Question on FX guns needing cleaning

Lemon Pledge works (TOM HOLLAND STYLE!) NOT Spiderman...

https://youtu.be/b_9fP1z8D08

I had a Crown, and it always needed frequent cleaning, as well as suffering unrelated POI changes, which I attribute to the comparatively complex barrel liner and sleeve design. I have a Royale, which uses the original solid ST barrel. It virtually never needs cleaning, and POI is rock solid. The Royale/Boss platform might be the source of some of the reports you have heard of very infrequent cleaning.

Slugs or pellets? And when you clean, what method are you using?

Lube your pellets and slugs. My favorite that has lengthened the time between cleanings best is the Silicone formula WD-40 in the silver/yellow/blue can. One can will last you forever and it’s super easy to apply. Squirt some in a zip loc bag, throw a couple tins of pellets in there and shake around, dump them out on a few paper towels to get the excess off the projectiles. Put them back in the tin ad your good to go. A lot of other things people use for lubricating projectiles leaves a dry residue after a while. I know a lot of people use lemon pledge as Odoyle mentioned and really like it. I am one that doesn’t, I hate that dry residue it leaves after a while. Just a preference but I’ve tried a lot of different lubes and like the silicone formula WD-40 best. Try everything you can find on different batches of pellets and see what you like best. Good luck.

Stoti

Stoti,

Are you talking residue on the pellets or in the barrel?

Pellets or slugs. You know, after you leave them in the tin a while they get that white dry film on them. I do not like it one bit. The silicone formula doesn’t do that, no matter how long you leave them in the tin unused.

Stoti

Lube your pellets and slugs. My favorite that has lengthened the time between cleanings best is the Silicone formula WD-40 in the silver/yellow/blue can. One can will last you forever and it’s super easy to apply. Squirt some in a zip loc bag, throw a couple tins of pellets in there and shake around, dump them out on a few paper towels to get the excess off the projectiles. Put them back in the tin ad your good to go. A lot of other things people use for lubricating projectiles leaves a dry residue after a while. I know a lot of people use lemon pledge as Odoyle mentioned and really like it. I am one that doesn’t, I hate that dry residue it leaves after a while. Just a preference but I’ve tried a lot of different lubes and like the silicone formula WD-40 best. Try everything you can find on different batches of pellets and see what you like best. Good luck.

Stoti

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Pellets or slugs. You know, after you leave them in the tin a while they get that white dry film on them. I do not like it one bit. The silicone formula doesn’t do that, no matter how long you leave them in the tin unused.

Stoti

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Thanks for this advice. I have some of the WD40 silicone formula so I am gonna try that right now!

I have been using the WD40 silicone for over 10000 rounds pesting this year in two crowns and clean very seldom. Balistal and pull throughs, usually 2-3 a nd then 4-5 dry patchs. Works for me. I use a terry cloth ,towel. Spread a tin on it spray with the WD then rub it around c.eans and lubes pellets in one operation. After a while it takes less lube as the towel is damp. Never seen the need to Flitz a FX barrel, but that could be an option if just the lube doesn't do ut.

I have FX guns and smooth twist-x barrel kits in 3 calibers. .177, .22, and .25. What I have discovered particularly shooting many thousands of mainly JSB heavys in .177, is that the different batches can have varying degrees of factory "lube" on them. By that I mean the residues left on pellets from the manufacturer which are left over "lube" from making the manufacturing prosses easier, also do lube our barrels to a degree. Some of the batches which felt more dry, made cleaning of the barrels more frequent. The latest tins I have, I get some black "dirt" on my fingers when loading the magazine, have been the ones which shoot the best. And the barrels does not need cleaning as often when shooting those. So in my opinion it is a good sign when you get some dirt on you fingers from the pellets. The ones which leave my fingers clean, and dry, seems to benefit with some lube. My .22 JSB exact pellets seems to be completely dry in the tin, and without lube, they leaves lead fouling in the barrel.

So yes the simplest way to maintain stable POI, and avoid frequent cleaning is to lube the pellets lightly. I have never cleaned my pellets, so have no experience with that. I only add additional lube. 

