Just bought an air rifle, question about cleaning

TomD

TomD

e publius unum
I bought the rifle for plinking and sub-lethal varmint control. The rifle I bought, a Stoeger break barrel .177, has open sights and simply isn't meant as a competition gun. Even so, I'm astounded at the accuracy, I can shoot it from offhand at least as accurately as my best .22's.

According to the specs, it will drive lead pellets to 1000 fps and alloy to 1200. The owners manual says to clean the barrel (it is rifled) every 500 rounds but there is no mention of methodology other than to caution against bore brushes. Is there such a thing as a .177 cleaning rod? Maybe just wet the bore with lead solvent?

Being a break barrel, the barrel is easy enough to access.

I would appreciate a few tips.

Edit: come to think of it, considering the 17 cal rimfire craze, there has to be 17 cal cleaning stuff. Would still appreciate tips on appropriate bore maintenance.

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Hi Tom,
Airguns are a whole lot of fun... As to cleaning your gun, first a cautionary note, what ever you use for a solvent or a lubricant, be sure it is compatible with the seals in your gun.

Air guns are a bit more fussy in this regard due to the type of seals each manufacturer uses. Also, its been my experience that airguns in general are a lot less fussy about being cleaned frequently as compared to conventional fire arms... Also, the type of airgun, i.e. springer vs PCP etc. makes a difference in types of oils/lubricants to be used due to the propensity of springer type airguns to "diesel"... Most solvents and oils/lubricants used for conventional firearms should not be used in an airgun, only those specifically spelled out for springer type airgun use in your case...

Most people on this thread shoot precision PCP type airguns so its an apples and oranges type of comparison for what you will find here I suspect.

Case in point, what I use with my airguns is a "Patchworm" type pull through cleaning rod and only run an oily patch or two followed by a couple of dry patches through the barrel every 500 shots or so. I use Marvel Airtool Oil as a solvent/lubricant as a PCP type gun has its air charge held at pressure in a reservoir and not undergoing a rapid compression each time you pull the trigger. Therefore a PCP gun does not diesel on the lubricant used as a springer type gun will.

I do not find a need for any solvent specifically made for lead removal as a PCP type airgun does not develop heat nor does it have a dirty propellent to crud up a barrel. Typically, pellet velocity runs under 950 fps, usually between 750 fps and 900 fps depending on the weight of the soft lead pellets and the lubricant on them used for match competition and do not lead up a barrel as will a conventional gun shooting at velocities over 1000 fps. Therefore I find no need for a lead solvent, the use of Marvel Airtool Oil alone works very adequately in my airguns. What I have heard is that any citrus based household cleaners cleaners are usually safe if you need a stronger cleaning medium however I've never tried this as I've not seen a need with the method I use...

Hope this helps...

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
Citrus base cleaners are ok for cleaning ,but as they are water based, you need to coat the bore afterwards most of the synthetic lubes are ok for this. No petroleum based though. Crossman pell lubricant has always been the old standby.
 
I've got some air tool oil made for Paslode nail guns, that will probably be very similar to the Marvel. The owners manual isn't at all specific about the oil. From manual "every 1000 shots, apply a drop of gun lubricant into compression chamber". Now that you mention it, solvents need to be kept away from the seals and there's an O ring in the breech end of the barrel.

I ran a 5 shot string through my chronograph this afternoon, average was 886 and SD was 4 using cheap ($3.50/500) Crossman pellets.

I'm having a blast shooting this thing. Thanks for the help.
 
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Wht exatly do you mean by "sub-lethal" varmint control?

I sure hope yo are not planning on shooting at animals with the thought that you will be just "stinging" them?
 
You have a point. That was an original purpose of buying the air rifle but it's now obvious that the rifle is too powerful for that. The pellets will go through a pine 1x4.

Maybe I should go buy a regular BB gun for that.

My last air gun was more than 45 years ago, a Sheridan Blue Streak, which I knew could be deadly to small animals but you had to work for it. It just didn't occur to me that 1 cocking action could put out so much energy.
 
There are some neat little cleaning pellets that you just shoot thru the gun. Seems to be all that my rifle needs. I get them from Charlene down at the Police Range when she is occupied with keeping scores and signing people in to shoot. :cool: The other thing that works O.K. is Q Tips. I cut them in half and shove the padded end into the breech, holler "fire in the hole" and let her rip! Be careful the first time you try that as the Q Tip comes out the bore like a runaway skyrocket and can loop back on you with flames coming off the rolled cotton on the end! I have seen folks rolled backwards off thier stools, air bottles knocked over, dogs yelping as they get singed, etc. So be careful. Roger Lovette was there to catch me before I became a victim, but it was close as I was just about to fire one off when he saw what I was doing and hollerd his head off to make me stop. Kind of embarassing but better than the consequenses (sp?)

Just a FYI...
 
One thing to be careful with running patches thru your bore if using a standard cleaning rod...you can easily damage your crown(at muzzle)...or leade at breech...
 
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