How often do you clean your barrel?

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"Grin_Reaver"Fungun what sort of shot counts are we talking about through your guns and what are the typical distances you shoot to.
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Sorry Grin Reaver, did not see your question. I have thousands of rounds thru all my guns and shoot anywhere between 30yds to 100yds when target shooting. I just edited my response above to eat some crow...I will copy below so it shows up new.

I wash pellets and sort now, so I honestly have never cleaned any of my barrels. My bobcat .25 is lights out accurate. My Streamline is right behind the Bobcat and my Vulcan is such a tack driver….not one cleaning pad yet has touched my barrels. Just my 2 cents.

EDIT 5.15.18–You know what happens when you brag? You get to eat some crow…lol. My Streamline started getting some wider groups. Thought at first it was maybe the scope mounts had loosened up a bit….so I remounted the scope. Nope, that was not it. So I watched the AEAC video by our friend Steve about how he cleans his guns. So I ordered the “Patch Worm” from 20/20 concepts. In the mean time I researched different cleaning “solvents/oils” and decided “Ballistol” was a good choice for my application. One thing about Ballistol that I found from others on youtube, was that it works best if it is allowed to “soak” for about 5 minutes, before dry swabbing.Guess what? My Streamline is now back to shooting hole in hole just like it did before. Guess I’m a convert, cleaning when POI becomes an issue, might just be what the chef orders to go with a little crow. Big thanks to Steve of AEAC and to Tom at Tomcat airguns for their hard work putting out videos to help us all.

 
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Fungun, crow is best out of a crock pot so it’s tender. Honestly my gun likes the jsb pellets, so I’m done with cheap pellets. I just think some guns are much more finicky then others. Now I just need to convince my wife that I “need” a second gun.....since it’s just as easy to clean two at a time. Maybe a 25 wildcat or impact. 
 
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FunGun said:
I wash pellets and sort now, so I honestly have never cleaned any of my barrels. My bobcat .25 is lights out accurate. My Streamline is right behind the Bobcat and my Vulcan is such a tack driver....not one cleaning pad yet has touched my barrels. Just my 2 cents.

EDIT 5.15.18--You know what happens when you brag? You get to eat some crow...lol. My Streamline started getting some wider groups. Thought at first it was maybe the scope mounts had loosened up a bit....so I remounted the scope. Nope, that was not it. So I watched the AEAC video by our friend Steve about how he cleans his guns. So I ordered the "Patch Worm" from 20/20 concepts. In the mean time I researched different cleaning "solvents/oils" and decided "Ballistol" was a good choice for my application. One thing about Ballistol that I found from others on youtube, was that it works best if it is allowed to "soak" for about 5 minutes, before dry swabbing.

Guess what? My Streamline is now back to shooting hole in hole just like it did before. Guess I'm a convert, cleaning when POI becomes an issue, might just be what the chef orders to go with a little crow. Big thanks to Steve of AEAC and to Tom at Tomcat airguns for their hard work putting out videos to help us all.
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What do you mean by "letting Balistol soak for 5 minutes"? Do you plug one end of the barrel, then fill it with Balistol?
 
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Michael said:
I recently went through and cleaned all of my barrels. I was surprised that every single one of them including the original smooth twist had quite a bit of fouling. The build up actually looked like melted bubbles or corrosion. It turned out to be just lead fouling that could not be removed with a standard pull through or patch worm and required a brass brush. Almost all of the build-up accumulated in the choked area.

I plan on cleaning my barrels more often now, as I'd like to stay away from the brass brushes. Note that contrary to what some believe, the brass brush did not harm the barrel or choke in any way.
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Recently found the same thing. Had to go to the brass brush to clear the build up. Agree that the brass does not damage the barrel... unless the barrel is made of REALLY soft material! (smile)
 
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Xbowsniper said:
Cranky,

If you have a habit of swapping pellet's, particularly Crosmans with other pellets, you have to remember that Crosman pellets are designed with a much harder alloy than other pellet brands that have thinner skirts. Crosman depends on this harder alloy to make a tight seal using their barrels. In doing this, the Crosman pellets leave behind a lot of antimony and bismouth deposits on the barrel, and it's hell to properly remove it. For this reason, I use a separate barrel for Crosman pellets in my Marauder, will not shoot a Crosman pellet in a barrel that shoots a different pellet well, don't want to foul it and ruin that barrels accuracy. Lubing the Crosman pellets might help, but I wouldn't count on it.

