Do you clean your air pistol at all?

[Tallahassee]

I haven't clean my LP10 for two years now.

At one tin can per week, that would be about 50,000 pellets.

From your experience, how much would non-cleaning affect my accuracy, if any at all?

[visitor]

My highly unscientific method suggests not to clean as long as pellets are clean and show no sign of oxidation.

[Richard H]

This is a very contentious subject, there are three sides and two of which are zealots.

Side 1 Never ever clean

Side 2 clean all the time

Side 3 those that clean when they think or feel like it

I doubt as long as you clean properly it shouldn't cause any issues. Does it help, air pistol probably not much, air rifle maybe more so.

Myself I usually shoot a few felt pellets thought it after every couple tins of pellets until they come out clean or run a pull through through the barrel from breach out.

Never use a brush in an air pistol or rifle and solvents aren't needed either.


This is for standard velocity 10m target rifles and pistol not high velocity field target guns which might require different cleaning methods due to leading from high velocities

[Guest]

I read that oil is not recommended, as dieseling can occur.

[Richard H]

In old springers yes you need to use special oil in the compression chamber, modern PCP guns don't have that issue. That said they don't need to be dripping in oil either, maybe a little on the cocking lever and a very very small amount of silicon grease on the o-rings (I prefer a little grease on the cocking lever).

[luftskytter-]

Some people that I respect highly say you should clean all the time.
I'm probably too lazy, so I "forget". Most of my buddies shoot some cleaning pellets every now and then. In AP I won't notice the difference anyway.

But when long distance precision testing air rifles, I know that POI gets unstable when you change pellet type. You need to shoot several shots with the new pellet before the gun "settles down" and you can produce a good tight group. The difference can be quite noticeable: changes of maybe a cm at 20 metres is quite normal. Most people agree that this is due to different leading/lubrication in the barrel with different pellets. Some rifles seem more sensitive to this than others, and I believe that quality steel with a good inside polish helps here. This would also imply that you need to shoot a number of shots after cleaning to reestablish your normal POI.

Some of my buddies are nervous about certain (mostly cheap) pellets leaving harmful residues in the barrel. It may also be a question of whether cleaning promotes barrel longevity or just causes uneccesary wear. Be extremely careful to avoid wear/damage to the crown/muzzle!

[hiermax]

I fire some cleaning pellets through the barrel after each shooting. And from time to time I "rally" clean the barrel with the same cleaning stuff I use for cleaning my .22 pistols. But when I am too lazy for cleaning the difference on the target is not noticeable. So for me cleaning of the airpistol frequently is more a matter of routine or habit. And I like it ;-)
Best regards
Max

[yana]

Depends on the gun as well. Some like dirty barrels, some dont.
I check the Tau 7's barrels every now and than. But thats to check for rust..
I never cleaned the morini or other matchpistols.
When you shoot lubed pellet, the barrel stays cleaner as well.
I dó clean out my springer barrels from time to time. As I dont use lube in those.

[Oz]

I use high-pressure, clean, dry air directly following every pellet shot in my LP10. It seems to keep it very clean.

Oz

[Peter Skov]

I use high-pressure, clean, dry air directly following every pellet shot in my LP10. It seems to keep it very clean.

Oz

good one! LOL

/Peter