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ST barrels and cleaning frequency

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Menttaliist

Menttaliist

Member
Sep 7, 2016
327
11
.., Uruguay
I have a Royale in .22 and as far as i know the ST barrels are known for not needing a frequent clean, and they need a thin layer of lead to work properly and accurately.
The thing is that i've noticed my barrel to start loosing accuracy after 300 aprox shots through it, something unusual in a ST barrel, i've heard that this barrels start loosing accuracy after 500+ shots or even more. My numbers are closer to a LW than a ST. Anyone else experiencing the same results?
 
Everyone will have an opinion about this but my experience with the ST barrels they need cleaned pretty often. Some may shoot 500 rounds and remain accurate but i have not seen that in my FX's.
I would clean and see if you're accuracy improves, then you will know if that was the problem, if not you may have other issues, but im gonna say it will help. 
Just my 2 cents worth
 
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After 200 pellets mine needs a good cleaning with a little oil and a tight patch. I can see lead on the first tight patch and maybe a little on the second tight patch. It has been polished. It is a 500 Royale. Shoot one pellet and it is ready to go. It is a good shooter for about 200 pellets then clean again. I would prefer a barrel that doesn't need cleaning so often but it shoots so good i will just keep on cleaning it.
 
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Both of my .22 FX, ST rifles will go several thousand rounds between barrel cleaning and then I do so because I feel like doing it, not that the rifle needs it. My FX .22 Independence has over 30,000 rounds shot through it and I cannot remember the last time I cleaned the barrel on that rifle. And it is incredibly accurate!
 
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I'm on my Second tin of 300 and counting this time around,And I know I'm going to get flamed but,Im using a little finish line dry! I know handing the ST a greasy pig- I said it!-I was wrong in this case! my bad--I mark my tins- date,where,washed,or not. Anyway second tin in a batch of 3 tins, first clip out of it, accuracy went south and Crunchy is the best word to describe how the cocking lever felt pushing the pellet home. (Not immediately) %#$#@ ,Opened the 3rd tin and butter again! back to normal-was going to clean barrel anyway so I Lubed the crunchy ones.Not alot 6" wet spot on a t shirt,tumble the pile over it a few times little on the foam cushions, good results I'm speechless Crunchy pellets are gone.I cleaned it squeaky clean-450 and shootn
 
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"fz1yamaha"I'm on my Second tin of 300 and counting this time around,And I know I'm going to get flamed but,Im using a little finish line dry! I know handing the ST a greasy pig- I said it!-I was wrong in this case! my bad--I mark my tins- date,where,washed,or not. Anyway second tin in a batch of 3 tins, first clip out of it, accuracy went south and Crunchy is the best word to describe how the cocking lever felt pushing the pellet home. (Not immediately) %#$#@ ,Opened the 3rd tin and butter again! back to normal-was going to clean barrel anyway so I Lubed the crunchy ones.Not alot 6" wet spot on a t shirt,tumble the pile over it a few times little on the foam cushions, good results I'm speechless Crunchy pellets are gone.I cleaned it squeaky clean-450 and shootn

Why are you cleaning the pellets before use? I have found the ST barrels do not need this at all, nor do they need lubed pellets.
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Anybody find it odd or interesting about the range in responses in terms of cleaning barrels? From not doing it at all to every few hundred pellets which seems too frequent considering there's no gunpowder. Especially considering the different responses concerning the same gun and caliber made by modern manufacturing equipment. I'd like to see maybe a dozen of the same model and caliber gun shot under controlled conditions with the the same pellet and see changes in accuracy over time. In other words, lab-type results as opposed to anecdotal info. 
 
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"jcjc"Anybody find it odd or interesting about the range in responses in terms of cleaning barrels? From not doing it at all to every few hundred pellets which seems too frequent considering there's no gunpowder. Especially considering the different responses concerning the same gun and caliber made by modern manufacturing equipment. I'd like to see maybe a dozen of the same model and caliber gun shot under controlled conditions with the the same pellet and see changes in accuracy over time. In other words, lab-type results as opposed to anecdotal info. 

I agree, it is odd. 

I just purchased a brand new laminated stock, FX Royale in .177, which UPS delivered this past Monday, the 13th. After pulling the rifle from the box and admiring it, then installing a scope; I shot the rifle 50 times and cleaned the barrel. It was very dirty. Shot it another 100 rounds or so and cleaned it again. 150 round later it was cleaned again. I cleaned the rifle these three times to remove any oils or debris from manufacturing.

Just this evening I emptied the 4th tin (500) pellets shot through the rifle since Monday and the barrel has not been cleaned since noted above. I do not believe I will have to clean the barrel for the foreseeable future and yes the rifle is a tack driver.



Click to expand...
 
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Thank you. It is beautiful. I just finished shooting it again this morning, another 200 rounds. The rifle is a pleasure to shoot - it begs you to keep shooting and before you know it, half a tin of pellets is gone. :<))

Shot count is about 170, on power setting #3, which is adjusted to just shy of 20 ft-lbs. Actually this shot count is very similar to what my .22 Royale 400 gives me on power setting #2, which is also adjusted to just shy of 20 ft-lbs. 
 
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When I pulled cleaning patches up through the barrels of both my FX .22 Royale 400 and FX Wildcat .25, they came out fairly dirty. My guns are "new", but this was my first cleaning - I didn't run any patches through before shooting - just put the scope on and starting shooting pellets. I didn't clean them because of poor grouping, I just felt guilty and decided to make it right. It took several more patches to get the two air rifles clean.

I'll be running patches up the barrels more frequently in the future - just don't know how frequently. It's really no trouble, just takes a little time.

I bought one or those flexible cable thingee's with a loop at the end. You pass it down the barrel from the muzzle and when it comes out at the breech, you insert 2-3 cleaning patches through the loop and pull it back up and out. It works really well.

 
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If I don't clean my FX 400 ST barrel every 250 shots or less with a few dry patches then the accuracy opens up big time. 

Worth noting though that I have also found that if I don't resize the pellets to 5.51 / 5.52mm according to a Pelletgage (or 4.49mm according to the calipers) then the groups also open up a lot especially over 50 yards.

On pushing pellets through the barrel manually it has always been extremely tight - don't know what is normal here but real effort is needed to get harder pellets like H&N through the crown and I wonder if these, and any barrels do vary in their bore size when we're talking 10ths of mm... And presumably if it is tighter more lead will be left in the barrel each shot and it is going to lead-up faster.

If true this could explain people's differing experiences with the same make and model gun.
 
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