I recently bought a FX Leopard and before I received it, I had an epiphany. As with all rifles one of the first things I do is clean the barrel. Most of the air rifles I have owned you could remove the barrel or break barrels so no problem however, the Leopard is different and new to me. I didn't want the cleaning fluid (CLP) to get into the transfer port so I cleaned it with a patch worm with the rifle upside down. Brilliant! OK, I'm sure I didn't invent the idea lol but thought some might find this useful.
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- Thread starter coastal drifter
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Introduce yourself to the HOPPES Boresnake w/o brushes .... the ONLY devise & miens I'll use for periodic field cleaning in minimizing lead fouling 
Pull it threw a couple times DRY and it works outstandingly well !!
Pull it threw a couple times DRY and it works outstandingly well !!
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@coastal drifter Had you really been pulling all of your new barrels and scrubbing them with a rod and brush?
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You sure you didn’t steal the idea from Nate at airgun channel. Lol. JK but he does that as well, turning gun upside down. I too generally just remove the barrel. Never really thought about the transfer port as I just use ballistol which I don’t think would really hurt anything? Am I wrong in that thinking or is ballistol not really enough of a detergent to properly clean a barrel. I don’t know it’s all I’ve ever used in airguns.
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no rod and brush just a pull through patch with some CLP on them but... I do pull the barrels off as most of my guns are easy to do that to.
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Ballistol might be fine if you’re a pellet shooter and just want to knock the dust off the bore. Or feel like spending more time than necessary cleaning an airgun barrel. But with a slug gun, I don’t use stuff that doubles as a lubricant to clean with.
As far as the whole laying a gun on its side or upside down thing goes, thats been a common practice long before most even knew what a PCP was. The alternative is just common sense. Don’t over saturate your patch, roll it up in a ball and squeeze it to distribute the solvent, and then just clean your gun on its bipod. We are not mopping a floor so the whole juicey patch is just not necessary. Unless you’re using a lubricant doubling as solvent.
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I hope so. Never thought about guns you really can’t take the barrel off of though. Def a good idea. My 2 daystates I always remove them as when I clean the barrel I’m removing the shroud and everything to clean the chrono inside anyway.
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Yeah just a pellet shooter. I do notice I get a decent amount of lead on the patches still using that stuff.
What do you use ? I’m open to different things as I’m removing the barrels anyway. I have hoppes for PB but always thought that a no no on airguns.
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I always finish with a Q-Tip and a little silicone on the breech Oring. who knows but I've never had to replace one on either PCP or Springer.
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You can get a decent amount of lead if you use orange juice or koolaid on your patch. That initial stuff can come off quite easily. And a pellet barrel can perform great without a surgical cleaning. I personally use lead removal products from the powder burner world. Then because metal is porous, I use something as a final pass to insure there’s no solvent left. If ballistol is working for you, just stick with it. These type of topics can get guys chasing things that are of no benefit to them. They just make him spend money and do a lot of second guessing. Weird hobby.
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I once wondered the same and did an experiment to figure it out. Took a barrel that I knew was pretty dirty. Pulled ballistol patches and dry patches on rotation until they came out spotless and shiny white. Then followed up with patches with hoppe’s #9. Holy cow did the first patch with hoppe on it come out dirty!!!! Since then I just pull 1-2 patches with hoppe, followed by 1-2 dry ones. Either the first or second dry one comes out spotless. Crazy difference… I double patches up with patch worm depending on the barrel to pull them very tight - similar to Scott’s biresnake. Nice squeeeeek and resistance when pulled and even then the hoppe does 1000 times better then ballistol…
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Will Hoppes damage O-rings? I was using Hoppes but thought I read about how it could damage O-rings, so switched to Ballistol. I found that the wool pellets do a much better job with the Patchworm than the cloth patches.
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Never actually bothered to really to research how it would affect different o rings. But I replace breech o rings every 2-3k shots anyway out of habit and never had one fail on me… I’d rather swap a 10cent oring occasionally, use an actual cleaner and get a clean barrel I guess…
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