Ok, I've had time to think things over. All the things revolving around the airsoft sniper and the wepons surrounding them. I've decided to make a contribution to this forum on a topic that really hasn't been majorly disscused.
Clones-that is a very controversial word in the sniping world. The more experienced players hate them, while newbies or beginners love them. The cost is cheap they give a good fps but break easily and quickly. Then they come on the forums and say "oh no my gun is broken" and want help on how to fix it. Being the nice people we are, we help them out but tell them over and over you should get a more expensive and durable gun. Most young kids don't have that much money and feel bad that someone said that their gun is horrible. So I've decided to write up a cleaning guide and maintenance guide for mainly beginners on how to care for their bolt action spring rifle.

To care for your rifle correctly you will need a rifle cleaning kit-walmart, 100% silicon lubricant spray, silicon grease and some rags

---Barrel---

The barrel is the most important aspect to your rifle. Without it your shots will be all over the place.

1. Slowly take apart your rifle. Try to find a guide on how to do it if you don't want to screw up your gun.

2. Get to the inner barrel. Take apart the hop-up so all you have is the barrel itself. Take some silicon spray and give a 3 second burst down the barrel. It should drip a little out of the end. Take the barrel rod out of the gun kid and wrap a paper towel to the end of it and push it through the barrel and out the other end. This will clean your inner barrel. Put you rifle back together and fire a full magazine so it is shooting normal again. You can clean it without disassembling your hop-up but make sure it is completlt turned OFF.

---Cylinder/Blot---

The cylinder is the part that you pull back and use to cock your rifle. It is held together with a bolt handle and end piece making it moveable.

To maintenance the cylinder you must put grease on it so it doesn't get scratched up from cycling or using the bolt.

1. Take apart your rifle once again but, this time don't take apart your outer and inner barrel/hop-up. Instead go for the bolt. Usually there is a trigger mech that requires taking off.

2. Take off the trigger mech however it says in your disassembly guide.

3. The blot and cylinder should slide out easily. Pull on it and you should feel no resistance. Take it all the way out.

4. Wipe any grease from the factory off with a rag.

5. Then take your silicon grease and place a little on your finger. Spread the grease all over the cylinder. you should cover the whole thing. Remember: "A little lubrication goes a long way."

(5.b.) If your rifle has a removable cylinder head it is a good idea to remove it and spray some silicon into it. A couple second bursts should do it.

6. Slide the cylinder back into the reciver and move it in and out a few times to naturally spread the grease even more over the cylinder.

7. Place it all the way in. Make sure it is all the way in and reinstall the trigger mech onto the reciver and reassemble your gun.

This process should be done every 1500 shots. Always use the correct ammo weight. View "Ammo Please" by Von Luck for help on what weight you should use.
The life of your ifle will be extended if you care for it carefully.

I Hope this helps. Anybody add anything I missed.

Its just common sence, you don't need to write a guid on how to clean your rifle, its like writing a guid on how to clean your car... "now plug in the vacume and slowly run the hose over the carpit, making sure to pick up all the dirt ..."

no, actually. I had no idea how to clean any airsoft rifle for the longest time, this guide is actually pretty useful.

I disagree with Deadeye as well. Very few people do a decent job cleaning and maintaining their rifles, and certainly maintenance isn't what most new players think about. In fact, deadeye, I'm willing to be that you don't do a good job of maintaining your rifle regularly. I think a guide is long overdue, and I've been meaning to write one myself. The process that I undertake in maintaining my rifle is a bit more complicated than this posted guide. Well, let me go through and propose some changes.

"The more experienced players hate them, while newbies or beginners love them. The cost is cheap they give a good fps but break easily and quickly."

I happen to prefer clones to high-end rifles, and I've been playing longer than most "experienced" players. I've seen Maruzen, CA, and TM sniper rifles break within a year. I'm talking stock, or lightly upgraded guns (upgraded to the same level as a clone). Maruzen and CA rifles, for instance, often have the end of the cylinder snap off, because they don't have enough locking pins. TM rifles are the most reliable of the so-called high-end rifles, but let's face facts. A stock rifle just isn't good enough on most US fields. Sniper rifles have two advantages--stealth, because you're only firing one shot, and range. A stock rifle cannot outrange an AEG, and it has serious ROF disadvantages. A sniper rifle really ought to have enough power to be effective.

