Cleaning an Air Pistol barrel.

[Alex L]

At the Club we have been talking about how often you should clean the barrel of an air pistol.

Should you use a brush, or should you use a felt pellet?
If you use the pellets, - how many do you fire each cleaning?

What do other people do?

How many shots do you fire, between cleanings?

Alex L.

[CraigE]

Generally, I clean the barrel after about 2 tins of pellets. I use AP/AR patches with just a wee bit of Ballistol on them. I feed a length of fairly heavy nylon leader (fishing line) which has a loop tied in it. Feeding from the muzzle end so the loop appears at the breach. I put the patch in the loop and put a drop or two of the Ballistol on that and pull thru the barrel. About a half dozen patches usually seems to have them come thru clean.

I have some of the felt pellets, but quite honestly, I have only ever used them a few times.

I am aware of some shooters who clean more frequently and some who virtually never do. My approach works for me. It may only be psychological, but I think groups remain tighter after cleaning. YMMV,

CraigE

[bubba_zenetti]

i fire a few cleaning pellets through it after every session.
since the air pistol produces no powder fouling, you only need to worry about a small amount of lead fouling. once in a great while ( i say about every 4 tins) i will take a patch and soak it in hoppes and run ith through. i never use a brush and only use a plastic jagg to avoid scratching the barrel. i then follow up with a dry patch until it comes out clean. a bit of some tetra gun oil on another patch finishes the job. be sure you do not get any oil anywhere other than in the barrel. one or two drops on the pathch is all that is needed so you coat the inside to protect against corrosion.

[ColinC]

I put a felt pellet through every 4-5 months - only because I have a packet someone gave me it. Usually then I am pinging at a spider walking along the wall.

I didn't think lead fouling was possible in an air pistol because the pellet is not travelling fast enough to start to melt. Most CA air pistols seem to run sub 500fps and in the back of my mind lead fouling does not happen until about 800 fps.

Any of the budding scientists got an opinion on this.

[Guest]

if that were true then the patches would not come out dirty.

dont shoot spiders. felt pellets might lose energy fast but they still pack quite a punch.

[RobStubbs]

I almost never clean my barrel now, if I do it's just felt pellets. Every couple of years the barrel has been cleaned more thoroughly / serviced (by someone who knows what they are doing, not me).

With compressed air guns you have to be very careful not to get fibres into the air port. Felt pellets often have little fibres around the edges and these can, and do, lead to failure of the gun. That is the main reason I rarely clean my gun.

Rob.

[Richard H]

if that were true then the patches would not come out dirty.

dont shoot spiders. felt pellets might lose energy fast but they still pack quite a punch.

The stuff you see on the patches is most likely not lead, but lube and a little lead oxide (all lead oxidizes thats why the pellets are dull) from the pellets.

[Guest]

I have put about 14,000 pellets through my LP2 so far. Put perhaps 10-12 felt pellets down it. I quit doing that a while ago for exactly the reason that RobStubbs offers his caution. I see far more potential for problems to occur than benefit gained. It was clear upon looking at the last few I put through my LP2 that there was some contact with the ports and most likely at the muzzle too. On my non ported AP the pellets come out unmolested.
About the only cleaning I do now is to the loading area with a dry Q tip.

[Richard H]

I have put about 14,000 pellets through my LP2 so far. Put perhaps 10-12 felt pellets down it. I quit doing that a while ago for exactly the reason that RobStubbs offers his caution. I see far more potential for problems to occur than benefit gained. It was clear upon looking at the last few I put through my LP2 that there was some contact with the ports and most likely at the muzzle too. On my non ported AP the pellets come out unmolested.
About the only cleaning I do now is to the loading area with a dry Q tip.

I don't think Mr. Stubbs is talking about the barrel ports, I beleive he is talking about the port at the bottom where the air enters. I have heard it reported that small fibres can get in there and clog the regulator, how much of it I beleive is another question. Soft felt pellets are not going to harm your steel barrel either the muzzle end or any port or holes in the barrel (unless I missed that day in metalurgy class).

[Elmas]

I tend to agree with those who remind us that no lead fouling occurs in air pistols , fouling that requires regular cleaning....

What I tend to do is fire a lightly oiled felt pellet before I put the gun away for any length of time... and fire a couple of dry felt pellets before I start using it again .

Elmas

[Nicole Hamilton]

I clean my LP10P rarely, about once every sleeve of pellets, using patches soaked in TSI-301 on a nylon fishing line. I haven't sent it out for analysis to find out what's on there, but the first few patches do come out dirty. I also have not locked the gun down in a vise to compare accuracy before and after, but subjectively, I think I get a tiny improvement.

[funtoz]

I clean my LP10P rarely, about once every sleeve of pellets, using patches soaked in TSI-301 on a nylon fishing line. I haven't sent it out for analysis to find out what's on there, but the first few patches do come out dirty. I also have not locked the gun down in a vise to compare accuracy before and after, but subjectively, I think I get a tiny improvement.

I never thought to stick a felt pellet in the EDX when I had access to one. No one discussing here has done any similar testing either. There's lots of opinion and little verifiable fact. I believe it was JP that related a story about a high end air rifle competitor that got better results with routine cleaning and Neil Johnson used to have instructions on his web sit for air gun cleaning. Much of that may have been directed at the older spring operated guns, which did have some problems with lubricant contamination too. The best advice is summed up by the acronym RTFM, which refers to actually reading the manual provided by the people that have done testing. Some manufacturers recommend more cleaning than others. RTFM.

By the way Nichole, we are shooting free pistol Sunday. We all would enjoy having you shoot with us, even if you are a girl ;-)

Larry

[Nicole Hamilton]

By the way Nichole, we are shooting free pistol Sunday. We all would enjoy having you shoot with us, even if you are a girl ;-)

I will be there! I meant to be there last month and forgot it was on my calendar. I won't do that again. Picking a favorite gun is like picking my favorite child, so I won't do that; I love them all. But I definitely look forward to FP every week.

P.S. There's never an H in Nicole except when a guy spells it.

[Guest]

I figure that if I use the pistol weekly, dont touch the barrel.
If its gonna sit for more than 2 weeks, pull a slightly oiled patch thru with fishing nylon to guard against corrosion (being very carefull not to rub the muzzle crown).
Before firing again, pull a dry one thru to clear any slight buildup.