Thorough cleaning, acetone, then pure carnauba wax seems to work best. Second best is cleaning with gunzilla. Gunzilla gives me over double the amount of accurate shots in my powder burners before I have to clean the barrel.



https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/testing-info-on-20-different-lubricants/



If you want to lube pellets this is a good record of a wide range of tested lubes^

Once your barrel is broken in or you have hand lapped it I would agree with Odoyle and stoti on the lubing of pellets. I have found that it at least triples, or better, my shots between cleanings.

I stopped shooting pellets in my .25 Impact because of all the werq involved in cleaning, lubing, sorting, and weighing to get them to shoot their best. The NSA slugs are pretty clean and prelubed as well. They also have very precise weights and no defects to speak of. The 33.5 and 36.2 slugs shoot better than MOA at 100 yards most of the time as do the VK 34gr.

test car power steering grease. Works great for me.

@tba have you tried polishing the barrel liner's bore? I bought an assortment packet of 3M micro grit polishing cloth on ebay for the job. Using a swiveling fiberglass cleaning rod so the patch follows the rifling, I polish the bore to a mirror inside. You shouldn't have many more lead build up if you do this and lube the pellet or slug. I use 3 in 1 silicone oil, squirting a good amount of it right onto the foam in the tin. I also shoot wet pellets and slugs right out of the tin instead of going through a drying process. The accuracy is always there and the barrel doesn't ever need anything else done, though I will run a couple of wet patches down it after shooting outside in colder weather because of moisture.

With my four FX liners, removed and placed in a protective vise, I use a PatchWorm kit with the added felt scrubbing pad. I find this system really can get into the grooves and scrub well, for a pull through. Patchworm.com (non-secure). I also used a Dewey rod and cotton scrub pads to scrub and polish with JB bore paste. Once I got them super clean and polished using lead remover followed with the JB bore past, I finished them off with Trewax clear floor polish and let them dry...Then shoot to settle the wax. I also lube projectiles with the slightest film of 10 weight silicon shock fluid. This all seems to be working well for me. I have been shooting and testing a lot of slugs at different diameters and needed something that works well for this type of shooting and testing. I also us a brushless bore snake pull through between thorough cleanings, which is not very often now.







 

With my four FX liners, removed and placed in a protective vise, I use a PatchWorm kit with the added felt scrubbing pad. I find this system really can get into the grooves and scrub well, for a pull through. Patchworm.com (non-secure). I also used a Dewey rod and cotton scrub pads to scrub and polish with JB bore paste. Once I got them super clean and polished using lead remover followed with the JB bore past, I finished them off with Trewax clear floor polish and let them dry...Then shoot to settle the wax. I also lube projectiles with the slightest film of 10 weight silicon shock fluid. This all seems to be working well for me. I have been shooting and testing a lot of slugs at different diameters and needed something that works well for this type of shooting and testing. I also us a brushless bore snake pull through between thorough cleanings, which is not very often now.

 

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Great post Triggertreat. Darn close to what i do. And the main reason i asked the OP his method of cleaning. 

If he's just doing pull through cleaning, and has a choke that's leaded up. Simple pull through patches aren't going to get smeared lead out of his choke. And possibly why a cleaning is only lasting 50 shots.

Ive had patches come out clean, to only find out with a few passes with a bronze brush revealed there was a lot of lead left in the barrel. 

A good scrubbing is paramount before passing judgment on a barrels cleaning intervals. Then polish, wax and lube. 

Here's my lube of choice. 

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-16-SL-Industrial-Strength-Lubricant/dp/B0019LV3GO

I use FP10 for pellet lube. Drizzle about 5 seconds worth of drops in a zip lock and dump pre washed and sorted pellets in that and knead on the bag for even coating. I also wax my barrels after a thorough scrubbing and polishing, and after the wax put a thin coat of FP10 on top of the wax. 

Goo gone and brake fluid spray are my initial cleaners on stx liners. Goo gone only when I do pull thru cleaning with my Boreman pull thru cleaner.

An stx liner takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to clean. I go thru about 6 mops and a couple of sponge mops to apply all the products.