Several clones these days can be easily modded enough to outrange stock or lightly upgraded AEG's. Both the BAR-10 and the WELL MB03, for instance, can reach accurately out to 250 feet with nothing more than a tightbore and hopup bucking and a few mods. Granted, the externals on the MB03 aren't great, and the internals are not the most reliable either, but still, you can buy 3 MB03's for the price of one high-end gun. That's not bad, all things considered.

More, most of these so-called experienced players don't know what they're talking about when it comes to clones, at least on this forum. I've had to clear up several flat-out wrong pieces of information from so-called experts over the past weeks. For instance, WELL MB01 L96 is NOT the same as the AGM L96. The AGM L96 is NOT fully compatible with APS96 or VSR-10 parts; it takes a mix. Etc. In my opinion, these "experienced players" who are giving out this (bad/wrong) advice need to shut up unless they actually have firsthand experience. What's even worse is when they think they have first-hand experience, but aren't even talking about the right gun. For instance, thinking that the AGM MP001 is the JG BAR-10.

And then, we have people who are providing good projects, and other members come along and flame them, and tell them that it's just common sense. Hate to break it to you, but the common person doesn't have any sense. Common sense is a misnomer. The average airsofter lacks common sense in a lot of critical areas--safety, trigger control, maintenance, not being a complete idiot on the forums, etc. The flaming needs to be cut way way down. The bulk of the people I see doing lots of flaming have had their fair share of really stupid comments. Flaming people does not help the airsoft community in the slightest. It just makes you look like an idiot.

Okay, so let's get to the heart of the discussion. First, barrel cleaning.



Many players think that it's enough just to spray a bunch of lube in the barrel and push some cloth or paper towels through, as described in the guide here. Worse, some of them will spray it in the barrel without removing it. Both are insufficient.

The correct way to do it is the following.

1. Get together your equipment. You'll need some soft cloth, or a shop towel. You want to avoid scratchy paper towels, as those can damage your barrel. You'll need some scissors to cut cleaning patches, and some silicone lube or teflon lube. Either works quite well. Finally, you'll need your barrel cleaning rod. You'll notice that it has a knob at one end for clearing jams. The other end looks something like a needle.



2. Next, you need to cut the shop towel into strips, for making cleaning patches. They should be the same width as that hole in the end of the barrel clearing rod.



3. Insert the patch into the hole, like threading a needle, and then spin it around the shaft of the rod to make a round shape.



4. Next, put some lube on the patch, all around it.



5. Take the patch, and insert it in the barrel. Push it down, while twirling the rod. Repeat this several times. Then pull it out. You'll notice that the patch is going to be very dirty. This cleaning job was done on a brand-new DBC barrel with 100 rounds fired through it (washed bb's). Here's the result:



6. Okay, so you're thinking, thank goodness I got all that crap out, it was really dirty. Now I'm done. Right? No, wrong. Go back to step 3 with a fresh patch, and do it again. Keep repeating until the patch comes out clean. I went through 7 patches on this job. Take a close look at how much crud was still in the barrel:



There's still actually dirt on the last patch, but you get the idea. Just swabbing it once is insufficient.

7. By now, you've got lots of lube in the barrel. You want to clean that up, and leave a microthin layer of lube coating the surfaces of the barrel to reduce friction. So, put one more patch on your rod, but leave it DRY. Then insert it and twirl it around, as you lower it, which will leave a smooth coating on the inside of your barrel. NOW, and only now, are you done with your barrel.

Why did you clean the barrel? Dirt, grease, and debris build up in your barrel. This can cause jams, or can cause your barrel to get scratched, and the grease changes the friction, and can cause inconsistencies. A well-cleaned barrel will shoot MUCH straighter than a dirty one. I clean my guns before and after each match to guarantee performance. You don't want crap sitting inside your barrel for a long time either, so you should clean it at least once a month, regardless of whether you've played with it or not, unless you use a barrel cover to keep dust and stuff out of the gun.



