Bench Rest Barrel Cleaning

You will have to determine the best cleaning regime for your specific gun, barrel, velocity, and pellet type. eg some barrels shoot best squeaky clean, others best dirty, others still with periodic cleaning. Each combination has some optimal cleaning protocol....and this trial and error testing is part of the hunt for accuracy.

There are plenty of video's on Youtube and cleaning PCP and springer air guns.

I tie a couple of cotton patches on a string dampened with ballistol and pull through the barrel breech end too mussel repeat until patches pull through clean .Run a couple of dry patches through until dry .frequency of cleaning will depend on your rifle .Smooth twist barrels can shoot thousands of rounds before P.O.I. is affected .L.W. barrels may be a few hundred .Some gun require a few shots after cleaning to retain a steady point of impact .Some shoot dead on P.O.I. right after cleaning .As You become familiar with Your rifle You will learn what Your rifle requires to shoot dead on P.O.I also do not use a metal cleanign rod as this might damage Your barrel . Stan

Yes, as Stan said, a pull through device that has a small loop on the end that you attach patches that have a few drops of appropriate solution on them works best. Can use a straw in the muzzel end to get the cord started down the barrel. Pull it out of the breech, put the patch through the loop and pull it through until the patches come out clean.

Is a patch really going to remove any lead from the barrel? I thought you had to break out the brass brush and JB bore paste to get any sort of significant cleaning done. Asking because I keep seeing different answers on this.

I would not use a brass brush or a metal rod on a air rifle barrel.different steel than p.b.rifle.Have always been able to a clean barrel using above stated method .beware of harsh cleaners,steel rods,brass brushes can damage barrels and o rings .

"TDK"Is a patch really going to remove any lead from the barrel? I thought you had to break out the brass brush and JB bore paste to get any sort of significant cleaning done. Asking because I keep seeing different answers on this.

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I have a LW polygonal barrel and clean it between BR cards (30 shots or so). I pull through about 3 cotton patches sprayed with Ballistol, then 3 dry ones. That usually does the trick. Then shoot a few sighters to get the barrel to settle down. For practice, I have shot all three cards without cleaning. Sometimes I get an unexplained flyer or two near the end of the third card. This batch of JSB pellets that I'm using seem to have some kind of waxy coating and maybe that's responsible for the barrel getting dirty so soon. I hear that most people using these barrels have to clean them more frequently. Experience is your best teacher. BTW, I get no lead deposits or lead flakes.

Brass is softer than steel, so if no O'rings are in the way, why not use a brass brush if it can remove soft lead without damaging the barrel??

I use the Napier pull through with two cotton patches in between cards. 

AMOXOM most air rifle barrels are made of softer steel and abrade easier than p.b.barrels and The rifling is much more shallow ,I have never found the need of the brass brush .I guess if You used a rubber coated or carbon fiber rod it might be ok .But I advise against it .

I've used brass brushes in stainless barrels for years (to remove copper & carbon) both much harder to remove than lead! And stainless is softer than carbon steel, I thought anyways? So I guess I'm confused too! I do know that most of the copper is removed through a chemical process( Ammonia Based cleaners) I'm not suggesting I know what I'm talking about here! I hope someone with experience will clarify this for me & others!

depends on the hardness of the steel used in the barrels .In the general the steel used in pb rifles has a much harder steel than air rifles .

Unsure of what all manufacturers are using, but TJ barrels are chromoly and LW uses chromoly or stainless. I think most modern airgun barrels are made from harder alloys than in the past, but caution should still be used when cleaning. To be safe a pull thru with proper cleaners is the best route to take. Regardless of barrel material rod guides really should be used if using a cleaning rod of any type.

Ok thanks, makes sense, just didn't realize they used such a soft steel in AG barrels!

I believe air rifle barrels have a much longer life expectancy than PBs. PB barrels are of course exposed to high heat, combustion products, etc, which cause chemical reactions and loss of barrel material over time. Could also be due in part to increased cleaning in PB barrels, due to increased fowling.

This suggests that if you have a good AR barrel, clean it with care and it should last a long time.

Agressive cleaning methods like brass brushes are not necessary on airgun barrels. What you are cleaning out is oil residue most of the time. I've only heard of very few cases of actual lead deposits and lead flakes being taken out of barrels. I've had one that produced lead flakes, but that disappeared after the barrel was broken in.

Even soft materials can scratch harder materials. I can take a high speed steel tool bit and put a scratch on a carbide tool bit. It all depends on the cutting edge on the tool. Experienced shooters in the powder burning groups will use a guide on the end of their barrel so the rod does not touch the crown. You can probably use a brass rod but use some of the guides you can buy to protect that crown and your rod travels down the middle of the barrel without making contact with the sides.
my 2 cents worth