Cleaning pellets reducing accuracy?

[beeser]

In the process of testing various pellets with a Daisy 777 it seems that running a few cleaning pellets through the pistol reduces accuracy for a short time afterwards. Groups begin to improve again after about 5 shots. Anyone experience the same thing?

[Rover]

It's a well-known phenomenon with firearms.

If you're digging yourself into a hole, first stop digging.

[C. Perkins]

In the process of testing various pellets with a Daisy 777 it seems that running a few cleaning pellets through the pistol reduces accuracy for a short time afterwards. Groups begin to improve again after about 5 shots. Anyone experience the same thing?

Beeser;

Rovers first sentence reply is applicable to a lot of shooting instruments due to lube and a layer of material.

As far as cleaning an air pistol barrel, I have probably shot 3 or 4 cleaning pellets through my Steyr LP1P in the few years I have owned it.( 1 cleaning pellet per 2-3K ).
They should not lead up.
If they do then something is wrong with the barrel or pellet.

Same with my .22's.
I do not clean the barrel but every few thousand rounds with a nylon brush but clean the chamber every few hundred cause that is where the crud accumulates.( you want to stay ahead of it before it causes problems ).

Clarence

[kevinweiho]

I had a similar experience when I cleaned the barrel of my IZH46M after each shooting session, the consistency of the groups and accuracy dropped. Then I shot the gun again without cleaning the barrel, the accuracy and consistency went up.

[JSBmatch]

My Walther LG-300 loses tight grouping after using cleaning pellets for at least 10 shots, so I don't clean the barrel that often and certainly not before a match or after a practise session before a match. Its kills accuracy.

[Andre]

The barrel quality and smoothness of modern day match airguns is so fine, that what little lead does get trapped in the bore gets pushed out by the next pellet and replaced with the lead from that second pellet. It's a repeating cycle. Unless you are not going to be shooting your rifle for a year (letting the slightly leaded bore oxidize) you shouldn't have to clean it. That's the theory anyway.

[Chris]

I tested this on my LP10 many years back.

The group on the far right is from a dirty barrel that had not been cleaned in years. Then I shot the groups from right to left with different pellets. Cleaning does improve the group size but for most people it may not be something to be concerned about.

[v76]

Most things you'll do outside of practicing will reduce accuracy... ; )

[Andre]

I tested this on my LP10 many years back.

The group on the far right is from a dirty barrel that had not been cleaned in years. Then I shot the groups from right to left with different pellets. Cleaning does improve the group size but for most people it may not be something to be concerned about.

You had corroded lead in your bore. Removing that will increase accuracy, but you need a few fouling shots to lead the barrel with clean material.

But that's still sub X-ring, so Rovers happy.

[Chris]

Andre,

In this case it did not appear like any fouling shots were necessary.

[Andre]

Andre,

In this case it did not appear like any fouling shots were necessary.

You have one group with a dirty barrel, then three groups with all different pellets. You can't test to see if your groups are getting better with fouling shots if your not using the same pellet. Not a fair comparison.

[Chris]

I do agree with you that a fouling shot or two may be necessary. My second group performed about normal for that pellet.

In my experience with my .22 prone gun is it only takes one fouling shot to get it to shoot the same group.

[Anders Turebrand]

I have a very limited experience of cleaning a couple of bad performing air rifle barrels with a bronze or brass brush followed by a patch, velocity dropped about 25-30m/s and it took as much as 80 shots for the velocity to get back to pre-cleaning numbers, accuracy was improved once the velocity settled.
I doubt that cleaning pellets would cause that much change.

[tufty]

There are definitely 2 schools of thought on this,personally for Air,I don't think I've ever cleaned my LP50 barrel,and might have fired 1 or 2 cleaning felts through my Morini in the past 3 years.
For .22rf,I usually pull a boresnake though it after shooting just to get rid of the crud from the last shot whilst the barrel is still warm,I only ever deep clean it if I'm changing ammo.
For Fullbore I deep clean every time I shoot,to get rid of copper build up in the barrel,to be honest that is really the only time cleaning is needed,I would say maintenance and cleaning the breech is far more important

[redschietti]

Groups get smaller for close to 100 shots after cleaning an airrifle with just a pullthrough. We still clean but also need to seasonthe barrel after with at least one good training session befor a match or pellet testing