Cleaning?

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Nothing is maintenance free. Yes, airguns need to be cleaned, but not like powder burners. Powder burners act of burning powder leaves lots if bad stuff behind. Since airguns use air, that's not a problem.

Lead from pellets does eventually foul the barrel. Some guns are good to go for a couple thousand pellets before needing to be cleaned. Some only go for a few hundred rounds, it all depends on your gun. Most will go until it loses accuracy then clean. Then, it is said, and again this depends on your gun, it takes about 50 or so rounds to "lead in" the barrel.

Take it for what it's worth, it's all folklore without empirical evidence. but if you lose accuracy, try a good cleaning and 50 to 100 rounds and see what it does on 100 through 150.

Oh, and if it's a new gun CLEAN IT! the gunk they use at the factory for shipping is nasty. Even my Smooth Twist X had some gunk inside. Give it a good initial clean. AEAC has an excellent video on how Steve cleans each gun when it comes in.
 
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What Saltlake58 said pretty much hit the nail on the head, namely it varies by gun but you're just worried about accuracy not corrosive powder and carbon buildup. 

All I'd add to further this is to tell you to try it. Take the pistol without having cleaned it, rest it, and shoot half a dozen 5 round groups with it. Then clean it, either with felt cleaning patches or a more dramatic/involved cleaning method, and shoot another half dozen groups. If they didn't improve either you didn't clean it well (unlikely) or it didn't need to be cleaned. 



I personally would recommend avoiding using brushes, and if you do use a cleaning rod use a soft one and clean from the breech end to protect the crown. For the purpose of this experiment, the felt pellets seem too easy to pass on. ;) 
 
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I’d suggest that the higher velocity guns probably foul sooner then the lower velocity ones assuming equal barrel quality. I use nylon brushes but I do know that lead can be stubborn to remove. I personally would not hesitate to use a bronze brush if needed. I have a bore scope and I clean using what is efficient. A dry felt patch? Come on. A couple wet ones and then let it sit and then some dry ones maybe. Then we get into pellet lubes. It would seem logical to me that some type of light lube might be beneficial if you have a gun that fouls quickly . Clean from the breach when ever possible . When I clean I use a bore snake without the brush pull that through and then look to see if it’s clean. If I see it needs more I’ll use a nylon brush next. Rarely need to do more . If you are stripping lead you probable have a rough barrel that might need attention. 
 
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I've never owned an air rifle barrel that never needed cleaning, although the frequency of their fouling varied greatly. I generally shoot until I start getting unexplained flyers, and a dirty barrel is usually the issue. With all the excitement currently around HP rifles, I expect barrel maintenance is going to become a much bigger issue. You can't push soft lead pellets at these higher velocities without lead fouling. And barrels vary greatly.I have a new Red Wolf, standard power, and I notice accuracy falling off after as few as 60 shots. Hopefully, it will become more durable with some more shooting. 
 
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I use a "Dewey" rod which is a metal rod covered with nylon and a brass jag. No brushes. I spray some silicone on the patch and push it through from the breech. No solvents or cleaning oils. It's a snug fit and if there is any crude in there, it comers out on the patch, repeat as necessary. I follow up with a dry patch. The string pull through method is easy, but especially for a first time clean, I'm not convinced there is enough radial pressure in the bore to actually clean it.

As far as how often to clean will depend on several things. If you like to shoot small groups at a distance from a bench rest, I guess you would know when a cleaning is in order. Most of my shooting is offhand yet I still clean them about every 2 tins. This gives me a chance to put a light film of silicone grease on breech O rings and any moving parts and to check for any loose screws or wear issues.

I think a big factor in how often to clean would be what kind of pellets you use. Some are very hard and very dirty. 






 
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Pewpew,

I have a Steyr LP 10, and I can safely say that it is a nail driver. It does need to be cleaned, and more often than most I have found. The mechanism itself will be good for a period of time, but the barrel is another story.

The barrel is rather unique over other barrels, as it has 3 air exhaust ports machined in the middle of the barrel. If you shoot the gun, and hold your hand over the 3 visible holes on top of the barrel, you'll feel a formidable amount of air being released from them. It goes to say, that within time, these ports can be partially blocked, or totally blocked with lead, and need to be cleaned. The front part of the port in the barrel has a tendency to get a lead build up on it.

The way that I remedy this, is that I take a nylon brush on a rod, and making sure the air cylinder is removed, chamber a pellet in the breech, and close the block. Pull the trigger to release the hammer spring. Leave it there. Also, remove the air stripper from the barrel. You can clean that separately. Now, scrub the barrel back and forth. With the pellet in the breech, and the block closed, no crud can get rearward to the transfer port, and down into that valve mechanism. It's good to point the gun down while doing this, let gravity work in your favor. You may use your favorite solution, Ballistol, or any airgun manufacturers reccomended cleaning products . When satisfied, open the breech, push the pellet out, and clean ONLY from breech to muzzle....you don't want any crud you possibly loosened getting down in the transfer port area.. You can use a rod with a patch, Boresnake, or one of the plastic weed whacker type systems that are out there. If you do use a rod, just be aware of the point where your attachment screws onto the rod. Sometimes they have a sharp edge, and with delicate rifling, that's a bad combo. You can also run felt cleaning pellets through it as well.

I will be covering running a bore camera down some barrels in the future, and I'll include the LP 10 in that process.

Check on my Field Target Tech Channel on U Tube, subscribe, I should have that episode up in a few weeks.

Tom Holland 
 
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Nomo,

I'm not sure if it's a gradient lens or not, not sure what that even is. This is an EBay special, pretty cheap. It will fit in a .177 barrel. The clarity isn't 100%, but for the price of it, I'm impressed. It shows things in the bore well enough for my uses. I'll have an episode up in a out 2-3 weeks or so, it'll be an educational event for sure.

Tom Holland 
 
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I have picked up a couple of nice air rifles cheap because they shot so badly. But I bought them because I could see the bores were so badly fouled with crud and lead.

I use the Lead-Wipe-Away cloth patches on a very tight jag and run it completely from one end to the other of the barrel to completely out the other end, pull the rod out and reuse the patch for 10 or 11 passes half from one end, half from the other. Do NOT scrub back and forth inside the barrel, the cloth is mildly abrasive and as it cuts the lead out chemically it also cuts it out with the lapping grit. The lead will be gone and the barrel will be undamaged and very clean. A little like fire lapping. Do be careful in the choke.

Then when the rifle is back together, I put a dab of JB Bore Cleaner paste on about 20 pellets nose and sides and shoot them... the JB polishes the bore and then I use Balistol to clean the JB out and oil the surface. It's polished like glass usually.

The rifles take a long time to foul and if you run a damp patch of Ballistol every 250 or 300 pellets it will not foul at all.

And that's my system.
 
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