Many players do not clean their hopup buckings. This is a big mistake. Dirt, grease, and debris from bb's builds up on the bucking with every shot, and degrades performance. Most stock buckings come covered in grease, which is why there's a break-in period. The grease will stick to the bb's as you fire them through, and eventually will be worn down enough that it won't cause fliers any more. A greasy bucking is the number one cause of inconsistency. A clean bucking, even with a wide barrel, is going to be much more accurate. So, you can clean off the bucking.

How do you do this? Take your bucking and a soft cloth that won't tear if it gets wet. Get a bowl of warm, soapy water, and drop your bucking in. Take the cloth and clean out the inside thoroughly, and wash all of the outer surfaces as well. Then, rinse it in colder clean water. Set the bucking on a piece of shop towel and let it airdry. The soap and warm water removes the grease more effectively, while the cold seals up the spaces in the rubber, preventing them from getting finger grease or other grease in them. It helps to wear gloves, although that's not necessary. Now your bucking is clean, and you can reinstall it in the barrel and hopup.

Okay, so how about the cylinder now?



The guide provided is actually pretty good. Some additions. Avoid using your finger to apply lube, as finger grease will degrade your cylinder. Use a shop towel to hold the cylinder and to apply lube. I like to use teflon lube on the outside of the cylinder. Coat it lightly. You also want to open the cylinder, wipe the piston, spring, and spring guide clean, and relube them with silicone lube or white lithium grease. I prefer silicone lube, as it is less likely to get into your hopup bucking. After you close it up, wipe off the cylinder carefully. Do not install it into your hopup and barrel unit until you've dry fired it a few times so that you're not spraying lube all over your freshly cleaned hopup bucking with each shot.

Finally, clean and lube your trigger mech. Take all of the moving parts, wipe them clean, and then carefully apply a thin coating of white lithium grease. Wash your hands, reassemble, and wipe the externals clean. Reinstall it into the gun. You've now successfully cleaned and relubed your gun.

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As you may have noticed, this process is fairly lengthy, but it guarantees the life of your spring sniper rifle, and will help keep it firing accurately for much longer. It also protects your parts. So, how many of you knew how to do these things AND regularly maintain your rifle?

The next thing to keep in mind is when you should do this. The barrel should be cleaned before and after every game and at least once a month otherwise. The cylinder should be relubed every 3-6 weeks inside and out. The trigger mech should be relubed and cleaned once every 2-6 months. You also may want to have spare screws for your gun on hand in case one strips. A good maintenance schedule is also key to preserving your gun and it's accuracy as well. Still think this is all common sense? Perhaps it is, but how many people actually do all of this regularly? I'll wager it's not that many.

This post has been edited by The Crimson Falcon: Nov 25 2007, 06:39 PM

I too didn't know for the longest while. It wasn't until I read The Crimson Falcon's guide on Airsoft Retreat that I learned how to do it properly. Thanks for the guide Airsoft Sniper!

This post has been edited by longbow419: Nov 27 2007, 11:31 PM

I didn't see it in the guide, but a few extra things you can do, Wipe out and clean the hop up unit, and also you can wipe out the inside of the cylinder. There are a few ways to wipe out the cylinder, and you don't have to do it to often, but you can just lube a paper towel roll up the piece of paper towel, and push it down the cylinder. Or you can just clean it like you clean a barrel with just a lot more cloth.

Thanks I'm glad you liked it! I tried to keep it simple for new players to easily understand. TCF's guide is much better than mine. Nice Job! I too prefer clones. With the money you save from not buying a big name brand you can buy upgrades. THANKS GUYS!





-=AS35=-

This post has been edited by AirsoftSniper35: Nov 28 2007, 08:49 PM

This is so true. Even though the upgrades to get my rifle to 550 fps were expensive, it was worth it because I only payed $120 for the original rifle (HFC Usr-11).

Wow is it really nice? Good consistantsy and all? sorry off topic...

Yes it is. I have foamed the barrel and will hopefully do the same to the stock soon. In terms of accuracy, it is fairly accurate at long range. I have given it a great paintjob so it blends in well with the local foilage. It also hits extremely hard.

I put this guide in my sig so if a beginner wants to know how to clean it I can pop it up if it gets lost.

Great Guide! I had no idea how to clean/lube an airsoft gun before this!