I'm a little confused about cleaning and lubing my Diana 34. I bought the RWS shooter's kit that comes with a rod, brush, metal jag, chamber oil, spring oil, and felt pellets. I'm worried about scratching my bore or damaging my rifle by doing things wrong, and I have'nt found much useful info online on this subject. I know some basics, but this is a LOT different than a 12 gauge!
So far, I put 2 drops of the chamber lube in it, lubed the hinge points and 3-4 drops on the spring with the spring oil, ran the brush through it 3 times, pushed 5 patches through it, and shot 4 felt pellots through it. A couple people told me to use a little hoppe's #9 bore cleaner and oil, too(which came in another .177 kit I bought.) The next time I shot my 34, it diesled bad, and I'm afraid I hurt it.
What is the CORRECT way to clean and lube my 34? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
(gently!)Brush the bore, run felt pellets through the bore with the jag till they come out clean, lube the pivot points well and often, wipe the bluing down with an oiled or siliconed cloth every time you put it away and (as I have read here and elsewhere) go easy on the chamber lube. Mine diesel too, every time I have chamber lubed them, but then it goes away after ~1-2 shots. The carrier agent in chamber lube is supposed to evaporate, so when you lube the chamber do it after you are done shooting not before.. so that the carrier has time to evaporate, otherwise you can count on hard dieseling. Keep the lube you use on the pivots etc away from the barrel O-ring too. allowing strange oils near the compression chamber will also cause dieseling. And lastly- don't stress! cleaning airguns is not the same as firearms.. there is no caustic powder residue to worry about with airguns. Mostly you clean the barrel to regain lost accuracy- not because the residue leftover from firing is caustic and will eventually pit or corrode the barrel. Ask around in here about how regularly you should chamber lube.. conventional wisdom is 1 or 2 drops after thousands of shots, or several thousand.. depending on the age/model of the gun. Personally, my biggest concerns with my own guns are: keeping rust away ( I live on the coast.. very salty, very damp.. unfriendly and corrosive to anything metal..) and keeping the real wear points like the barrel pivots and cocking linkage well oiled to fend off premature wear. If the maintenance regimine sounds too good to be true for someone coming from a firearms background, it isnt.. that is the best thing about airguns- they are reliable and absurdly low manintenance compared to firearms
PS- I never have been a fan of shooting felt pellets through the bore-- just a personal thing. I push then through with the rod. Others opinions may differ on this one....
Thanks for the quick replys. I've tried both pushing the felt pellets through, and shooting them, although when pushing them, I feel the rod knicking the rifling, which bothers me, and would'nt shooting them be close to a DRY fire? Should I only put the pellets in dry, or can I push them through with a little oil on them?(I only get to shoot 1 day a week if I'm lucky, so I don't want the bore to rust.)
If you are worried about damaging the bore get some heavy weedeater string, cut at an angle longer than barrel ,heat the other end to form a ball or glob to fit the bore(use gloves this stuff will burn),here is the good part place a cleaning patch on the string at the angled end, run string into the breach and out the muzzle and pull.I never use a bore brush,I feel that it is to harsh, and only clean when accurcay goes away.
Good Luck and Good Shooting ,Gary
That's a pretty good idea! I might try that! My friend said he used something similar to a bore snake, but had foam, instead of wire bristles, but I have'nt been able to find one online yet. He said the place he got his, does'nt carry pellet gun supplies anymore.
is that felt pellets are not used one at a time, they should be doubled or tripled in the bore. And when you triple them, you can put in one with a very light cleaner, then another dry and the last one sligtly oily. Shoot the three and you get an oiled, relatively clean barrel.
If you are shooting quality lead pellets, then cleaning is not needed. Oh no it isn't!
Here is my cleaning schedule and process.
1. Sight in your rifle.
2. Shoot your rifle.
3. When accuracy in your rifle goes to pot AND it can be attributed to something OTHER than:
a. Loose mount.
b. Bad scope.
c. Bad pellets.
d. Wind.
e. Lack of practice.
f. Phases of the moon.
THEN and ONLY THEN should you clean that barrel.
Until such a time as that occurs, leave the barrel alone. You will NOT go from a perfectly good group to a pellet lodged in the barrel from debris. Your groups will fall apart long before you get any blockage.
