How many pellets before barrel is worn out?

[John D-H]

I've got a Gamo Shadow with more than 3,000 pellets through it.  
Cleaned after every few hundred pellets
Any opinions on how many pellets can be shot through a barrel until it is worn out?
John D-H

[RedFeather]

How many are you planning to shoot before you expire? .22 rimfires don't even wear barrels out, with the possible exception of bore erosion at the breech. And some have had tens of thousands of rounds pumped through them over fifty-sixty years. Air guns have no powder, so they don't even suffer throat damage. About the only thing that will wear out your Shadow barrel is improper cleaning. You may need to de-lead it at some point if you shoot a lot. What will hurt them is wear on the crown from using the wrong tools or abrasives. Some pellets, like the cheap Daisy tins, have a good bit of graphite or moly on them and this may eventually coat your bore. But it should clean out. And be sure your pellets are clean. Dropping them on the ground, then brushing them off, etc, can get grit in the bore.

[gamo2hammerli]

Cleaning the barrel after only a few hundred shots is too soon I think.  I only clean the barrel when I see some in-accuracy.  A few of my airguns haven't been cleaned since the first time.....some of them have over 800 shots without a cleaning.  And don't use a brass brush!!!!

[John D-H]

What is the recommended brush and cleaining fluid?
John D-H

[gamo2hammerli]

Most airgunners will just use a weed-whacker line. Cut to length and slightly melt one end and snub it. Slide a patch through the line from the other end, and pull the line through from the breech end. I've very occasionally used a very little Hoppe's no. 9, on the patch to clean the inside of the barrel after a lubrication job and some of the lubes went into it. Just be careful with the Hoppe's #9 because it can melt the rubber/plastic breech seal or other seals. Some airgunners say you don't even need such a strong solvent. Most use Goo-Gone.

[Meann-Machine]

Unless you do something to screw up the barrel you won't ware it out in your lifetime. The rifle should be cleaned once, when new to get the factory gunk out of it and then again only if you notice your accuracy diminishing, in which case you are getting a build up of lead alloy. Crossman Premiers are notorious for lead build up but usually only in high powered air rifles. DO NOT use Hoppes No. 9 or any other solvent made to clean firearms. Even if you think you have all the solvent out of the barrel you might not and a loud bang will occur, possibly damaging the rifle. Both Beeman and RWS and others, possibly make products specifically designed for air rifles.And you can pick up a .177 rod at Wal-Mart, if you don't already have one for about$5.00. While some airgunners don't use a brass brush, I have and will continue to due so: just don't over use it. Personally I have never seen a brass brush hard enough to scratch even soft steel.Although I will confess, I have used Goo Gone to clean out the factory gunk when I rifle is new. Feel free to ask more questions, we'll trip over ourselves trying to get you an answer.

[John D-H]

I really appreciate the helpful responses I've gotten here.
Thank you very much. Very helpful, particularly for a novice.
You will indirectly help reduce the number of exotic invasive iguanas here in the Keys.

[Meann-Machine]

And perhaps grasshoppers on a slow night.

[LongIslandArcher]

Hoppe's makes a bore snake in .177 caliber for airguns, without the integral brass brush.  I have adapted one such bore snake (with the brass brush) to clean my CFX - I removed the brass weight on the end of the cord and attached a length of #6 ball & chain to the end of the cord, so it'll slide down the rotating breach block and pull the cord through the barrel.  However, I've since stopped using that and just went straight to RWS's cleaning pellets.  Sometimes, if I don't have cleaning pellets, I just snap off the cotton swab tips of Q-Tips and just shoot those through, but make sure you're aiming in a safe direction before you pull the trigger.  The cotton swap tip with the rolled paper center is still powerful enough to penetrate a phone book.

[gamo2hammerli]

Don't know the weight of the cleaning pellets or snipped off Q-Tips.....but maybe put a light pellet behind them to prevent piston slam?

[Magnum]

Hi John, I have to say like others have said, its not really possible to wear out an air rifle barrel unless you damage it through cleaning it the wrong way I have some from the 70's. I only ever clean the barrel when accuracy alters, its way more than 1000 shots. I have used 1/8" wood dowels to push patches through, weighted string and patch and in recent times thanks to GTA a piece of string trimmer melted end and a patch thread over as my pull through works great with a small amount of Goo Gone  Good luck with those pesky dinosaurs down there, Tony.