Tom Holland
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Since I have been using CPUM 10.5 pellets for so long, this may explain my recent loss of sub MOA accuracy.

I don't shoot unless I have a pest target or am checking zero. So, I don't shoot as much as some people do.

Brass brushed the barrel and it is better, but I think it still needs a few more pellets through it to get back to MOA or sub MOA out to 50 yards. Luckily, I rarely shoot farther than that.
 
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Washing pellets is taking it to far, not competing in the olympics of eccentrics, just let the rifle tell you with any major change in POI
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Somewhere between when hell froze over and the last blue moon. Have only cleaned one barrel after the initial clean on a new gun. The gun I shoot the most often is my 25 Compact. Have not cleaned the barrel since I started shooting it. This past weekend I was verifying zero on the scope. Still puts a full mag in one hole that can almost be covered with nickel @ 50 yards as long as I do my part.
 
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I am starting to form the opinion that if your barrel takes MANY pellets to settle in (500 or more) then you will probably need to clean it more often.

If you are lucky and get a barrel that starts off shooting MOA or better right out of the box, you may never need to clean it or will only need to clean it very rarely.

Just a thought... I never cleaned my Nova Vista Freedom barrels. Put thousands of pellets through both of them and they stayed better than sub-MOA until the onboard pumps broke and the soft poppets failed. (sigh)

p.s.

That got me thinking that polishing a barrel, especially one that is hard to make settle in, makes more and more sense...
 
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SimpleGuy said:
Those Crosman pellets are super dirty that is why your barrel fouls so quickly. Try cleaning and lubing or use a quality pellet!
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I do clean and lube. What I have read here and on GTA is that the harder lead (more Antimony) fouls quicker, but I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around that one.

Oh well, I don't put nearly as many pellets down the tube as some folks, so I still don't have to clean very often comparatively. (smile)

Oh, and as to using a quality pellet? Define that? The CPUM 10.5 pellets give/gave me sub-MOA out to 50 yards with the Fortitude and were tack drivers with the Freedoms. The JSB, H&N, etc, etc, pellets have never even come close to that in those guns. With the exception of the H&N Sniper Magnum 14.97 pellets which shot VERY well in the Fortitude even at ~740fps. Of course, those are no longer made...

P.S.

I'll admit that the QC of Crosman pellets does leave a LOT to be desired! However, I have had good luck with them across several airguns.
 
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Guest said:
Sorry for the ignorant question, but how do you wash your pellets?

Edit: I just looked it up on YouTube, so now I know. Although, having a PCP, I’m curious what lube you use.
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a lot of us use lemon pledge ,spray on a rag or paper towel on flat surface . then roll pellets across damp (pledge) towel . you want the edge of pellets lubed .
 
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I am cleaning my barrel with ballistol about after a tin and lubing pellets/slugs with lemon pledge. Also I was waxing with carnauba every second or third time cleaning.
About a month ago I did clean for a very first time with J-B bore cleaner + bore bright. That cleaner patches (blue can) were black after some 20+ patches and I got a feel it is removing material (abrasive to some decree?) so I stop using it.
Very last time I polished the liner with J-B Bright only.
When I rewind my film, I have a feel that the red J-B Bright polisher fouls the lead more then the carnauba vax polish I was doing earlier. I had about 200 ZAN 44 slugs through the liner, heading now to do the homework.
Also have in plans to clean one liner with Ballistol and one with WD40 (first time to try) just for my own fun to compare.
 
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