GUNS Magazine Taking Care of Your Air (Rifle)

Jan 31, 2024

Besides the quiet, backyard-friendly nature of airguns, they offer another big benefit which could save your marriage. Without all the fire and brimstone common to rimfire and centerfire guns, there are no kitchen counter cleaning chores after every outing. No burnt carbon. No copper jacket fouling. No massive heat baking on dirt and oil residue. OK, there may be an occasional lead cleaning; we’ll get to that in a minute. All the time you’ll save cleaning allows you to do a bang-up job in keeping up with a handful of airgun maintenance chores. Follow them and your guns will be plinking into the next century.

If you have a CO2-powered airgun, like the SIG SAUER M17 pellet pistol I used here, proper lube and maintenance is a cinch. First, get yourself a tube of Pellgun Oil from Crosman. It's available at most any sporting goods seller, big box store or online retailer. It’ll cost you a whopping three bucks, give or take, and keep your pellet or BB gun running in tip top shape. The usage procedure is complicated, so pay close attention. Ready?

When cocking a break-barrel rifle, always keep a firm grasp on the ,br>muzzle end until the action is cycled, fully closed and locked.

That's it. A small drop placed right where the CO2 seal will be pierced will self-lubricate the guts of your CO2 airgun. It’ll keep the CO2 seal itself functional and blow through just enough oil for the rest of the internals. Since the tip of a CO2 cylinder is only so big, it's virtually impossible to over-lubricate.

While we’re talking about break-barrel air rifles, be sure to avoid chopping off your fingers. When cocking a break-barrel, it's important, no, make this critically important to keep your hand firmly on the muzzle end until the cocking cycle is complete and the barrel is all the way back in its locked position. If for any reason the trigger lets go or is inadvertently pressed, and the barrel isn't firmly under your control, it will slam shut at warp speed with the breech end heading right towards the hand you used to load a pellet. Too many airgunners have sustained serious hand damage and lost parts of (or all) fingers by ignoring this safety procedure.

The Foster fitting where you connect an external air supply on a PCP is one place you definitely do not want to lubricate. Keep it dry and clean!

Pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) airguns store their air at very high pressure, usually between 3,000 and 4,500 psi. Now, have you ever noticed diesel engines work by combining something flammable with high pressure? Well, using a petroleum-based oil inside of a high-pressure PCP airgun can result in some very undesirable internal combustion. For external parts unrelated to the air system, a quality oil can be okay. For anything remotely related to the air system, like seals, only use a pure silicone lubricant. Silicone operates safely at a much higher pressure. Above all, since every airgun is different, follow manufacturer directions faithfully. This is one case where the instructions really do matter.

Always keep a minimum charge in your PCP air tank. The positive pressure prevents damp ambient air — or weak political promises — from getting into the system.

If you have a PCP air rifle, be sure to keep a minimum charge in the air reservoir. As with those end-of-the-world germ virus outbreak movies, keeping positive pressure in the tank prevents outside air from coming in. For the Hollywood Hero's germ lab, positive pressure keeps cooties from getting into their office. For your rifle, the pressure in the reservoir prevents ambient (and damp) air from getting into your rifle. Your manufacturer will specify a minimum storage pressure.

Most airguns don't require frequent barrel cleaning and some never require cleaning at all unless you introduce dirt or fouling in some other way. Without all the heat, burnt power, and carbon residue, they tend to stay clean with no extra care and maintenance. If you do notice a degradation of accuracy over time, go ahead and give it a gentle cleaning but it's not unusual to shoot for a long, long time without a need for a scrubbing.

Maintaining a CO2 airgun is easy — just add a drop of Pellgun oil to the top of each new CO2 cylinder as you load it.

When you finish shooting a break-barrel air rifle for the day, take care to leave it un-cocked after firing your last shot. Most manufacturers strongly recommend not storing a break-barrel, spring or piston air rifle under pressure. It takes a bit of planning to reach a safe storage condition because most manufacturers also recommend you don't dry-fire a spring or piston-powered air rifle. They’re designed to operate with a pellet in the chamber to offer the right amount of resistance. So, take the last "real" shot and pack up your rifle immediately after so it doesn't get cocked again.

These few tips will take you a long way with a variety of airgun types. This is a direct result of their simplicity and the fact they don't contain repeated explosions with every shot. All the commotion inherent to the fire and brimstone world creates not only wear and tear on the gun, but rapid removal of lubricants and plenty of residual gunk. Without such things, you can spend a lot more time shooting and a lot less time maintaining.