Napier Power Pull Through barrel cleaner

I always cringe when I see anyone using an un-coated steel cleaning rod to clean an air rifle barrel! They usually come as a kit and have threaded sections that screw onto each other to make the required length, so that they can be used to clean pistols as well as rifles. I know that they’re made for the job but pushing a mild steel rod down the delicate interior of a barrel goes against everything I’ve ever been told about looking after your barrel.

The joins between the sections aren’t ever perfect and can result in a sharp edge that could quite easily damage the allimportant crown at the muzzle.

Using such a kit on a fairly basic springer probably won’t do much damage, as the rifle will probably use a less than Match quality barrel in the first place.

Expensive, quality spring piston and pre-charged pneumatic air rifles use state of the art quality barrels that provide superb accuracy, so a pull through of some kind is the best way to give the bore a good clean. It’s possible to make your own of course but Napier, who always make excellent accessories, have made such DIY efforts redundant!

One direction

The best way to clean a barrel, is to follow the direction of the projectile, which is pretty easy with most break barrel spring guns but fixed barrel springers, such as underlever and sidelever actioned rifles and also PCPs require a different approach. Feeding a homemade pull through down from the muzzle is tricky but the Napier solution utilises a flexible, plastic coated cable with a thinner cord in the centre. Other items in the zip up pouch are a 200cc aerosol can of Napier Power Airgun Oil, pre-cut cleaning patches and three ‘Field patches’ that are impregnated with VP90 gun oil.

Some oil is sprayed down the barrel and allowed to dwell for a minute. This should soften any deposits in the barrel.

The cable is then introduced into the barrel from the muzzle end and pushed through until the loop appears. Cleaning patches are then placed in the loop and the T-bar handle is grasped and the cable pulled through in one stroke. This procedure is repeated a few times (or more if necessary!) until the patches come out clean. Differing amounts of patches are required depending on what calibre the barrel is; two for .177, three for .22 and four for .25. You only have to replace the outer patch each time, as the inner ones are there to provide a snug fit within the bore. A pack of 65 replacement patches is only £2, by the way.

The kit is very easy to use and I was amazed at how grubby some of my air rifle barrels were! Some had quite a bit of oily, lead sludge in them and even though I didn’t carry out any before and after accuracy tests I’m convinced that removing it can only help. One of my old FT rifles used to need a good scrub out fairly regularly and accuracy certainly suffered if it was neglected but all barrels are different of course. The Field Patches can be used to wipe over the barrel and other metal parts, to remove finger marks and the oil is safe to use on wooden and synthetic stocks as well.

Conclusion

The Napier Power Pull Through is an impressive, well thought out product, which does exactly what it’s meant to.

In my book, a clean barrel is a happy barrel! The only thing that could be improved is the way the instruction card is printed. The print is very small and black writing on a red background makes it even more difficult to read. Apart from this one small niggle, this item is highly recommended and at around £30, it’s an affordable way to keep your airguns in tip-top condition.