Washed & Lubed !!!

[Gaoler 83]

Hello All,

 

I own a Falcon FN19 Lighthunter and Weirhauch HW100S all in .22. I use AA Diablo Field, 16 grains, both rifles like the pellets and are accurate.

 

Is it worth washing and lubing them? If so what is the best lube?

 

What are the advantages?

 

Any advice welcome

 

Thanks

John...

Edited January 24, 2011 by Gaoler

[Ron Weasley 83]

Personally, I think it's worth washing and lubing - it's something that I always do with my pellets.

 

Advantages? It helps to keep your pellets consistent, so that each one is the same, and there's no swarf to potentially effect the pellets flight path. In all honesty, we're talking fraction-of-a-millimetre stuff here though.

 

The other reason I always wash my pellets can be seen when you tip a tin of pellets out! All that sward and dust in the tin. I've spent a lot of money on my rifles, so I don't want to put that crap in them!

 

I personally just use a couple of drops of 3-in-1 type oil per tin to lube pellets that I use in my precharged rifles, although you can buy specialist 'pellet lube', that I have no experience of.

[pianoman 3,587]

Hi John.

There are two distinct camps on this subject. Those who swear by wash and lube and those who cannot see the point if all is behaving themselves. You should at least wash your ammo as lead dust and swarf is becoming more commonplace with manufacturers pellets these days. I don't know why, but, there it is. Take a glass bowl, 3 quarter fill with warm water, few drops of Fairy Liquid, tip in the whole tinful, give em a good swirl around for a few minutes. Then, pour off ammo into a sieve, rinse thoroughly and repeat if necessary. You may find a silvery, dusty residue in the bottom of your bowl!

 

There is no "Best" lube. There will be any number of suggestions to this question. I've used humble WD40 for years on .22 H&N FTT and AA Fields as beloved by my spring rifles and it works wonderfully well. With your washed ammo fully dry on a paper towel bed, spray lightly with WD40 and gather up the corners of the towells to get a very light coating of the oil on the pellets. You don't any more than this.

 

ATB

 

Simon

[matt_hooks 188]

I would avoid using any mineral based oil as a pellet lubricant, as it can lead to "dieseling" and hence large variations in pellet velocity and very poor accuracy (as well as the possibility of damaging the gun)

 

The Napier pellet lube is excellent stuff, and not too expensive when you realise how little you put on. It is virtually non-flammable, and works exceedingly well.

 

Is washing worthwhile? Some say yes, some say no. I don't but then that's more down to me being lazy than anything to do with performance(and I don't really shoot enough pellets for it to be a problem)

 

It's a ew minutes to do, and it is unlikely to adversely affect the performance (as long as you ensure the pellets are properly dry after washing) so if you fancy trying it, then why not?

[pianoman 3,587]

Good point raised about dieselling Matt, but, I've always used just a very light coat, just a thin film of WD40 on the pellet, with nothing of it up the skirt and I've never had dieselling combustion problems.

 

ATB

 

Simon

[zini 1,939]

I wash and lube all my pellets every time I get a new tin.

 

I also use a very light coating of WD40 and have never had a problem.

 

I think that if you washed your pellets in it, i.e. went mad with it you may have a problem with dieseling, but when you do it in a paper towel it works great.

 

I shot a .22 10 shot 17 mm group using it yesterday so it must count for something.

 

Why do I wash and lube. Well that’s easy to answer.

 

If you have a clean barrel (after leading in) why would you want to put lead dust, lead particles and swarf back into your barrel?

 

All those foreign bodies produce inaccurate shots as it builds up in your rifleling lans and grooves.

 

You may not be bothered and only shoot out to 25 / 30 yards, but once you start and shoot at longer ranges the dirt in your barrel will defo slap you in the face and cause you a big problem.

 

Go onto Youtube and search for a bloke called EdGun USA. He did a test in super slow motion on clean barrels and dirty barrels, you will be amazed.

 

Finally, when you pay £500 for a rifle why do you want to disrespect it by putting dirty pellets into it?

 

You wouldn’t put dirty oil into your prize car so why put dirty pellets into your rifle.

 

10 mins work lads that’s all it requires, and the rewards are there.

 

Si

[Whitey1234 1]

Well I cleaned my barrel and then washed and lubed my pellets.

 

The washing, drying and lubing pellets was a first but it only takes a few minutes is very easy to do. I was suprised at what looked like relatively clean pellets to start with (crosman premiers) still had a fairly large amount of grey particles and sludge at the bottom of the washing pot.

 

So my question is if I start with a theoretically clean barrel and washed and lubed pellets how often after this do you guys clean you barrels?

 

obviously I used a dedicated bowl and seive for this task as lead particles and dust in your food is likely to harm your health! :sick:

[pianoman 3,587]

Well with an hw80 that's getting on for eleven years old this year.... lt's been barrel scrubbed one time only and it's as accurate as the day l bought her.

 

My new hw77 is hitting a true one hole pellet-on-pellet group with washed and wd40 lued .22 h and n field target trophy ammo to as far out as l an shoot to and l won't need to clean the barrel for quite a few years time ahead.

 

sorry for poor grammar. l'm having stikky keys and no-caps lok issues.

 

simon

[Whitey1234 1]

Cheers Simon,

 

I figured that would porbably be the case.

 

no worries on the spolling or gramlier. you just got to love computers!

[zini 1,939]

The general rule is:

 

When ever you buy a rifle new or second hand clean the barrel.

 

Just because its new dont think that it is clean.

 

From my own experiences, a new rifle barrel does not come 100% of the time clean.

 

Once you have cleaned your barrel and washed and lubed your new brand of pellets, lead your barrel with 15 to 20 pellets before trying to zero finely.

 

Once you have done that, zero your rifle and then dont clean the barrel again until you change pellet brands or notice a decrease in accuracy that you cant explain.

 

Si.

[Whitey1234 1]

cheers Si.

 

have done as suggested.