Canadian Cadet Movement Air Rifle Training Manual

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Potashminer

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I recently received a new-to-me Daisy Avanti Legend 853c air rifle, which appears to be the rifle used by Canadian Cadets for 10 meter target shooting. Also managed to find the above named training manual.

So, I find multiple references to using felt pellets for bore cleaning and maintenance in that Canadian Cadet Movement manual - does anyone know, specifically, what brand and part number of felt pellet the Cadets use?? The tin of target lead pellets that the seller included are "Finale Match" 4.5mm - .177 cal. by H&N - made in Germany.
 
Did they mention cleaning the bore any other way? I don’t use those cleaning pellets and I haven’t heard of them being that good or else more people would use them. Just my opinion of course.
 
I intend to re-read the manual several more times, but no mention of other bore cleaning or bore maintenance procedures. I have dealt with centerfires rifles for 40 plus years, but this is my first air rifle - so had been thinking the Cadet's written process was the process I would follow. Alternatively, in the Daisy Operation Manual, which showed up with the rifle, page 9, it recommends using Daisy's No. 5875 Cleaning Kit, which seems to consist of a cleaning rod and patches, but I have a long time aversion to using a cleaning rod from the muzzle end of a bore, if there is another way.

Edited to add - looks like that Daisy 5875 cleaning kit is a three piece aluminum-ish screw together cleaning rod with a few patches and a squeeze tube of oil. If I was in the business of selling air rifles and air rifle barrels, I suppose I would recommend that as well. Except I am not in that business, and haven't used screw-together cleaning rods since I was in my mid-teens and didn't know better...
 
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Air gun barrels are softer than powder burners.
I use a pull through I made from trimmer line and a cloth patch.
With wd40, no powder residue just a little lead to remove
 
Thanks, Garmic - I used to use a braided fishing line with a loop on the end - could grab a regular patch to pull through a bore, so long as the line didn't touch the edge of the muzzle. If felt cleaning pellets don't work well, I'm thinking some sort of pull through is needed - no easy way at all to get access into rear of that bore with a cleaning rod...

That manual mentions sending oil soaked pellet down the bore when it is being put away for more than a couple months, then always shooting 2 or 3 dry felt patches down the bore before starting to shoot lead pellets. I am assuming that is what Canadian Cadets actually do - I was never a member, and, in my day, the Cadets I knew used .22 rimfire rifles in their training.
 
I suggest contacting Nordic Precision or TESRO. I think they both deal with high end match firearms as well as air guns. I read years ago about using felt wads to clean the barrels but never saw them for sale. I don't think the 853 can be cleaned with a rod except from the front and wouldn't recommend that. Perhaps thats why they suggest using pellets?
 
I think the best thing to do would be to contact a cadet squadron close to you and see if they know where to find the felt pellets. Each squadron should have an RSO that should know what the situation is.
 
Cadet programs may be seeking to instill a respect for the need to clean even though air rifle barrels don't require as much cleaning as a powder burning barrel.

A cleaning regimen similar to the VFG system may be what is described in the manual. VFG felt pellets are available at Nordic Marksman and Tesro Canada. Some people simply shoot them through the bore, while others use the specially-made adapter to fit the pellets on a cleaning rod.

A more economical cleaning system would be to make a pull through out of something like weed whacker line. Sharpen the tip on a length of line that is somewhat longer than the barrel length. Shape the other end with blunt force and heat so that a patch can be held on it while pulling it through the bore from the breech. Some airgunners use a similar set up using fishing line. Alternatively, there are purpose-made pull throughs available through retailers.
 
grauhanen said:
Cadet programs may be seeking to instill a respect for the need to clean even though air rifle barrels don't require as much cleaning as a powder burning barrel.

A cleaning regimen similar to the VFG system may be what is described in the manual. VFG felt pellets are available at Nordic Marksman and Tesro Canada. Some people simply shoot them through the bore, while others use the specially-made adapter to fit the pellets on a cleaning rod.

