clean barrel accuracy

I had accuracy issues with my RAW HMX polygon barreled 25. It seemed to shoot a lot better without frequent cleaning. It took me a while to figure this out but after forcing myself not to clean it like I normally do with my FX's it turned around and became a very accurate gun. Just leave it be and shoot the crap out of it and see what happens.

JK

Clean your barrel only if you see accuracy consistently doing worse than normal.

You need to waste a good amount of pellets to lead up your freshly cleaned barrel.

I would recommend using your damaged throw away pellets for this say 40-50 rounds

for starters then try doing an accuracy test with your good pellets and repeat if needed.

Depending on what gun you have, believe it or not some never clean their barrels- ever.


Walt

I've been told to clean only after noticing a drop in typical accuracy. And that it will take some pellets to "re-season", shall we say? before previous accuracy returns.

Every barrel needs 'seasoning' after it's cleaned. This will fill up the imperfections and minute damages inside the barrel with lead, and smoothens things out. It's normal to see a difference in accuracy (or POI) after cleaning. You're not shooting powder burners that leave loads of residue from (with .22LR for instance) from the wax coating that's on the projectiles, the burned and unburned powder that remains in the barrel, resulting in a kind of greasy soup that will hurt accuracy after 100 to 500 shots or so. So the need for cleaning isn't that big of a thing with airguns. What @WahterV says, unless you see your groups opening up, there's no need for cleaning, or as the old saying goes; 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

At least, that goes for most barrels. Some need more cleaning than others. So it's mostly trial and error. 

Is there a better flavor of pellet to use for the deposition of lead? CPHP are a hard alloy, while JSB are softer. Will you use different pellets than normal?

Is there a better flavor of pellet to use for the deposition of lead? CPHP are a hard alloy, while JSB are softer. Will you use different pellets than normal?

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Thats a good question, however I tend to use the reject damaged deformed and pee wee and too heavy recycle collection of the same favorite brand and type which I normally shoot out of said particular gun as to not change the taste of the original recipe that it works well for and shoot at closer ranges for plinking and informal target shooting since that way I can tell when the barrel is seasoned enough give or take before wasting any of the good pellets.

I have used both JSB and Crosmans in this case but for different guns and it depends on whether or not you know your guns well enough, there is no definite predetermined number of shots so you have to do it the way I do if you want to be closer ot knowing when done and don't clean the barrel too extensively but just clean enough is fine otherwise you will wasting more pellets than you need to.


Walt

Every barrel needs 'seasoning' after it's cleaned.

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Except for mine which instantly hits dead on after even a very good cleaning. Luck of the draw, who knows, but that is the way it goes?

YES YES YES. If you have your rifle sighted in for a certain pellet from a certain batch & mold, it's sighted in for THOSE pellet specs.

We often run out of pellets, and buy more. That's how this entire hobby just works. We mainly waste lead trying to shoot smiley faces on paper at 100 yards with our "BB" guns.

You probably just had a different batch. You said it was all over the place at 50 yards giving 2-3" groups. REZERO IT! Tell us if that fixed the problem. Come on brother, give us a tricker one to figure out.

I keep a couple of tins of pellets that my gun does not like to foul the barrel after cleaning. It takes my guns about 50 pellets before they settle back down and shoots well. 

A few things I have learned:

Some barrels shoot well for "many" shots between cleanings. In the case of some 10M guns 10's of thousands. 

Some barrels are cleaned every 25 shot record BR target.

I had a ST bbl that liked frequent cleaning and only needed 1 fouling shot. Other barrels needed up to 25 fouling shots. 

If you are shooting competition and you wait until "accuracy falls off" to clean-it's too late. 

Some people can't shoot good enough to tell the difference.

POI can change as a bbl settles in.

Some barrels like lubed pellets, some don't.

Some barrels after a "very thorough" cleaning had a few stubborn lead deposits remaining, visible with the 10X lighted Hawkeye borescope. This can be a very confusing situation for the average Joe that does not have that equipment. 

I have had barrels that took an hour and nearly 100 patches to get clean. 

Some guns become "real shooters" by about the 3rd owner.

Finding what your barrel likes is part of the journey, don't ask as your mileage will vary.

Will Piatt

Well said Will. One has to just shoot, and shoot their rifle alot to figure this one out. 

Chas

I find anytime I clean my barrel it takes a certain amount of shots to get back to normal. It can be all over the place as the OP described. How many shots it takes just depends on how clean I got it, how much lube residue from cleaning is still in it, etc.

Now here is something else I notice that I never have seen talked about. If I have a rifle and am sitting at the bench shooting testing different pellets I have noticed a similar effect between different pellets. So say I am shooting H&N pellets and then try a JSB pellet. The few few shots (1-8 shots let’s say) won’t group well. If I stick with it they may start grouping well. So something to maybe look for and see if you notice a similar effect. Not a big deal unless you have a new rifle and a bunch a different pellets and determine you are going to shoot 5 of each pellet to find the best one. Just may try 20 or so pellets of each type is what I am getting at.

Now here is something else I notice that I never have seen talked about. If I have a rifle and am sitting at the bench shooting testing different pellets I have noticed a similar effect between different pellets. So say I am shooting H&N pellets and then try a JSB pellet. The few few shots (1-8 shots let’s say) won’t group well. If I stick with it they may start grouping well. So something to maybe look for and see if you notice a similar effect. Not a big deal unless you have a new rifle and a bunch a different pellets and determine you are going to shoot 5 of each pellet to find the best one. Just may try 20 or so pellets of each type is what I am getting at.

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I always clean between brands when testing because the lead is a bit to very different. It takes a bit longer to test but gives a clearer picture of what's going to work and what won't.

John

My personal opinion is every barrel is different maybe large or small differences between brands, styles of manufacturing, type and style of rifling, twist rate, FPS SHOT AT and type of pellets: hardness, contact area lubed not lubed etc. you get the point lots of variables!, now that being said you must shoot ALOT and clean to learn the characteristics of a particular barrel. I came from a centerfire background and was cleaning way to much! I mean WAY to much! But everyone will have to shoot and find what works for them! Don’t believe there is one particular style of cleaning that works generically across the board for every barrel or shooting discipline? At Least I haven’t come across one yet! Want to add that you must record and quantify your findings of this testing for future references, this also speeds up the learning curve of new barrels used.

My personal opinion is every barrel is different maybe large or small differences between brands, styles of manufacturing, type and style of rifling, twist rate, FPS SHOT AT and type of pellets: hardness, contact area lubed not lubed etc. you get the point lots of variables!, now that being said you must shoot ALOT and clean to learn the characteristics of a particular barrel. I came from a centerfire background and was cleaning way to much! I mean WAY to much! But everyone will have to shoot and find what works for them! Don’t believe there is one particular style of cleaning that works generically across the board for every barrel or shooting discipline? At Least I haven’t come across one yet! Want to add that you must record and quantify your findings of this testing for future references, this also speeds up the learning curve of new barrels used.

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how much were you cleaning . how many shots between cleaning with your centerfire guns.

Ima go w/ Mr Piatt

I would clean as often as every 10-15 shots (depending on barrel) in my competition PPC bench rifle and carried that philosophy over to 25m Benchrest... DOES NOT work well for airguns! ( this was with kroil,sweats for copper, bronze brush, and lots of cotton patches for my centerfire guns only ) now I did not use any harsh chemicals in my airgun barrels but just a few wet patches followed by dry. Not going into further discussion, but I learned on my own about this and has provided invaluable information for my interests!