No matter whether your pride-and-joy is a springer or a precharged pneumatic, CO2 powered or a multi-stroke pneumatic, the very first thing you want to do \u2013before you shoot it for the first time \u2013 is give the barrel a good cleaning. That\u2019s because there may be greases and oils left in the barrel from the manufacturing process.<\/p>\n
The best way is to use a flexible boresnake-style cleaner \u2013 a pull-through. Pull a patch with a cleaner-degreaser like Simple Green or AOA Cleaner\/Degrease<\/a>r through from the breech to muzzle, followed by several dry patches until the patches come through looking clean or almost clean. If you\u2019re still getting a lot of dark stuff out of the barrel, run another patch with Simple Green, followed by more clean patches.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t use a pull-through, then use a synthetic coated rod. Never use an uncoated metal rod or metal brush in your airgun\u2019s barrel \u2013 you can damage the rifling<\/i>. (If you are cleaning the barrel of a springer that has been stored for a long time, you may have to use a nylon bristle brush and Beeman\u2019s MP-5 oil to clear oil and grease that has congealed and dried.) [A special note to firearms shooters new to airguns:<\/b> most of what you know about cleaning and maintaining firearms will do you no good when it comes to airguns. Sorry, that\u2019s just the way it is.]<\/p>\n If your new air rifle is a springer, then the other thing that absolutely must do<\/span> is to tighten the stock screws. These screws may have loosened in transport or because the wood of the stock has compressed or shrunk slightly. Whatever the reason, make sure that the stock screws are snug.<\/p>\n You won\u2019t be wasting money if you invest in good tool kit with gunsmith-style bits. They will allow you to get better purchase on the screw heads in your airgun, so you can tighten them well without stripping the fastener heads or slipping and inadvertently causing damage to your rifle\u2019s stock.<\/p>\n Loose stock screws can cause serious accuracy problems with spring-piston air rifles. In addition, there have been cases, involving high-power springers, in which very loose stock screws have been snapped by the gun\u2019s recoil. So snug those screws down! It\u2019s a good idea to check those screws every hundred rounds or so, particularly when your gun is new.<\/p>\n The other thing you\u2019ll want to do with your springer is put a drop of lubricating oil on the pivot point of a break barrel or underlever air rifle. The factory may have done it, but it doesn\u2019t hurt to make sure.<\/p>\n With a precharged pneumatic, once you have cleaned the barrel, it\u2019s wise to cock the gun before your first fill (some guns will allow air to leak out the muzzle if you don\u2019t). When you fill your precharged pneumatic, do so slowly<\/span> \u2013 take about 30 seconds to fill the gun. Compressed air coming into the gun\u2019s reservoir tends to heat the gun. If you simply open the valve full and allow compressed air to rush into the gun, you can heat the valve and may actually melt it.\u00a0 Slow and easy is best.<\/p>\n With pneumatics, you\u2019ll probably want to shoot pellets that are lubricated with pellet lube http:\/\/airgunsofarizona.com\/Napier.html, unless the manufacturer says otherwise.<\/p>\n Breaking In<\/b><\/p>\n All airguns need to be broken in. Some require more shots than others, but the initial break in with all guns will be about 30-40 shots. During that time, particularly with springers, you may notice somewhat erratic firing behavior and accuracy, but that is to be expected. Complete serious break in will probably take a full tin of pellets to happen.<\/p>\n With springers, after 30-40 shots, clean the barrel again and check the stock screws. As you go through the rest of the tin of pellets, you\u2019ll notice that the cocking will become easier and smoother; the trigger will smooth out; the gun will get quieter, and the vibration will settle down.<\/p>\n With pneumatics, the break in period is not as critical, but, like a springer, the barrel has to get seasoned as small pockets in the barrel are filled with lead. The trigger and hammer will smooth out; cocking will become easier and smoother; valves with operate with more freedom and faster; the regulator (if there is one) and the entire gun will become smoother and more consistent as you complete that first tin of pellets.<\/p>\n Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.<\/p>\n – Jock Elliott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No matter whether your pride-and-joy is a springer or a precharged pneumatic, CO2 powered or a multi-stroke pneumatic, the very first thing you want to do \u2013before you shoot it for the first time \u2013 is give the barrel a good cleaning. That\u2019s because there may be greases and oils left in the barrel from…»<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,168],"tags":[8,20,167,211,43,164,165],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2783,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2747\/revisions\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}