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cleaning pellets

Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 2:53 pm
by Owl
Conradin's recent reference to cleaning pellets (that is, pellets for periodic cleaning of an AP barrel, not the act of scrubbing pellets with household cleanser) made me curious as to whether there is a difference among cleaning pellets from different suppliers. How would one ever determine that one is better than another? Does it matter? Any favorites?

-Marty-

Re: cleaning pellets

Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 1:37 am
by slofyr
Owl wrote:Conradin's recent reference to cleaning pellets (that is, pellets for periodic cleaning of an AP barrel, not the act of scrubbing pellets with household cleanser) made me curious as to whether there is a difference among cleaning pellets from different suppliers. How would one ever determine that one is better than another? Does it matter? Any favorites?

-Marty-
IIRC, Robert Beeman came up with the scheme to market cleaning pellets back in the 70's. He was very good at stuff like that. They do little more than keep insects out of the barrel, and lighten your wallet.

After about 4K shots, if you deem it necessary, drag a Kroil-moistened patch through the bore a few times. Obtain a piece of twine, tie the patch in the center of the length, and you'll have a your cleaning tool. One side of the string can be blown through the barrel, then pull the patch back and forth. Your groups will likely remain the same, but you'll feel better.

Re: cleaning pellets

Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 10:47 am
by Owl
slofyr wrote:
Owl wrote:Conradin's recent reference to cleaning pellets (that is, pellets for periodic cleaning of an AP barrel, not the act of scrubbing pellets with household cleanser) made me curious as to whether there is a difference among cleaning pellets from different suppliers. How would one ever determine that one is better than another? Does it matter? Any favorites?

-Marty-
IIRC, Robert Beeman came up with the scheme to market cleaning pellets back in the 70's. He was very good at stuff like that. They do little more than keep insects out of the barrel, and lighten your wallet.

After about 4K shots, if you deem it necessary, drag a Kroil-moistened patch through the bore a few times. Obtain a piece of twine, tie the patch in the center of the length, and you'll have a your cleaning tool. One side of the string can be blown through the barrel, then pull the patch back and forth. Your groups will likely remain the same, but you'll feel better.

That's about what I was thinking with respect to the importance of using cleaning pellets and the effect they have on score, at least for sub-Olympic types like me. In machine shop work, when someone get to talking about how he is able to work to tenths of a thou, the expression that you might sometimes hear from some of the more realistic guys is "Tenths are a state of mind".

-Marty-

Re: cleaning pellets

Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 1:17 pm
by Rover
What do you clean your ears with?

Break off the ends of the cotton swabs and shoot those. Way cheaper than cleaning pellets and the ear wax lubes the bore.

Re: cleaning pellets

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 5:26 am
by PhatMan
Owl,

The only reason I use cleaning pellets (VFG) is as an easy way to apply preservative oil/grease to the barrel before I store my air pistols/rifles.

(I live in an old, cold and leaky Victorian house, where things rust very quickly if you give them a chance !).

In addition, I do use a VFG Ppcket-Kit system, which I find very convenient - however, I don't think I would be inconvenienced if I had to make a pull-through with some nylon thread :)

Have fun :)

Best regards

Russ