How often do you clean your barrel?

Some of my guns benefit from pulling a patch, others do not, the ones that benefit need it every 100 shots or so. If the pattern changes after cleaning it was worth the trouble, this evening before dark i was shooting card board at 35 yards, thought I'd try some slugs in a 177 beeman, 2" groups so thinking i had nothing to loose on this budget rifle i rolled the slugs in 1200 grit compound and shot a 10 shot group at 1/2 inch, went back and forth with coated and uncoated slug groups, consistently shot tight groups with the diamond compound , no idea why ???
 
Any time accuracy drops off seems to be the excepted answer to the question. OK so windy days, extreme cold or heat aside how is it you know it's the gun and not the shooter at fault? A break to clean barrel could benefit the shooter as much as the gun. If I had identical guns some cleaned after every shot and some never cleaned. Could you tell one from the other simply by shooting them? Maybe you could. Only thing I'm sure of is that I am no where near as consist as my gun is. I have bad days and with no cleaning involved ( me or the gun) weeks later i may have a good one. Not trying to say clean or not, just trying to point out possible flaws in the when accuracy drops off line of reasoning as a end all answer. Suspect this might be a question where opposing opinions are both right and wrong. Be good to get this settled so we could all come to agreement on whether to lube or not, spring compression time limits, damage from too light or heavy a pellet and of course the biggie is a right twist barrel better above or below the equator?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChuckHunter
Does the barrel quality affect cleaning cycles?

Yes. IMHO a really good barrel may never need cleaning once seasoned and usually takes MUCH less time/pellets to become "seasoned" and shoot well. Also, really good barrels are usually not pellet picky. At least not so much as a bad barrel. I have had both and they were all in relatively inexpensive guns, so you don't/shouldn't have to pay $$$$ for an airgun with a good barrel. Also, paying $$$$ for an airgun does not guarantee a good barrel. The evidence for that is all over this site and many others.
 
The only airgun barrel I found needed to be cleaned periodically was an FX Smooth Twist in .22. Every couple tins accuracy would drop off and a few oiled patches followed by 10 pellets would bring it right back. Actually, I did recently see an improvement after I cleaned my FWB 300S barrel, but that was after years of shooting. The other guns I will occasionally clean the barrel in the hopes of something good happening, but never see much improvement, if any.
 
The Hatsan Blitz gets cleaned after every tank of air - so about once every 100 rounds or so, two swipes of a brass brush. More than my PB stuff.

Why? Because otherwise it literally ceases to function. One day I may go about trying to fix that issue, but for now, obsessive cleaning is working great.

The other airgun stuff? I'll clean it if it gets rained on, or if it somehow functions in a way that makes me think it's needed.

I'll oil the springers once every few years.
 
Never for me either.
It's carbon build-up that's really the issue with powder burners.
True but lead and copper build up is considerable with powder burners. The extra velocity strips the the surface of the bullet and imbeds it in the rifling. Since this is an air forum I won't get into details.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ramjet
True but lead and copper build up is considerable with powder burners. The extra velocity strips the the surface of the bullet and imbeds it in the rifling. Since this is an air forum I won't get into details.

Apsolutly!

The copper jacket will fill in imperfections ina barrel, hence why after a copper clean in a centerfire most shooters will notice POI change until their barrel is seasoned again.
What you don't want is that copper building up on carbon.
Control the carbon, you'll control the amount of copper fouling one experiences will PB.
Least that's been my experience.
 
Last edited:
Uhhh....I have NEVER cleaned a pellet barrel....ever🤷‍♂️ years and years of use....never cleaned the barrels. Oil the metal n such but never cleaned the barrels🤣🤌eeevvveerrr😮‍💨
What you dont clean your bore, Dont you notice the accuracy falls off after around 400 -1000 pellets depending on the gun? I always clean mine every 500 or so.
 
I agree 100%, there is no way that a soft cloth patch will damage a case hardened gun barrel. The pellet material is so much more harder and abrasive. I shot RF competitively for many years and would even clean my barrel during a match, and I shot Bulls Eye back then. I clean my air rifle barrel after every use and I shoot plenty Bulls Eye with a clean barrel today.

ThomasT
Old post, but I have never heard of a case hardened barrel. I shot smallbore match in college about 60 years ago Winchester 52d and Remington 40x rifles and we never cleaned the barrels.
 
Last edited: