Cleaning airgun barrels
Cleaning airgun barrels
I imagine this topic was been covered a lot before...but is there a product that is better then the rest to clean out the barrel. I,ve seen products like Simple Green, Fantastic being used . Are these product being used because they are just as effective or a case of " if you don't find anything else, this will do"???I have things like Hoppe's , Shooters Choice ...etc and even homemade "Ed's Red" but from I've read they are not suitable for airguns because the seals...right??
Any suggestitions would be appreciated
Thanks
Bob
Any suggestitions would be appreciated
Thanks
Bob
I tried what's Todd recommend and works great.
Also other ones that I use hoppe's 9 comes in a kit and works good too. It was recommend by a good friend that used to work at LeBaron and now he's at BassPro. The biggest improvement that I notice with Hoppe's 9 is as for example you haven't clean the barrel for over 1000 pellets and take a chrono reading and then after cleaning the barrel with Hoppe's 9, it's actually increase it by at least 20 - 30 fps. I've done this experiment many times with my Diana36 .177.
Also other ones that I use hoppe's 9 comes in a kit and works good too. It was recommend by a good friend that used to work at LeBaron and now he's at BassPro. The biggest improvement that I notice with Hoppe's 9 is as for example you haven't clean the barrel for over 1000 pellets and take a chrono reading and then after cleaning the barrel with Hoppe's 9, it's actually increase it by at least 20 - 30 fps. I've done this experiment many times with my Diana36 .177.
Is Hoppe's #9 safe for synthetic breech seals? I always read that it will eventually eat seals. Fact or hearsay?
I used Hoppe's #9 on powder burning rifles for the last 25 years. Another good product for powder burning barrels is Mercury outboard motor cleaner, but I would never use it on an airgun barrel. The motor cleaner was a popular product with benchrest shooting back when I shot bench in the 1980s.
Todd
I used Hoppe's #9 on powder burning rifles for the last 25 years. Another good product for powder burning barrels is Mercury outboard motor cleaner, but I would never use it on an airgun barrel. The motor cleaner was a popular product with benchrest shooting back when I shot bench in the 1980s.
Todd
Last night I really cleaned the barrel of my new QB78 I used Fantastic with a nylon pull tru. And was surprised at all the "brown gunk" that came out of the rifle , I imagine it's grease ( I hope!! ) This morning I shot it again with the Crosman pellets , that didn't seem to work well in this gun, and guess what, it grouped 5 shots into one very small hole!!! Amazing!!! I seemed to have forgotten to clean when I received it last week.
Bob
Bob
Hoppes 9 ?
Sniper, What is your feeling on Hoppes and QB78 seals?
Re: Hoppes 9 ?
The Hoppes 9 seems to be OK on the QB, I've been using it since I got the first QB about 6 months ago and the o-ring seal is still doing good and the rest of the guns for over 2 years now. I've gone thru 5 bottles so far and one spray can.El Tigre wrote:Sniper, What is your feeling on Hoppes and QB78 seals?
Sniper, which Hoppe's 9 do you use ??? I have Hoppe's 9 Powder Solvent, Hoppe's 9 Bench Rest , Hoppe's Black Powder cleaner....While going tru my cleaning supplies I found a bottle of Remington All-Natural Bore Cleaner ( Black Powder) wonder if this could be any good.?? It's amazing all the cleaners you can accumalate ,besides the 4 I already mentioned I have Break Free Bore Cleaner,Sweet's 7.62 solvent,Shooter's Choice, Remington Bore Cleaner and J B's which really cleans up a firearm barrel.
Of course all these products are used in centerfire and rimfire rifles and it would be nice to be able to use some of them in airguns...if possible
Bob
Of course all these products are used in centerfire and rimfire rifles and it would be nice to be able to use some of them in airguns...if possible
Bob
Hi Sniper,
The above pic is Hoppe's lubricating oil, not powder solvent (for cleaning). It has often been said that the solvent eats seals, but I have never heard anyone speak of the oil. I have been using the Hoppe's #9 powder solvent for 25 years on powder burners. Good stuff.
For airguns, the popular cleaning products are GooGone, Simple Green, Formula 409, Fantastic. GooGone should be fine and it's available in SuperStore and likely Wallyland. I often use Slick 50 Lube-1 for cleaning airguns. Airguns don't seem to foul like a powder burner so a tight fitting patch with one of the above products seems to do the job.
A couple of years ago there was a bit of a dispute about WD-40. Some shooters were saying it eats seals and others say it is fine. I have been avoiding using it on my airguns.
Todd
The above pic is Hoppe's lubricating oil, not powder solvent (for cleaning). It has often been said that the solvent eats seals, but I have never heard anyone speak of the oil. I have been using the Hoppe's #9 powder solvent for 25 years on powder burners. Good stuff.
For airguns, the popular cleaning products are GooGone, Simple Green, Formula 409, Fantastic. GooGone should be fine and it's available in SuperStore and likely Wallyland. I often use Slick 50 Lube-1 for cleaning airguns. Airguns don't seem to foul like a powder burner so a tight fitting patch with one of the above products seems to do the job.
A couple of years ago there was a bit of a dispute about WD-40. Some shooters were saying it eats seals and others say it is fine. I have been avoiding using it on my airguns.
Todd
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I have been using the same kit for about 3 years now. I hope i am not damaging my seals with that oil.sniper wrote:Hi Todd,
I didn't know about that oil for cleaning untill that Hoppe's 9 came out with the cleaning kit (cleaning rod, patches, and that oil) for airgun. Also was recommended by a old timer gun pro.
And i am very carefull with that still rod ,i round off the edges where the rods connect.
I got that kit at Canadian Tire
http://www.hoppes.com/adtemplate.asp?in ... y2=9476586
http://www.hoppes.com/adtemplate.asp?in ... y2=2000132
René
Cleaning the barrel of a new rifle makes a big difference
its often full of gunk and preservative and sometimes (God forbid RUST).
sometimes it can benefit from a recrown , one thing I have noticed on the qb 78 is the port damages the pellets ..and this is sometimes aggravated
when you have ported the barrel to allow more flow of co2 .
I am really surprised at the accuracy its capable of with the damaged pellets ..of course accuracy does improve when the port is lapped and the barrel polished and a recrown done ..link...
http://airguninfo.w2blc.com/qb78accurize.htm
Frank
sometimes it can benefit from a recrown , one thing I have noticed on the qb 78 is the port damages the pellets ..and this is sometimes aggravated
when you have ported the barrel to allow more flow of co2 .
I am really surprised at the accuracy its capable of with the damaged pellets ..of course accuracy does improve when the port is lapped and the barrel polished and a recrown done ..link...
http://airguninfo.w2blc.com/qb78accurize.htm
Frank
When an airgun is NEW the cleaning process differs from regular routine. For a new airgun there are preservative grease issues, possible rust, grit, posssible machining chips or metal grit, or any other particles that could have dropped in during packaging/shipping. The first barrel cleaning often requires plenty of patches and proper cleaning agents. Routine cleaning often only requires a few wet patches followed by a couple of dry patches. With airguns we don't have copper fouling or primer residue or powder fouling. We don't use metal brushes or harsh chemical cleaners like powder burners require. Most of the cleaning with airguns happens from the snug fitting patch being pulled through the barrel which has very shallow rifling. A mild cleaning liquid such as GooGone helps with the process.
Aluminum cleaning rods have always been controversial. Experienced benchrest shooters prefer to avoid these rods. Apparently, grit can become imbedded into the soft aluminum and become abrasive to the bore. When I use my nylon weedwacker pull-through I always wipe if off with each pass through the barrel. It's also important to keep the pull-through centered in the bore when pulling. These points are important to avoid grief.
Back in 1982, when I started benchrest shooting, I showed up at the shooting club with my .22 centerfire and a cleaning kit with aluminum rod. The old timers were shocked with what they saw so one of them gave me a Parker Hale coated rod so I didn't have to touch the barrel with the cheapo Outer's aluminum rod. That was the last day I used aluminum. I'm not about to take a chance with an expensive barrel or one that shoots great.
A few years ago a friend had a TAU-200 rifle. His rifle was having accuracy issues so he brought it to a local gunsmith. After inspection, the rifle was found to have a burr on the port which badly nicked the pellets on loading and caused poor flight. The gunsmith took an aluminum cleaning rod and filed a flat spot on it. The rod was used to polish out the burr. I asked what was used for abrasive. The smith said that working the rod produced aluminum oxide powder and that was enough to polish away the burr. The rifle shot ragged hole groups at 10 metres after that day. I shot it prior to the repair and it would only shoot 1/2" to 5/8" with the same pellets. I'm not knowledgable enough on metals to know if the comment on aluminum oxide was correct or not.
http://my.tbaytel.net/~coopers@tbaytel. ... ng%20Tips/
As with all advice, a person can use it or laugh at it and ignore it. The freedom to choose is a wonderful thing.
Todd
Aluminum cleaning rods have always been controversial. Experienced benchrest shooters prefer to avoid these rods. Apparently, grit can become imbedded into the soft aluminum and become abrasive to the bore. When I use my nylon weedwacker pull-through I always wipe if off with each pass through the barrel. It's also important to keep the pull-through centered in the bore when pulling. These points are important to avoid grief.
Back in 1982, when I started benchrest shooting, I showed up at the shooting club with my .22 centerfire and a cleaning kit with aluminum rod. The old timers were shocked with what they saw so one of them gave me a Parker Hale coated rod so I didn't have to touch the barrel with the cheapo Outer's aluminum rod. That was the last day I used aluminum. I'm not about to take a chance with an expensive barrel or one that shoots great.
A few years ago a friend had a TAU-200 rifle. His rifle was having accuracy issues so he brought it to a local gunsmith. After inspection, the rifle was found to have a burr on the port which badly nicked the pellets on loading and caused poor flight. The gunsmith took an aluminum cleaning rod and filed a flat spot on it. The rod was used to polish out the burr. I asked what was used for abrasive. The smith said that working the rod produced aluminum oxide powder and that was enough to polish away the burr. The rifle shot ragged hole groups at 10 metres after that day. I shot it prior to the repair and it would only shoot 1/2" to 5/8" with the same pellets. I'm not knowledgable enough on metals to know if the comment on aluminum oxide was correct or not.
http://my.tbaytel.net/~coopers@tbaytel. ... ng%20Tips/
As with all advice, a person can use it or laugh at it and ignore it. The freedom to choose is a wonderful thing.

Todd