Air gun barrel cleaning

[kbean]

I am looking for advice on cleaning pcp barrels. I have heard that you shouldn’t use petroleum based cleaners/solvents on PCPs.
How do you clean your pcp barrels without causing damage?
Thanks!

[batty]

use a pull through after every session, mainly to remove the lead residue as you don't want that oxidising in your barrel.

For a more thorough cleaning i've always used VFG products (blue bore paste, teflon grease, felts and an airgun rod) - probably after every tin or two

[kbean]

Ok thank you. I see some coarse felts. Are these truly rough, would they damage the barrel? You would put bore paste on the felts for heavily fouled barrels, or more frequently?

[atomicgale]

Felt pellets only. Don't "clean" it - EVER!

[batty]

Ok thank you. I see some coarse felts. Are these truly rough, would they damage the barrel? You would put bore paste on the felts for heavily fouled barrels, or more frequently?

There are two types of felts from VFG for use on a rod- the plain ones and then the green ones - the green have small bits of phosphor bronze in for more intensive cleaning and in my opinion are only needed after every 10 tins or so i'd say. both are soft and won't damage your barrel as long as you use the properly (like everything). Avoid using the shoot through felts as these leave bits of fibers in the action (moreso the gubbings of the action) which cause more problems than good.

I put the paste on a felt, you only need a tiny little bit - then rub it into the felt - use a proper airgun rod which gets inserted from the muzzle - one pass then a couple of plain/uncoated felt through - it will come out black, dont worry

Now do the same thing with the teflon grease - a little on a felt, rub it in, pass it through the barrel with a rod and then pass plain felts though until its clean

Personally i used the bore paste every couple of tins or when i saw accuracy going but thats me and when i was training air 2 times a week ish - it probably worked out at once every couple of months but you'll find what works for you - its more important to pull though after every shoot - we've all seen how nasty oxidised pellets look and when that happens down your barrel it does affect accuracy - i've seen it happen - spectacular is the term i would use! I've seen the comment regarding felt pellets only and personally i'd use a pull though - not only does it prevent the above mentioned mishaps with the fibers getting into the action but with a pull though you get to see what state your barrel is actually in - just be sure to pull it straight.

[kbean]

This is great, thank you for the description!

[atomicgale]

X

[Pat McCoy]

When I was coaching our elite athletes used a pull through with one patch wetted with TSI301 (https://tsi301.com/) about every 300-500 rounds. Several were in the top 10 in the country, and one was USAS Jr Olympic Air Rife Champion (1998).

I still use it on my rilfe.