Barrel conditioning etc

[merlot158]

Hi all,
I'm a newby to shooting and learning a lot from this forum. I've been reading some older posts re barrel conditioning & pellet preference but I need some advice from you seasoned shooters.
I have a new HW75 (shot about 150 rws hobby) &
keen to find its preferred pellet.
When should I do the first barrel clean & how?
Is it really necessary to clean between each pellet change although perhaps only 20/30 pellets fired?
Any advice would be really appreciated.
A great site with excellent info!
Merlot

[Geezer]

I think I have cleaned airgun barrels about three times in three decades of shooting.

Maybe for an FT rifle, regular cleaning is required, but for anything else, it isn't.

[peteswright]

Hi all,
I'm a newby to shooting and learning a lot from this forum. I've been reading some older posts re barrel conditioning & pellet preference but I need some advice from you seasoned shooters.
I have a new HW75 (shot about 150 rws hobby) &
keen to find its preferred pellet.
When should I do the first barrel clean & how?
Is it really necessary to clean between each pellet change although perhaps only 20/30 pellets fired?
Any advice would be really appreciated.
A great site with excellent info!
Merlot

Hi Merlot and welcome. When new to any hobby its easy to get confused with all the advice that you hear or read and worry about all the wrong things. The main things to get under ones belt are the fundamentals of shooting and not such things as barrel cleaning at this stage. Just relax and enjoy shooting. If you're happy with the results using Hobby's, stick with them. I personally use RWS Geco's in all my pistols (slightly smaller skirt than Hobby's) If I had to give opinions on your questions I'd say (and others may give different opinions) a pull through cleaning kit such as the Napier one is safer than rods. Only clean the barrel when accuracy is noticeably affected (which maybe never) and don't worry about cleaning between pellet changes for now. I've had the HW75 for three years, lovely pistol. Only used a pull through on it twice, just for something to do really. ATB. Pete.

[Powderfinger]

I shoot with some top-class air-pistol shooters. I have never seen one of them clean a pistol barrel. Perhaps for some air-rifle shooting, cleaning might serve a useful purpose but top-class air-pistol shooters don't seem to ever clean barrels.

[merlot158]

Thanks guys.
From older posts I understood that it was important to clean between pellet changes, but your comments are appreciated.
I'll just get on & enjoy the sport & forget about cleaning!
Thanks.

[airgunnut]

The first thing I do when I buy any gun is clean the barrel then start testing pellets, the bench mark for springers is RWS super domes, for pcp, AA field, with pistols I start with RWS geco, it's just a process of getting hold of as many brands as you can and shooting them after I have put a 100 or so pellets through it to lead the barrel. Then i only clean the barrel if the grouping of the chosen pellets start to open up (could take years)

[Geezer]

The first thing I do when I buy any gun is clean the barrel then start testing pellets, the bench mark for springers is RWS super domes, for pcp, AA field, with pistols I start with RWS geco, it's just a process of getting hold of as many brands as you can and shooting them after I have put a 100 or so pellets through it to lead the barrel. Then i only clean the barrel if the grouping of the chosen pellets start to open up (could take years)

I do exactly the same, including trying 'domes first. Unless in .22", where I've run out and am currently using Superfields, and liking them.

Except:

- I don't clean the barrel at all unless it is obviously full of gunk;
- For pistols, I start with RWS Hobby and usually stick with them if they work, which they usually do.

But I'm basically a plinker these days (I prefer "informal target shooter"). Serious competitor types may do things differently.

[Marc.RG1]

Thanks guys.
From older posts I understood that it was important to clean between pellet changes, but your comments are appreciated.
I'll just get on & enjoy the sport & forget about cleaning!
Thanks.

Hi merlot, welcome to the site mate.

People do, do things slightly differentl but this is what i do..
If i get a new gun i chean it with a pull through rode and bisley patches, then i start to test with my preferred pellets, air arms field, jsb exacts, RWS R10 Match, RWS super dome and field, i would try one type of pellet, i would just fire 60+ pellets or so to condition the barrel a bit, then do some accuracy tests, bench rested, take the results, then clean the barrel again, and repeat this again which each pellet type i try, then find the best pellet for my barrel and stick to it, and then only clean the barrel when i notice a drop in accuracy.

What i will say is though, i find rifle long range shooting, rifles are more pellet fussy then pistols, half of that is the rifle the other half is because of the long range.. Hope this helps a bit.

All the best, marc..

[merlot158]

Thanks again for all your helpful comments & tips. What you are saying Marc is what I read in earlier posts as you say everyone has their own way of doing things, but as a raw beginner I needed some guidance. I've just received a range of different wadcutters including many of those mentioned above, so I'll report back with the results.
Moving on, if I wanted a red dot? for the HW75 what would you suggest re ease of use & fitting properly. I understand the HW75 has a non standard rail.

[Marc.RG1]

Hi merlot, cool let us know how you get on mate and have fun testing it.
As for the red dot im not the best person to answer that as i have not owned a HW75 but yeah from what i have seen most people tend to put a little scope on them, one 100% sure but most scope mounts should fit it? so a red dot sight that fits the same way should work, others will reply though.