Nylon Cleaning Brushes

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Safety First

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Where are you guys buying your nylon cleaning brushes? I have none and thought I would give them a try on 9mm & 45ACP. Do you have brands you favor and where do you buy them?
I am asking because I would like to buy good quality brushes that do a good job getting out the lead/copper and do not damage the barrel.
 
Personnally, I don't think that a nylon brush is any safer than a bronze brush. Steel is way harder than either.

I choose the brush that I'm going to use by the nature of the solvent. Bronze for Hoppes, CLP, Carbon Killer and the like. Nylon for copper solvents like the Bore Tech products and Sweets.
 
My experience is the that all nylon brushes do is separate you from your money.

I bought nylon brushes for all of the calibers that I have. Took a lot of scrubbing ( and more scrubbing, and then more scrubbing) to do the job. My copper solvent of choice was Sweet's.

I only use bronze brushes now. I have switched from Sweet's to Wipe Out. My shoulder is much happier. And the brush rarely gets used.
 
Nylon brushes are next to useless in my experience. Solvent spreaders as stated above. Buy decent bronze brushes. I like tipton brushes. They last a long time and work great. I have several military surplus rifles that have dark pitted bores and the tipton brushes hold up well even under those conditions. I shoot alot of surplus corrosive ammo and some of the powders they used make the bore filthy. I brush every time I clean up after surplus and have used the same brush dozens of times.
 
I just bought some Barnes CR-10 but haven't used it. Previously, I just used Hoppes #9, Breakfree, or Ballistol. I shoot copper-plated bullets the most. I found that Breakfree and Ballistol are slow to remove the copper fouling. I can have a fairly clean gun in short order, but it will have some copper fouling unless I get more aggressive somehow -- either with time soaking, labor scrubbing, or using more aggressive tools. I started to prefer #9 because it removed the copper faster but not exactly like magic. So I thought I'd try a copper solvent and bought the CR-10. I haven't used it yet.

My current bronze brushes are Hoppes brand. I have the toothbrush style and bore brush. I think the Hoppes bore brush has a steel core. It is magnetic.

Should I use a nylon brush with CR-10 or should I use a bronze brush?

Dewey's bronze brushes have a brass core that would react with a copper solvent. They have copper-eliminator brushes that are nylon with an aluminum core. Good?

I use Dewey Rods. I love them because I can buy a bunch of rods and leave the jags, brushes, etc. attached instead of having to always change the tip. But they're brass. If I start using a copper solvent, even #9, I get a reaction just from the rod.

I also have a stainless steel "Tornado" brush. I bought it particularly for the chambers on revolver cylinders. I have some doubt it does any good compared to a bristle-style brush like the bronze one I'd use in the barrel. What do you think of these for chambers or shotgun bores?
 
I seldom use bronze brushes any longer; getting excellent results with Iosso brand nylon brushes from Brownell's. https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...osso-nyflex-rifle-bore-brushes-prod54388.aspxThey outlast bronze brushes and in concert w/Tactical Advantage make short work of both copper and powder fouling in one of my problem rifles as described below. https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...ts/wipe-out-tactical-advantage-prod55415.aspx

As has been pointed out in the recent thread entitled LYMAN BORE SCOPE, one of the prime uses for the scope is to view cleaning results.

With lots of help and great advice from Keith (PM Ackleyman)I have been testing a number of different cleaning solvents on a Savage barrel that revealed a propensity to foul quickly. We first lapped the barrel, which helped a lot. It still fouls more than most, but since I usually fire no more than two or three rounds per hunt and maybe 20/range trip, the fouling has not seemed to affect accuracy enough to worry about.

Didn't take long to choose Tactical Advantage (a WIPE-OUT product) as a superior solvent for both powder and copper fouling.

The following pictures show the barrel after only 2 rounds of 125 gr. NBT @ 2850 fps. The before pictures have no glare from light due to powder fouling blocking the glare.
9" from muzzle after firing (showing both copper & powder fouling):
41668277774_ac0787d9d6_o.jpg
9" from muzzle after a dozen strokes w/nylon brush w/TA and soaking overnight:
41668277594_e6869c5e6c_o.jpg
Note: There was no copper in the above photo; copper color was glare from light.

1" from muzzle after firing (showing both copper & powder fouling:
27521658567_6bac7b9e53_o.jpg
1" from muzzle after a dozen strokes w/nylon brush w/TA and soaking overnight:
41668277234_79f0480020_o.jpg
Again, copper color sheen is reflection from light. Fouling gone.

I then carefully inspected barrel end to end and found only one spot 1/2" from muzzle remained copper fouled:
41489157705_b10004cda0_o.jpg
Repeated 12 strokes w/TA & soaked 12 hours:
41668277054_b5bd660d70_o.jpg

Total of 24 strokes w/Iosso nylon brush (very stiff nylon) soaked w/Tactical Advantage, two dry patches & clean; I think I've found my solvent!
Click to expand...

