A general guide to gun cleaning

Ok, its not general at all. Its specifically baout airsoft guns, and mostly about barrel cleaning.

Q. Why even bother ??

A. Because you can. If you dont care and never clean your gear you probably wont actually have any problems. For a while. BUt you may also find yourself with toys that wear out faster than others, and never sem quite as accurate. SO its simple preventive maintanance.

Important: Improper or careless cleaning can do more harm than good. Engage think and brain a bit while cleaning.

1. Outside: A simple wipedown will suffice, pay attention to moving parts that can get grit stuck in them and cause premature wear. Lubricate moving plastic parts with silicon oil (Silicon oil aint that special, but the alternative, normal hydrocarbon based oil or grease, can eat into plastics and rubber). Particularly pistols need to be kept clean and lightly lubricated, as they have a large amount of moving and exposed parts. Too much lube can attract dirt/dust. Make sure that the magwell stays clean and the magazine as well, its an easy way to stuff dirt into your airgun by sticking a dirty mag into it.

2. Inside - mechanisms eg mechboxes / gas chambers. Wont try and cover here. You shouldnt have to regularly disasemble and clean these, and dirt shouldnt be getting in there. Its another topic for another day

3. The barrel. Whic h is where i started off heading to. If you can disassemble the gun it makes it much easier If you cant, you'll just have to make do. Here is the simple pictorial part. The important information is below.....



4. Turn the hop up as far down as it will go.

5. Take you PLASTIC cleaning rod and thread a small piece of cloth through it.



6. GENTLY try and feed it into the barrel. If its too tight dont force it, remove some cloth and try again. It should be a snug fit and offer some resistance, but not place undue pressure on the cleaning rod. Push it all the way to the end.


7. It may come out dirty...


8. Dont reuse this cloth, take a new peice and repeat. Successful cleaning will result in a shiney barrel and the former contents wrapped around your cleaning patch.


Its that easy.

Barrel cleaning (boring but important text part).

Righto. The barrel is the single most important part that decides where your BB is going to go. With the exception of the most expensive flashy aftermarket barrels its going to be made of either Brass or Aluminium. Both of these metals are very soft and easily scratched or damaged. They also dont rust like steel, which is why they are used. However this softness works against them, as any dirt or sand particles that enter the barrel can easily become embedded in it, scratch the surface and or generally cause a gradual loss of accuracy (actual results may vary). It also means great care must be taken when cleaning so as to avoid doing harm.
So only use a cleaning or clearing rod softer than the barrel material, eg the plastic rod that comes with an SEG.
When inserting the cleaning rob avoid letting it rub on the edges of the barrel if possible. Use soft cloth as a cleaning patch, an old (but washed) t-shirt is ideal.
If possible clean from the hop up end, this means you are pushing dirt away from the hop rubber, and also there is the risk of damaging the crown (tip) of the barrel when operating from the muzzle end. If you have to clean from the muzzle end just be careful.
Dont use any solvents, lubricants or oils etc in the barrel. It will be happy just to be clean and dry.
Dont clean unnecessarily. 3-4 strokes with clean patches after a full days play (could be a few thousand BB's with a SREG) will suffice.
<this space for any thing else i think of later>

As there is nothing posted that resembles

Barrel cleaning (boring but important text part)

I guess you're in the midst of posting.

Hmmm thats what I need to get around to doing to my guns.

I've read that you spray silocone oil into the hop up end and then clean it. After that you need to fire a few hundred rounds through your gun to clean the silocine oil out from the barrel before it shoots straight.

Thats to ensure the hop up stays fresh or something.

Thats entirely possible, and i might be wrong. But at the same time i cant see how spraying oil on something made form rubber and then firing several hundred rounds to wear it all off again is going to do anything much more than wear it out faster, and leave traces of silicon oil down the barrel to attract dust and dirt. Ive read a lot on thenet of recent, and a lot of it is absolute bollocks, mixed with urban legend and twist of lemon.