For the most part, airgun barrels need less care than firearms barrels. There are no burnt powder residues, copper fouling or heat and corrosion factors to deal with. In some cases, lead fouling may be experienced; but this is usually in choked barrel, high power airguns that like Premiers. Premiers are somewhat harder pellets that have a higher antimony content than other pellets. I've used lots of different oil and water based cleaners in my guns, and I tend to favor Goo Gone® these days. This citrus cleaner really cuts grime and loosens lead flakes with a minumum of fuss, yet it's harmless to seals, stocks, etc.

Q: How often should you clean the barrel?

A: Not as often as you might think. Definitely clean the bore when a gun is brand new, before you even shoot it. Many guns have factory oils in the bore, plus some other crud that usually winds up in there; so it's a good idea to run a couple patches thru first.

You may find it necessary to clean the bore again within the first hundred rounds or so, because many new springers will diesel at least mildly at first, and soot up the bore pretty quickly.

After that period, you should only have to clean the bore when accuracy starts to drop off. Airgun barrels shoot best after they've had a few fouling shots fired thru them after a cleaning, so if you constantly clean your barrel- your groups will wander a bit. When pellet testing.. clean the bore between pellet styles or types, but be sure to fire a good 25 shots or so before noting the way the pellet groups. Once you've chosen your favored pellet, cleaning should only be an infrequent chore (except as previously noted when shooting Premiers in SOME guns). When storing an airgun, a film of oil in the bore is a good idea, but remember to clean it out before shooting the gun again. Oil in the bore can also cause a gun to diesel, especially if the oil is close to the breech end.

Hope this helped- RB