I found an interesting solution to my barrel cleaning woes. My usual setup is a Crownsaver using pieces of old T shirt for patches. About a year ago, the plastic sheath for the Crownsaver was destroyed by my dog. So I was left with a long Dacron loop with a nice handle at the end. That's not going to work.
I was given a Patchworm at an airgun show. Works great until you run out of patches. The T shirt patches tend to pull through the end of the Patchworm.
So then I went with the Weedeater line DIY patchworm. I have a problem making the big end large enough to hold the patch without pulling through yet small enough to pass through a .177 barrel. When I get one perfect, the head (or tail) snaps after about 10 or 15 uses.
I was sitting here looking at the broken Crownsaver. It was right next to a bundle of paracord. Hmm. I made a new sheath by hollowing out the paracord and running the Dacron from the Crownsaver into it. So now the Crownsaver works like new (it's a little floppy but stiff enough to feed down the barrel). This is great because I have come to realize that feeding a loop down the barrel works better for me than feeding from the breach. However, I ran into a snag. The new and un-improved Crownsaver will only fit in .22 barrels or larger. I still need a solution for .177 guns.
As I was pondering this, my daughter asked for something for a project she is working on. Digging around for whatever she was asking for (I forget, maybe forceps?) I happened upon an old length of fly line that had been damaged a few years ago. Then the light bulb popped! A fly line is a braided Dacron core covered in stiff PVC with a loop at the end. Eureka! I cut about 3 feet from the loop end and tried it out. Works perfect. It's a 3 weight line, so it's a tad bit stretchy when cranking on it, but I'm pretty sure I have a damaged 8 weight line around here somewhere that will be perfect.
TLDR: I'm too cheap and lazy to acquire proper barrel cleaning equipment and instead use recycled garbage to clean my nice air guns.
I was given a Patchworm at an airgun show. Works great until you run out of patches. The T shirt patches tend to pull through the end of the Patchworm.
So then I went with the Weedeater line DIY patchworm. I have a problem making the big end large enough to hold the patch without pulling through yet small enough to pass through a .177 barrel. When I get one perfect, the head (or tail) snaps after about 10 or 15 uses.
I was sitting here looking at the broken Crownsaver. It was right next to a bundle of paracord. Hmm. I made a new sheath by hollowing out the paracord and running the Dacron from the Crownsaver into it. So now the Crownsaver works like new (it's a little floppy but stiff enough to feed down the barrel). This is great because I have come to realize that feeding a loop down the barrel works better for me than feeding from the breach. However, I ran into a snag. The new and un-improved Crownsaver will only fit in .22 barrels or larger. I still need a solution for .177 guns.
As I was pondering this, my daughter asked for something for a project she is working on. Digging around for whatever she was asking for (I forget, maybe forceps?) I happened upon an old length of fly line that had been damaged a few years ago. Then the light bulb popped! A fly line is a braided Dacron core covered in stiff PVC with a loop at the end. Eureka! I cut about 3 feet from the loop end and tried it out. Works perfect. It's a 3 weight line, so it's a tad bit stretchy when cranking on it, but I'm pretty sure I have a damaged 8 weight line around here somewhere that will be perfect.
TLDR: I'm too cheap and lazy to acquire proper barrel cleaning equipment and instead use recycled garbage to clean my nice air guns.