oiling an air rifle

[ubetcha]

Evening All. I'm fairly new to air rifles and I have a question in regards to applying a lubricant to the air chamber for the seals. I have a Gamo Bull Whisper Bone Collector and when it was new ( its maybe a year since I bought it) the report from the muzzle when I shot it, sounded like a .22 RF. But now, it sounds different as in not the loud crack of a .22. I don't know if a lube is needed for the air chamber or seal, of if this is a normal thing after some break in time. I have only done a rough sight in with is as it was hitting very close to what i was shooting at right from the box and was picking off chipmunks easily. Now tonight, I had a rabbit eye balling my garden and had to aim to the left and up of its head to hit it. Good thing it was a dumb bunny to allow several shots at it. I guess I will have to bench it and get the scope zeroed in. Thanks for the help and advise. By the way, This is a break barrel action. Not a pump action. Is there a recommended lube that anyone uses and where/how would I apply it. Of course I cant find the manual and I didn't see anything on the Gamo web site. They do show a Gamo oil, but don't say if its for the exterior or for the seals

[RayinNH]

ubetcha that loud crack you hear is detonation from too much lubrication or the wrong lube. Seeing that it was new when you bought it's probably too much lube. It should be avoided at all cost as it is bad for the seals. Too much of it will destroy the seals. A good article on the proper lubrication is below. Under the authors name is the link for part one. All the blue highlights in the article are links.
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2014/04/airgun-lubrication-spring-guns-part-2/


(http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2014/04/airgun-lubrication-spring-guns-part-2/)

[cbashooter]

No lube down the excape hole into the compression chamber.beeman used to sell silicone based chamber oil.but I feel it was a bad idea.

I don't use but a drop of mobile 1 on the piston seal when I rebuild them.that's only to help it slide in easier.

[35remington]

They call it "dieseling" for a reason. The lubricant actually ignites in the gun. The compression exceeds the flash point of the oils used.

[GhostHawk]

Agree that it was dieseling, and that is bad for the seals.

Might be a good time for a tune up with new seals.

Don't know specific's about that model but I oil my Sheridan Blue Streak about once every decade.

[shredder]

Never use petroleum oils in a spring piston gun for the "dieseling" reason above. oil will ignite at high pressure just like diesel. Silicone lube is made for the conditions inside a springer.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Yes, a special airgun oil, and very little of it, is advisable. Unlike a cartridge firearm, what goes in isn't a really reliable guide to what comes out. If you don't have a chronograph, it can be reassuring to keep a pellet fired against a solid steel block when the gun is new, and compare it with one similarly treated if you ever have doubts.

[victorfox]

i use silicone oil I buy at the sewing machine shop. cock the gun drop some 5 drops of oil, then release the spring holding the barrel repeat some 5x. Drop one or two more and put the gun in the bag.
if your gun has leather seals better use corn olive or peanut oil and be quite liberal, preferably disassemble the gun and make the seals suck a lot of oil. These oils are harder to diesel make for chamber imperfections bettering the seal and keep the leather pliable.
stay away from petroleum based stuff.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I think you are right that vegetable oils will harm leather least, and although not many airguns have leather seals now, they may be much cherished ones. A long time ago I had a terrible job of freeing a seized bolt in a BSA .22 for a friend who let his wife talk him into lubricating it with cooking oil. A few years later I had to do it again, suffering badly for his domestic harmony. Castor oil is used, mixed with lanolin, in bullet swaging, because it is peculiarly immune to dieseling, but I don't know if it dries, and it might be a bit viscous right from the start for this purpose.

[Cap'n Morgan]

As a kid I shot thousands upon thousands of pellets through my .177 Diana 27 spring-loader. I added a few drop of thin "sewing machine" oil ever so often and the effect was immediately visible when shooting at a one-liter oil can; when freshly oiled, the pellet would penetrate both sides. Never noticed any diesel effect except from a small curl of blue oil smoke the first one or two shots. I would also replace main spring & seal (leather) from time to time. Slowly cooking the rifle while oiling will suck the oil into the cylinder - pump the piston a few times to spread a film on the cylinder walls.

[victorfox]

BiS, castor oil is good stuff. I only pointed those easily obtainable. Canola is good too. Soy bean oil no. It dries to a sort of gummy thing that is sticky and sometimes smells bad too. Once I had a 32ga I bought used from my fathers friend and it was awful inside the action. Asked what he used to "keep" the gun: cooking oil and sometimes a bit of grease...
Captain Morgan, older airguns with leather seals are less sensitive to dieseling. Todays more powerful guns with synthetic seals suffer more. It takes a little dieseling to destroy a seal so it wont happen right way. we did some dieseling on purpose in a hatsan 80,which is rated around800fps with wd40 and it worked fine after that but since the gun was not mine can't say how long the seal lasted. I surely don't do it in my guns neither dry fire them for the sake of their longevity.