Regards,
hps
 
Safety First said:
Where are you guys buying your nylon cleaning brushes?
Click to expand...
The grocery store. . . but I brush my teeth with them for a couple months first.
Safety First said:
Are you saying the nylon brush does adequately clean?
Click to expand...
Nylon bore brushes will not remove anything except loose soot/powder from the bore. Any cleaning effect beyond that is solely caused by stirring whatever solvent you're using around in there. That does work, but it's slow.

For copper fouling, I prefer to apply fresh solvent with a patch. For carbon, fresh solvent with a bronze brush to scrub. For lead, a chore-boy 'patch'.

Edit: regarding brand; buy Brownell's Double Tuff brushes, and you'll never look back.
 
PWC said:
Use an all COPPER chore boy from grocery or hardware store. Pull out "threads" and wrap around old bore brush, and clean as ysual.
Click to expand...
Good advise. I keep Chore Boy (yes, pure copper) around for fouling in the barrel. Cuts down on a lot of the cleaning rod stroking. :)
 
I found nylon brushes to be somewhat useless on copper wash when using the ammonia based barrel cleaners - the nylon was not stiff enough for a scrubbing job and the solvents took forever to dissolve the copper.
I discovered Bore Tech Eliminator about five years ago and then began using nylon brushes again. I found no need to scrub the bore or the need for a stiff bristled bore brush - the chemical performed the work and all I needed to do was to wash the dissolved residue out the end of the barrel. In turn, I initially began using a bronze brush with the Eliminator but found that the bronze brush dissolved from the Eliminator chemical action rather quickly. I found that a nylon brush was more than sufficient to swab the liquified copper from the bore after about three to four minutes of soaking.
Again, I cannot say it enough - Eliminator works very well with little physical effort and zero odor (my wife hated the smell of the ammonia cleaners).
 
I have several of them. They do not clean well.

I use them mainly for a quick bore scrub to get crud out of the grooves in my guns
 
I use the plastic rods and nylon brushes that come with a Glock. I have many of these rod/brush combos.
 
This is exactly right:

'I discovered Bore Tech Eliminator about five years ago and then began using nylon brushes again. I found no need to scrub the bore or the need for a stiff bristled bore brush - the chemical performed the work and all I needed to do was to wash the dissolved residue out the end of the barrel. In turn, I initially began using a bronze brush with the Eliminator but found that the bronze brush dissolved from the Eliminator chemical action rather quickly. I found that a nylon brush was more than sufficient to swab the liquified copper from the bore after about three to four minutes of soaking.
Again, I cannot say it enough - Eliminator works very well with little physical effort and zero odor (my wife hated the smell of the ammonia cleaners)."
 
I use the nylon brushes for cleaning case necks on rifle brass I do not tumble but hand clean.

I generally just add them on to an order when I make other purchases. Keep a list of things to get in the reloading room that are not worth a shipping charge by themselves.
 
G.E. Lee said:
This is exactly right:

'I discovered Bore Tech Eliminator about five years ago and then began using nylon brushes again. I found no need to scrub the bore or the need for a stiff bristled bore brush - the chemical performed the work and all I needed to do was to wash the dissolved residue out the end of the barrel. In turn, I initially began using a bronze brush with the Eliminator but found that the bronze brush dissolved from the Eliminator chemical action rather quickly. I found that a nylon brush was more than sufficient to swab the liquified copper from the bore after about three to four minutes of soaking.
Again, I cannot say it enough - Eliminator works very well with little physical effort and zero odor (my wife hated the smell of the ammonia cleaners)."
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Nylon will scrub out liquefied copper in concert w/proper bore cleaner.

I relied on the age old "blue patch" test for over half a century but this can, and has resulted in the "carbon ring" buildup in rifles not cleaned until accuracy declines IMO. You cannot tell for true unless you can actually see the bore; what you think is clean may not be.

After extensive testing of many different products (did not test Bore Tech Eliminator), and discovering Tactical Advantage, I almost never use a bronze brush (other than to clean lead from revolvers). The Iosso nylon is much tougher than most others and outlasts bronze. The proof is in the pictures:

The following pictures show the barrel after only 2 rounds of 125 gr. NBT @ 2850 fps. The before pictures have no glare from light due to powder fouling blocking the glare.
9" from muzzle after firing (showing both copper & powder fouling):
index.php

9" from muzzle after a dozen strokes w/nylon brush w/TA and soaking overnight:
index.php

Note: There was no copper in the above photo; copper color was glare from light.

1" from muzzle after firing (showing both copper & powder fouling:
index.php

1" from muzzle after a dozen strokes w/nylon brush w/TA and soaking overnight:
index.php

Again, copper color sheen is reflection from light. Fouling gone.

I then carefully inspected barrel end to end and found only one spot 1/2" from muzzle remained copper fouled:
index.php

Repeated 12 strokes w/TA & soaked 12 hours:
index.php


Total of 24 strokes w/Iosso nylon brush (very stiff nylon) soaked w/Tactical Advantage, two dry patches & clean.
ETA: "Nylon brushes" = https://www.brownells.com/gun-clean...ickid=zOEyzGU:-xyJU78wUx0Mo3cwUklW7pSQNxAIxw0

Regards,
hps
 
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