasts. Evidence of this fact can be found in the GA vs G1 BC profiles. There are hoards of us waiting for the day that we can start using slugs on air, but until those slugs are as pristine as a jacketed vmax, I think our ammo will need attention...

Actually a number of bullet makers treat their reloads and full cartridges with a dry lubricant, some say to aid the seating process when hand loading, some say to fend off oxidation, its done for you, so what you don't know doesn't hurt you!

Once again, with all due respect, I think those vague notions you are talking about may very well hold true for powder, but for air, things are not so cut and dried, as someone who has shot IPSC for over half my life, as well as shot airguns everyday for the past year and a half, I can attest to the value of washing and lubing pellets as well as how very different air and powder are.
 
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YMMV (your mileage may vary)

Some shooters never clean and things are fine. Other shooters (like me) have to clean every few hundred shots. Do what works for you. I have given up following any conventional wisdom when it comes to air rifles. (Other than matters related to basic gun safety of course!)

Trying new things keeps the sport interesting! I have NEVER sorted or cleaned pellets. That does not mean that I'm smarter or they are smarter than me... I long for the day when my schedule will allow me to these things that *may* improve accuracy or repeatability. We learn from each other and enjoy a common hobby.

:)
 
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"riazp"Yeah, tell that to my groups and how my patches look after cleaning...
With all due respect, I think there have been many posts and a few videos, by some very respected airgunners on how, why and when to wash and lube the two go hand in hand along with sorting and weighing for ultimate accuracy. The quality of manufacture inherently introduces swarf to every pellet stamped, usually around the skirt, sometimes longitudinally , are you comfortable shooting that debris along with your pellet? I would personally take a dry lubed barrel or pellet vs a swarf fouled barrel or pellet.
Oxidization is a great reason to lube, in fact most good pellets are pre lubed to mitigate the oxidization. The stuff that JSB use on their pellets sure does gunk up fast...The coefficient of drag is affected by unpolished surfaces, just ask any pilot why wings are de iced and any cyclist why they wear those tights during time trials. Bullets are slick by design and very rarely have swarf disguised under waxy stuff like pellets do.
Good lube doesn't gunk up, think Ballistol or Eezox. I invite you to my 100 yard indoor range to show you evidence if you wont take my word, or the word of people who do this competitively. I think that comparing powder to air is naive, as subsonic drag stabilized hornet shaped vs spin stabilized sub and supersonic slug shaped are different beasts. Evidence of this fact can be found in the GA vs G1 BC profiles. There are hoards of us waiting for the day that we can start using slugs on air, but until those slugs are as pristine as a jacketed vmax, I think our ammo will need attention...
Actually a number of bullet makers treat their reloads and full cartridges with a dry lubricant, some say to aid the seating process when hand loading, some say to fend off oxidation, its done for you, so what you don't know doesn't hurt you!
Once again, with all due respect, I think those vague notions you are talking about may very well hold true for powder, but for air, things are not so cut and dried, as someone who has shot IPSC for over half my life, as well as shot airguns everyday for the past year and a half, I can attest to the value of washing and lubing pellets as well as how very different air and powder are.
Click to expand...
Sure thing, whatever floats your boat, but until I start missing my target my way it's not an issue for me. We gotta do what works for us so knock yourself out, it's not like I am the one that has to wash them. Have a good one! 
 
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Hi Blindballein,
You adamantly hold that cleaning and lubing pellets is not necessary and actually causes all the problems you described...rather than make such absolute statements that could lead people to believe you are right, why not just state that what you say is right for you and your gun, but leave room for the possibility that other peoples results may be different than yours? 

I have an two FX .25 caliber air rifles with Smooth Twist barrels that almost never need cleaning...want to know why? I clean all my pellets with Acetone to remove the factory gunk off of them, I weigh them to one tenth of a grain and sort them accordingly, and I lube them with Napier Power Pellet Lube Spray...(not motor oil additive) The difference in accuracy between unlubed and lubed is night and day! As for cleaning my barrels? After several cans of pellets I run a dry patch or two down the barrels...the patches come out barely showing any discoloration...when I look at the patches afterwards I always wonder why I even bothered. 

Now does what I do work for all FX rifles? Absolutely not! I encourage people to try cleaning and lubing their pellets with Napier Pellet Lube at least once to see what effect it has, if any. I was shooting with a member from here not too long ago and his .25 Bobcat and his .25 Cricket both were more accurate shooting 25.4 gr. Kings straight from the can...and neither one of his rifles shot the clean lubed pellets worth a damn.

There are very few absolutes when it comes to airgun barrels and what they like or don't like...one thing I do to every airgun barrel I've ever had so far is polish the bore with diamond paste or even fine valve lapping compound to hand lap all the little micro burrs and imperfections.

All the best, Chuck
 
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Exactly my point, it’s just that I am not asking you to just trust me based on my impression.

I am trying, very politely, to offer some real science, backed be real world examples, some experience of other successful competitive airgunners and corroborated personal results. Along with the still standing offer to show you my results.

I value all healthy debates, it’s just difficult to rebut someone who seems to know everything better than people who have won competitions or who are match directors. I am thinking Tominco, Xbowsniper, Yarrah.

Make no mistake, I am far from competition grade, but I do consider myself a student of those who are, maybe make a video with your findings or win some competitions and share with us, I would watch/read and hopefully learn. But just trusting you because you say so is difficult for me.

Play the “ball” not the “man”
 
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