I'm asking these two items together because I *think* they might go hand in hand.

So I went out target shooting with my air gun (non-pal Benjamin Sheridan All Weater .22), yesterday and I noticed what I believe to be a drop off in power.

I came to this conclusion because two weeks ago when I was shooting the gun my brother in law put out some targets (statutues actually that he doesn't want) which I was able to hit, penetrate and blow the pellet through the statue, however, yesterday no such luck.

I hit the statue every time (the precision on the gun is great) but every pellet seemed to get stopped in its track. NO penetration, NO piercing the statue I was able to pierce just two weeks earlier.

The distance remained the same as two weeks ago, but must to be sure, I shot it at about 10, 15, 20, and 30 feet and I still couldn't penetrate it (while I could at about 30 feet two weeks ago). The gun seems to have lost power, so I was thinking maybe it was time to clean it.

I've had the gun for about a month and I've shot approximately 300 pellets through it. I've never cleaned it yet (as I don't know how and the countless "instructional" vides on youtube have left me more confused.

Any thoughts on why the decrease in power and how I should clean it?