Purchasing an airsoft gun and never cleaning or maintaining it is a lot like purchasing a car and never taking it to a mechanic - it'll work fine for a while, simply eventually you lot are going to run into problems. Non merely is cleaning an airsoft gun and keeping it maintained essential for extending the lifespan of your costly investment, simply it'southward also essential for optimizing your gun'due south performance. If you lot aren't sure how to clean an airsoft gun or where to become started keeping one maintained, nosotros at RedWolf Airsoft are here to help. In this commodity, we'll cover everything yous need to know nigh how to clean an airsoft gun, including how to make clean your electric airsoft AEG , spring , and gas guns akin.

How Oftentimes Should You Clean Your Guns?

It is recommended that you clean your airsoft guns after every period of extended utilise. That doesn't mean they need to be cleaned every single time you fire them, merely if you spend all day at the field putting hundreds of rounds through your gun and so information technology'due south a adept thought to requite it a thorough cleaning when you become dwelling house. While this may sound like quite the hassle, cleaning an airsoft gun should only accept xv minutes or so if you use the correct tools and follow the right procedures.

Get the Correct Tools for the Job

Speaking of the right tools, in that location are a couple of airsoft gun cleaning tools that you volition want to be sure and purchase if your gun did non come included with them. The offset and arguably nearly essential airsoft cleaning tool is a barrel cleaning/unjamming rod. In addition to helping you remove BBs that become lodged in your gun'south barrel in the event of a jam, this rod also features an zipper point for attaching cleaning patches that will allow yous to scrub the within of your gun's barrel. Cleaning patches tin be purchased from whatever store that sells airsoft supplies, and y'all can also utilize cleaning patches that are designed for real-steel firearms if you cut them downwards to size. Making your ain cleaning patches out of an sometime t-shirt or other piece of textile is an option too.

Cleaning Rod and Lubricant

Many cleaning patches come pre-lubricated with gun oil that will preclude your gun'due south metal components from rusting. If you don't take pre-lubricated patches, though, you will want to be sure and purchase a canteen of gun oil besides. Finally, you may demand tools such as a small screwdriver or ready of Allen keys to disassemble your airsoft gun when it's fourth dimension for a more thorough cleaning.

What are the Most Of import Parts to Pay Attention to?

Information technology'south worth mentioning first that the specific components inside an airsoft gun will differ from gun to gun. An electric airsoft gun, for case, functions much differently than a spring-powered gun and has unlike components that must exist cared for every bit role of your gun'due south regular cleaning and maintenance. For the purpose of this section, though, we are going to focus on the of import components/maintenance priorities that are mutual to all types of airsoft guns. In the next section, we'll dive into more platform-specific cleaning and maintenance procedures.

Gun Barrel Maintenance

Inner Barrel Cleaning is Essential for Better Accurateness and Performance - Click on Photo for More Inner Barrels

The inner barrels of airsoft guns are made out of either steel, aluminum, or brass - all of which are prone to corrosion if they are not kept properly lubricated. This is why it is important to always clean the inner butt of your airsoft gun using a cleaning patch that has been soaked in gun oil that is designed to prevent corrosion.

In improver to preventing corrosion, information technology's also essential to clean your gun'southward butt regularly in order to remove any residue or debris that might take built upwards. When a BB is fired through the gun's barrel, little flakes of plastic frequently rub off and are left backside. Over fourth dimension, these flakes of plastic along with any dust or dirt that happens to get inside your barrel can build up and negatively affect the gun'southward performance. Running a cleaning patch through your butt after each period of extended use ensures that all of this balance and debris is removed earlier your side by side outing.

Exterior Maintenance

Many of the exterior components of an airsoft gun are typically fabricated out of plastic or metal, and these components won't really require a lot of care aside from wiping them downwards occasionally. However, if there are whatever exterior components of your gun that are made out of metallic, though, you will want to wipe them downward gun oil after every utilize in order to prevent rust and corrosion.

Lubrication

GHK Makes Some of the Airsoft Best Lubricants - Clink on Photograph for More than Data

Forth with the gun's inner barrel, there are a number of other internal components within your airsoft gun that volition require frequent lubrication to continue functioning properly. These components tin differ from gun to gun depending on the model that you ain, and the process of accessing them can differ also. For bones lubrication, though, all you have to practice is access the gun's activeness either through the magazine well or by sliding back the bolt. Spraying a little lubricant upward through the magazine well or into the bolt assembly will go a long fashion toward keeping your gun'due south internal components well lubricated. Occasionally, similar in the example of gas pistols or rifles, you will want to detach your gun and more properly lubricate its internal components, and nosotros'll explain how to do this for each type of airsoft gun in the adjacent department.

