Last year at SHOT, as usual I met with my buddy Heather that is the go-to girl at Otis. As you know, Otis offers the best gun cleaning products on the market. She showed me all of their new offerings for 2024 and then we caught up on what had been happening since we last saw each other.
Otis Technology Airgun Maintenance and Cleaning Kit
In talking I told her that we ought to come up with an airgun cleaning kit. I went on to say that airguns are wildly popular and yet I’d never seen any cleaning supplies for airguns. I told her that I was big time into airguns and on Pro-staff with Umarex and do airgun seminars and hunts for them and would be glad to help her design a kit.
Well, a couple of months later she got hold of me and said “OK, we’re in. What do we need to do”. We put our heads together and I listed out what I’d suggest as necessary items in the kit. Then with her many years of being in the firearm cleaning business she came up with a lot of items that I hadn’t thought of.
To start producing a new product always takes a few minutes but shortly thereafter she notified me that we were set and sent me the new kit to test. So, without further ado, let’s get into our Product Review of the new Otis Airgun Maintenance and Cleaning Kit.
It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out that shooting soft lead pellets has to leave a residue. In talking to my buddies at Umarex, they warned me that you don’t want to use your normal gun oils to clean airguns, though, because those oils will eat up the rubber seals, and the air will leak out of the air tank, so you have to use a silicone type of oil.
But first let’s cover the basics. The kit comes in a plastic tray, much like the trays in an Evolution Fishing Tackle Bag. It is 9”x6.5”x2 ¼”, so it is compact. It is designed to clean calibers all the way from .17 to .30 cal. airguns, pistols or rifles. Next, let’s list out all of the components.
- SILICONE GUN CLOTH
- END BRUSH This brush and the next one can be used for detailed cleaning and application of lubricants.
- ALL PURPOSE BRUSH
- LEAD CLEANING HAND WIPE As much as us airgunners handle pellets I love the Otis Lead Wipes. When Heather first showed me these a few years ago I told her they’d be a home run item in the airgun world.
- BENT PICK
- PICK HANDLE
- 2” COTTON PATCHES The Otis propriety design allow a patch to be used for up to eight times.
- 34” MEMORY-FLEX CABLE Of course these are a must have to clean your barrels.
- COTTON SWABS Great for applying oil in tight to reach areas.
- AIRGUN LUBRICANT Airguns need to periodically be oiled so the seals don’t crack. Can be used on all O-rings/seals/gaskets without degradation. A needle point applicator for precision application.
- HEX WRENCH SET This one is good to tighten your scope mounts, disassembly for maintenance work and to work on other airgun accessories.
- LENS BRUSH, TISSUE & CLOTH All my airguns have scopes so it is good to have these last two items.
- LENS SPRAY I’m the world’s worst at losing scope covers so I definitely need lens spray.
If anything, the items included are an overkill. But before I say that, who knows, over time, how many of the items will save the day in a pinch, as I discovered with the bent picture. It became useful the first week that I tested the Otis Airgun Maintenance and Cleaning Kit, as described below.
I have a heavy-duty Air Ventura heavy-duty air compressor to fill my air tanks so I don’t have to run down to the skin-diving shop every 2 seconds to fill my air tanks. I fired up the compressor to fill up my tanks and it malfunctioned and ran down to the local airgun shop to see what was wrong. Turns up the compressor has a small brass safety disc which blows out if there is a pressure overload to prevent an explosion.
The bent pic works well to remove a defective burst disc on your air compressors because it is recessed, small, and hard to reach. Over time, who knows how many more of the included tools will become must-have items?
Of course Otis is famous for their cleaning cables but on your PCP’s you will need to use a straight cleaning rod. On all of my PCP’s I couldn’t pull the cable out the breech but I tested it on my breakbarrels and it worked fine. So the kit will work fine on all of your airguns, just remember, on your PCP’s it will require a cleaning rod.
In a month, I have a big airgun hunt coming up. Abby Casey and I will hunt whistle pigs (ground squirrels) for two days, pigeons one day, and then use the new FishR airgun to bowfish. It will be interesting to get 2-3 various Umarex airguns super dirty and then compare groups before/after cleaning.
The MSRP on the Otis Airgun Maintenance and Cleaning Kit is $49.99 and as is usual, here is the company description.
COMPANY SPECS
Properly cleaning and maintaining your airguns is a lot like cleaning your traditional firearms but there are some important differences. The Airgun Maintenance & Cleaning Kit from Otis Technology takes those differences into consideration and offers a complete kit designed with airguns in mind. Complete in these kits, you’ll find a silicone-based lubricant and silicone gun cloth to lubricate and protect your airgun while maintaining the integrity of O-rings, seals, and gaskets. A 7-piece Hex L-wrench set that ranges from .71mm to 3mm aids in disassembly of your airguns for maintenance work. A bent pick helps easily remove O-rings and the AP brush as well as the end brush offer detail cleaning or lubricant application. This kit also includes Breech-to-Muzzle® cleaning gear – a 34” Memory-Flex® cable with affixed slotted tip and (10) 2” patches for proper bore cleaning. With a complete lens cleaning set also included, you’ll be able to maintain your optic with this kit too. And when you’re all done, clean the lead and other heavy metals from your skin with the included lead cleaning hand wipe. All contained in a tackle-box style case.
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