A more economical cleaning system would be to make a pull through out of something like weed whacker line. Sharpen the tip on a length of line that is somewhat longer than the barrel length. Shape the other end with blunt force and heat so that a patch can be held on it while pulling it through the bore from the breech. Some airgunners use a similar set up using fishing line. Alternatively, there are purpose-made pull throughs available through retailers.
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Correct, that's what they use
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Personally, seems like I'll use a few of these pellets every few thousands shots (using H&N pellets)
 
I remember when I was an Air Cadet and shot on the air rifle team we would use these felt pellets every so many rounds to keep the lead fouling down. I’m not sure how much lead fowling we had but I do remember sweeping them up and they’d have lots of greyish staining on them.
 
If the rifle is un "unknown" condition it would be good to give it a thorough cleaning the first time.
After that quick cleaning felts will work great as long as you do not use really low grade pellets.
If you are using quick cleaning felts make sure that you put a pellet behind it so that the felt is spread and scrubs the barrel as it goes though.
Happy shooting!
 
Tesro Inc said:
If the rifle is un "unknown" condition it would be good to give it a thorough cleaning the first time.
After that quick cleaning felts will work great as long as you do not use really low grade pellets.
If you are using quick cleaning felts make sure that you put a pellet behind it so that the felt is spread and scrubs the barrel as it goes though.
Happy shooting!
Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice. I will run with this recommendation to the other Cadet Corps shooting coaches I encounter.

The new shooters entering the Cadet Corps present an opportunity for us older shooters to mentor the younger folks!

Just ordering myself a new 953C from “Center the Group dot com” in preparation for the 953C rig soon/likely/in negotiation/who knows when to replace said 853C air rifle.

Cheers, Barney

:wave:
 
We just used to shoot the felt pellets every so often, but like another poster mentioned, I can't remember the intervals either. One piece cleaning rods were pretty much only used for clearing the barrel.

Out of curiosity, does the manual mention anything about washing hands when dealing with pellets? At competitions, even nationals, they supplied us with hand sanitizer to clean our hands with after shooting, but I'm pretty sure sanitizer would not be as effective for lead as it would be for bacteria...

We did have Lee enfields that were 22 calibre, and we even used them for biathlon competition until we managed to step up to anschutz 22s.
 
I coached a cadet team for 7 years, never used the felt pellets. Never did anything to the barrels except shoot pellets through them. Best finish was 2nd place at the regionals.
 
Potashminer said:
I intend to re-read the manual several more times, but no mention of other bore cleaning or bore maintenance procedures. I have dealt with centerfires rifles for 40 plus years, but this is my first air rifle - so had been thinking the Cadet's written process was the process I would follow. Alternatively, in the Daisy Operation Manual, which showed up with the rifle, page 9, it recommends using Daisy's No. 5875 Cleaning Kit, which seems to consist of a cleaning rod and patches, but I have a long time aversion to using a cleaning rod from the muzzle end of a bore, if there is another way.

Edited to add - looks like that Daisy 5875 cleaning kit is a three piece aluminum-ish screw together cleaning rod with a few patches and a squeeze tube of oil. If I was in the business of selling air rifles and air rifle barrels, I suppose I would recommend that as well. Except I am not in that business, and haven't used screw-together cleaning rods since I was in my mid-teens and didn't know better...
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Yeah take those cleaning rods, screw them together, then take them apart and throw them in the trash. Most people will do more damage to an air rifle barrel after 5 minutes of cleaning then ten years of just shooting it.

All you need is cleaning pellets.

maynard said:
I coached a cadet team for 7 years, never used the felt pellets. Never did anything to the barrels except shoot pellets through them. Best finish was 2nd place at the regionals.
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Shot with cadets for seven years, coached for two years afterwards. Our coach would have screamed like a lunatic at anybody who took a rod anywhere near a pellet gun. Typically one cleaning pellet in front of a lead pellet at the end of every night was all the maintenance we ever did. And we were on the range 3 days a week shooting a minimum of 500 rds per rifle per night. I don't think a clean barrel, or cleaner barrel, would have impacted scores all that much.
 
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