So I started airgunning last year for a couple months, took as break and came back this fall. I guess the rifles I had shot previously were sent to me clean and I never did get that many rounds through them to need a cleaning before trying something new. I had been trying to find a feel that I liked more than really giving rifles a full, long workout.
Well this year with the Impact has been very different. I have shot more rounds with it than all the others I tried combined. I’ve found that the opinions around cleaning are similar to 22lr. Some will say you never need to clean and others will say clean all the time. I have found that it depends on your uses, needs, and your rifle. I just finished up 600 or 750 rounds, lost count of tins. The last two tins had shown a decline in consistency (more fliers than I had been getting, which had been very few previously). I tried to give the first of those two tins the benefit of the doubt and assumed that the wind that day and me trying a couple new parts were having the effect. But the last tin this week wasn’t up to it’s previous standards either. So I decided to clean it along with my 22lr from competing last week.
I am shocked at how much more filthy the Impact was than my powder burners! If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the Impact’s patches were from a black powder rifle or something. I used Ballistol, because it seems popular here and I have plenty. I was on the 7th wet patch before the patch stopped being black. And I mean black. It started lightening up some and getting grayer after that, but easily took 3 times the number of patches my 22lr did earlier. I have been too busy the last couple days to go back out and shoot to confirm that it brought my accuracy back to where it was, but I have to imagine that is what it was after seeing these patches.
Anyway, I was just extremely shocked at the dirtiness of the barrel. I would not have guessed that it could get that dirty with just pellets. Just sharing my surprise at my first airgun dirty barrel cleaning experience.
Well this year with the Impact has been very different. I have shot more rounds with it than all the others I tried combined. I’ve found that the opinions around cleaning are similar to 22lr. Some will say you never need to clean and others will say clean all the time. I have found that it depends on your uses, needs, and your rifle. I just finished up 600 or 750 rounds, lost count of tins. The last two tins had shown a decline in consistency (more fliers than I had been getting, which had been very few previously). I tried to give the first of those two tins the benefit of the doubt and assumed that the wind that day and me trying a couple new parts were having the effect. But the last tin this week wasn’t up to it’s previous standards either. So I decided to clean it along with my 22lr from competing last week.
I am shocked at how much more filthy the Impact was than my powder burners! If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the Impact’s patches were from a black powder rifle or something. I used Ballistol, because it seems popular here and I have plenty. I was on the 7th wet patch before the patch stopped being black. And I mean black. It started lightening up some and getting grayer after that, but easily took 3 times the number of patches my 22lr did earlier. I have been too busy the last couple days to go back out and shoot to confirm that it brought my accuracy back to where it was, but I have to imagine that is what it was after seeing these patches.
Anyway, I was just extremely shocked at the dirtiness of the barrel. I would not have guessed that it could get that dirty with just pellets. Just sharing my surprise at my first airgun dirty barrel cleaning experience.