If you DO need to clean it, I second the weedeater line or “Patch Worm” system. I wet a patch with "Spring Oil", pull it through. Follow with a dry patch just to pick up an extra oil so it doesn't drain into the air chamber while stored in the cabinet on its butt. Wipe down the metal with a silicon rag and you are done. And don't oil the wood. Lord I have seen some stocks where you could squeeze oil out of the stock edges at room temperature. Heat them up in the sun and you could baste a chicken.
Here's why I think the cleaning kits are useless:
That brush is a menace to light rifling.
That jag is a menace period and can only be used from muzzle to breech, exactly the WRONG direction for cleaning.
That aluminum rod will flex under the slightest pressure and ALWAYS seems to un screw a little at each joint. THAT means that you have two sharp edges moving up and down inside your lightly rifled barrel.
Thanks whiteleather. I do use quality pellets, and it's obvious after a day of shooting, when my fingers are clean looking while my friend's are gray and black. I've tried a few different brands, but found that the RWS pellets are well worth the little extra cash. They seem to be a lot more consistant and cleaner.
My friends are always cleaning thier guns and were giving me crap for not cleaning mine as much as them! I'm not worried anymore. My Diana will probably last longer and be more accurate than their constantly cleaned Gamos, anyway.
Thanks for all the great insight everyone!
"Here's why I think the cleaning kits are useless:
That brush is a menace to light rifling...."
Err dunno bout yours, but my brush is nylon. Last I checked steel beat nylon for hardness by about 1000x. No menace there...
"That jag is a menace period and can only be used from muzzle to breech exactly the WRONG direction for cleaning..."
Umm, my break barrel rifles would beg to differ with you on the muzzle to breech comment..
"That aluminum rod will flex under the slightest pressure and ALWAYS seems to un screw a little at each joint. THAT means that you have two sharp edges moving up and down inside your lightly rifled barrel...."
If you need that much force to get a felt pellet or nylon brush down your bore then I think that there is something wrong with more than just the rod. A little electrical tape at the seams will keep the rod tight and provide a soft non-marring guide down the bore, although mostly I think with good technique, namely a gentle push instead of forcing it like an ape, this becomes a serious Non-issue. Last I checked steel was also many times harder than aluminium as well.
I never worried much about the inside of barrels rusting. All my guns have hard cases and are stored in a closet that has no wall on the outside of the house. I would thing that oxidation of the light coat of lead left in the barrel might be a bigger worry than rust, but that can be cured by 1-5 pot-shots when you first get the gun out after storing it for a long time.
And enjoy it. But don't recommend an un needed activity to someone who is not comfortable with the process.
Shall I pick away at your post too?
Breakbarrel cleaning: Yes, you can clean from the breech...but the breakbarrels I have here cannot even be loaded unless cocked. The clearance is too shallow. The best way to get full clearance for a rod (at least with the break barrels I have) is to cock the gun. No thanks.
What is the nylon brush attached to? Twisted brass? Twisted aluminum? Twisted steel? All with a nice sharp tip? How about the lug above the threads?
Aluminum versus steel hardness: Don't rely too much on Moh's hardness scale. Shoot a soft lead pellet at your car windshield and get back to me about hardness comparisons. And why do I ever have to sharpen my knives if they are carbon steel and only cutting meat and veggies? You want to dull a knife in short order? Use it to cut cotton, linen, or other natural fibers...the same types used to make the patches/felt pellets you run down your bore. With deep rifling in powder burners it may not make much difference over the short term. With the shallow rifling of airguns as delicate as the edge of a knife why take the chance? Gouging is not as much an issue as uneven wear.
The only gun I clean often here is a .17HMR. It seems to foul quickly and affect accuracy after 30 rounds. And I use the simple oil system I outlined above, no brushes, no jags, no bore cleaners. Other than that, a gun only gets cleaned when it is up for sale (http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?ItemNum=6448299) or if the groups open up.
Guys love to handle their guns. That is great and I am no different except that I prefer to actually shoot them. If you feel the urge to clean something, clean the toilet. It will please your wife.
So basically, they don't need to be cleaned very often, but should'nt be neglected, either. When it does need cleaning, as long as I keep it minimal and take care doing it, I should be ok?
Sounds like about the right formula, Don76. It may take some getting used to after being accustomed to the upkeep that firearms require, but really airguns are low-low maintenance by comparison, which just makes em all the more fun to shoot well, that and the ammo is a lot cheaper so you can afford to shoot them a lot more!
well, that and the ammo is a lot cheaper so you can afford to shoot them a lot more!