WORKSHOP
BASIC MAINTENANCE - PART ONE
bits and “I was just cleaning it”. I’ll clean a gearbox when
I’m working on it but even I don’t strip them to polish the
piston….
Other things you don’t need to do….
Spray half a can of Abbey silicon oil into every single
orifice in your gun. There are a couple of places it should
go and many it shouldn’t! You can spray some onto a rag
and use it to give your gun a once over once it’s clean and
dry. It won’t harm plastic and it will protect metal from
corrosion. Marui used to recommend a squirt of silicon
oil into the hop chamber after use and, being a hapless
newbie, I got into the habit of doing that years ago. It
certainly won’t hurt but the first several rounds through
the gun will not benefit from the hop up until that oil has
been removed by the passage of BBs.
Sliding stocks are worth removing to clean around the
buffer tube, likewise hinged stocks – make sure there is
no debris caught in the hinge that could cause jams or
breakages. Most of us are reasonably careful to ensure
that we don’t fill the muzzle with muck but it does
happen. Worth checking.
BARREL CLEANING
Cleaning the barrel is one of the single most useful things
you can do and it’s easy to do.
The best material I have ever found to do this is
“J-Cloths” or the supermarket’s no-name equivalent. I do
recognise that any mention of supermarkets may strike
fear at present but we all still need to eat and, in fairness,
I can’t think of anyone wanting to wipe their bums with
these! They’re the good old blue and white stripy clothes
used for a myriad of cleaning tasks. They have a couple
of advantages – they tear easily and consistently, and they
are largely lint free. Assuming you have a cleaning rod and
some silicon oil you’re all set. Tear of a strip about 10mm
wide. Manuals always seem to suggest 50mm long, I tend
to go a bit longer. Thread it through the slotted end of the
rod, wind it round the head of the rod, give it a squirt of
silicon oil and carefully run it the full length of your barrel.
Important word that: “CAREFULLY”! If you have used
too much cloth you can pull the hop rubber out of the
chamber. So, if it’s really tight going down the barrel, stop,
pull back and remove a bit of the J cloth. I have seen this
done, so it’s not just a piece of Internet nonsense! Unless
you’re a consistent barrel cleaner don’t be surprised if the
cloth comes out filthy. Many manufacturers send their
guns out with greasy barrels – G&G were amongst the
most egregious offenders and you just have to work away
at it until the cloth comes out clean. Once it is, I tend to
run a dry cloth down the barrel once but remember what
I said about my habit of squirting a little silicon oil into the
hop chamber to maintain the rubber.
Other than a visual check of your gun for bared wires,
loose connectors and other physical problems, that’s about
it. I’ll cover gas blow backs next issue but I will touch on
springers here, although I appreciate that they are in the
minority on sites these days.
Most spring guns - and I include sniper rifles here -
just need to be kept functionally clean and their barrels
thoroughly swabbed out. I am reasonably adept at
stripping Marui triple-barreled shotguns, and if you
have too much time on your hands, you can learn too!
However, it’s generally unnecessary – clean the barrels and
fire a little silicon spray into the loading chamber, straight
into the channel the BBs pass through on their way up
to the barrels. That should do it. Most airsoft snipers are
fairly obsessive anyway and I wouldn’t deign to tell them
how to look after their pride and joy!!
None of this is rocket science and I suspect most of you
do it anyway. You’ve made an investment in your guns
and it takes little effort and time to keep them running
sweetly. Since time is something most of have at present,
go on, show them some love!
Until the next time and the delight that is gas blowback
guns – stay safe. AA
“THERE IS SELDOM ANY NEED TO
DISASSEMBLE AN AIRSOFT GUN TO CLEAN
IT, UNLESS YOU HAVE DROPPED IT INTO A
DITCH FILLED WITH LIQUID MUD. ”
www.airsoftaction.net
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