Phil, I think that cleaning is a part of shooting, I clean every thing from my xbow and my long bow to my carteidge guns after I shoot them. Some of us enjoy working with our 'toys' as my wife calls them. You might try a slightly bigger ball when they get a bit warn that often makes a big differance.I won some goodies in 78 with an over the log gun that was almost 200 years old and had 2 pitts in the barrel. A bit bigger ball and wad with 20 gr of oatmeal some times does wonders. Lee