Hello from the 'Heart of Rural England, Leicestershire' (more precisely Leicester)

[AlVIDA]

Well hello everyone.

I've been wandering this forum for a week or so because I finally got out my Dad's rifle, (drum roll) the illustrious Relum Tornado he bought in 1970! Now I know lots of people have said it's crude and not very powerful but I love it and so does the family.

Recently however I have realised that I don't actually know too much about air rifle maintenance so here goes my first question. What is a patch? Is it just a piece of cloth you can run through the barrel of the gun or is it something that you have to buy pre soaked in gun cleaner solvent or something? I ask mainly because in 42 years of owning the rifle no one has ever cleaned it.

Any hows I am quite excited about working on it and ordering some good pellets and talking about everything with everyone

Alex

[mr who?]

Hello Alex .

And welcome to the forum mate .

All the best .

Andy .

[The Robin]

hi and welcome

[18 Wheeler]

What is a patch? Is it just a piece of cloth you can run through the barrel of the gun

Yes. It can either be pulled through the barrel with an eeerrr...pull through which is a length of cord with a loop in one end.

Thread it through the barrel, put your piece of cloth through the loop and pull it through in one smooth movement. Don't try to use too big a piece of cloth, it may get stuck, or you snap the cord due to the effort required.

I really wouldn't bother on your Tornado. Air rifle barrels don't need the same cleaning regime as cartridge rifles.

An easy quick clean method is to use Swann cigarette filters, available from the tobacco counter (£1). Put one in the barrel with a pellet behind it and shoot into a safe backstop. Repeat as necessary, you can lightly oil the filter with 3-in1 if you feel the need.

The Health and Safety bit: Always make sure any rifle is unloaded (nothing in the breech or barrel) and uncocked before doing any maintenance.

In the meantime enjoy your shooting and welcome to the bbs.

[Pete m]

Welcome from up the road in Nuneaton

[AlVIDA]

Hello and thanks everyone for your welcome comments, they are much appreciated. Thanks 18 wheeler for clearing that one up for me. I wasn't sure so I didn't wana do anything wrong. I did clean the barrel though yesterday using some fishing line and some clean bits of cloth attached to the end and the first few patches had thick black grime on them so I used new patches until there was no grime left.

Thanks for the tip about using a cigarette filter, I shall give it ago when I buy some pellets. Maybe some H&N FTT I know they're pricey but the tornado seems to like them.

Thanks again guys

Alex