Platform-Specific Maintenance and Cleaning

A big role of knowing how to make clean an airsoft gun is knowing how to detach and reassemble it over again and so that you lot are able to access and clean all of its internal components. While this may sound a fiddling daunting if you don't have much experience working with airsoft guns, the practiced news is that disassembling and reassembling an airsoft gun is typically a relatively straightforward procedure. With that said, the exact steps you will need to follow depends on the type of airsoft gun that you own, keeping in mind that cleaning the gun's inner barrel and wiping down its exterior components are besides steps that need to be followed for every type of airsoft gun.

Electric Airsoft Gun Maintenance

Cross Department of Version 2 Gearbox - Check Out more Gearbox Parts

For electric airsoft guns, AEG guns, the biggest challenge is conducting regular maintenance to the gearbox. Though at that place are many different versions, the maintenance process is more or less the aforementioned. Detach and reassembling a gearbox can exist tricky; if you aren't comfy doing it yourself, be sure to bring information technology over to a reputable airsoft tech to do it for y'all.

Start past carefully disassembling the AEG to accept out the gearbox and motor. Some AEGs may not have a gearbox. If so, simply completely remove all the internal parts. Be sure to remember how to reassemble them back, characterization the parts if you lot take to.

Adjacent, degrease all the moving parts. The gears can be soaked in cleaners similar acetone, or other degrease solution, or you can just use a slice of tissue and some wiping alcohol to clean all the internal parts. Be aware that some plastic/ prophylactic parts may not react well to the cleaning solutions, so be sure to choose one that tin motion oil/ grease without dissolving plastic or condom.

Degrease and Clean

In one case all of the parts have been degreased, dry them using a rag then reapply a sparse layer of grease/ lubricant to all moving parts. In this part you will need to exist careful, y'all will need to apply merely the right amount of grease; non as well much, not too little. Too little lubrication volition have no event and could speed up vesture and tear. Besides much grease could gunk upwards the gearbox, backlog grease might cake some of the electronics causing potential malfunction.

While everything is disassembled, accept a minute to check the motor's condition. Unless it is a brushless motor, you will desire to run across if the carbon castor is depleted or non. Brushed motors accept carbon brushes on them and volition slowly deplete when used. If the carbon brush is well-nigh depleted, it is a skillful idea to replace information technology with a new motor (be sure to get one with the same RPM unless you lot are upgrading it). Also, bank check the pinion gear on the motor to run across if there are any microfractures/cracks on it.

Typical AEG Motor - Click on Photograph for More Information

The final pace is to reassemble everything back together. Put all the internal parts back into the gearbox and assemble the AEG dorsum to an airsoft gun. After, plug in the battery burn a few rounds merely to brand sure information technology is running fine and smooth. Later on that, y'all are done!

Gas Gun Maintenance

The internal mechanisms inside gas airsoft guns are not quite as circuitous as those within an AEG, making gas guns a little easier to detach and maintain. Start past removing the bolt carrier group associates from your gun then dissembling it into its individual components. Next, follow the aforementioned procedure for degreasing these parts that y'all would follow for an AEG.

Gas Blowback Rifle Parts

Once these components have been degreased, dry them off and apply a thin layer of lubricant to each part. For gas guns, it's also important to spay a little silicone gun oil inside the nozzle seal of your magazines and inside the piston of your gun's bolt associates in order to prevent plastic parts inside these components from drying out. Once this is consummate, you are ready to reassemble your gun and fire off a few rounds to make sure everything is functioning properly.

Bound Gun Maintenance

Spring and Piston Head

Cleaning and maintaining a spring-powered airsoft gun is quite similar to the procedure of cleaning a gas gun, but even simpler. With spring airsoft guns, all yous need to do is disable the gun's bolt assembly, degrease and lubricate each individual component, and so reassemble the gun. Spring airsoft guns exercise non require the awarding of silicone oil similar gas guns and do not have a gearbox that needs to exist dissembled and cleaned like AEGs, then one time y'all've cleaned all of the components inside the gun'south commodities assembly you lot are prepare to put the gun back together. Do pay special attending to the jump inside the gun, though, and make certain that it is well lubricated so that information technology will maintain its strength for equally long as possible.