Bore Snake Question

[CamaroDMD]

So, I'm a little late to the bore snake thing. I grew up with my dad teaching me to clean guns with a rod, brush and patches. That's how he did it and that's how I did it...until I actually tried a snake.

I have a .22LR that has such a tight bore it was really hard to get patches down it...so at the advice of a friend (who actually have me a .45 snake years ago that I never tried and still have in the box) I ordered a Hoppe's Bore Snake.

Amazingly...it worked. It was awesome...and now I'm a believer. One question I have is this. This snake is marketed as a rifle bore snake...I also see they make pistol .22LR snakes. I assume this snake can be used in my .22LR pistol with no problem. Is the difference between the pistol and rifle snakes just the length or is there some reason why I shouldn't use it in my pistol?

 

[drband]

No problem. The rifle boresnake is just longer.

 

[CamaroDMD]

No problem. The rifle boresnake is just longer.

Perfect. That’s what I figured but I wanted to confirm it. Thanks.

 

[wrench459]

A bore snake is indeed a handy tool.
It's great for a quick clean before doing some more shooting later on in the week.
After your done for a set amount of time...then a nice cleanup job is needed.

 

[John Joseph]

I don't see bore snakes as a 100% substitute for a rod, brush and patches.
They do eliminate cleaning from the muzzle end on revolvers and some rifles, which is beneficial, but revolvers still need a toothbrushing under the extractor star to make a good job of it.
When used on a warm barrel, a Boresnake will cut down on the number of patches (and time) required for a thorough cleaning. That's good!
I avoid cleaning my .22 until I notice the accuracy degrading (FWIW I don't shoot copper plated ammo.) I do clean the action and chamber after every range trip however.
I find that a Patch Worm is gentler on rimfire bores.
Where Boresnakes don't impress me is when working on plastic (shotgun wad) and copper fouling.

I tie a caboose of paracord on the tails of my bore snakes so I can still pull them out when they break inside the barrel

 

[rpenmanparker]

OP, were you trying to use the mini patches especially made for .22 caliber? They are about 1/4 the area of a patch for 9mm and fit .22 pistol bores well. If you were using full size patches, that could explain the difficulty you had.

 

[jmr40]

It is just a matter of time before one breaks in the bore you and have an expensive gunsmith bill to get it removed. Or possibly even having a ruined rifle. I have some, and on rare occasions do use them. But I figure the more it is used the greater the odds that it'll break at that time. And I prefer to use one that is a little loose fitting at that.

For emergency use occasionally OK. But not for primary gun cleaning and I'd toss one after a year or so, maybe sooner if used a lot, and replace it to reduce the chances of breakage.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I push a patch through once and wouldnt do it twice because its dirty. I can't see that running a dirty boresnake through a gun over and over could ever help it in the accuracy department.

I wonder how many top rimfire benchrest shooters use a boresnake. I bet not many.

 

[wrench459]

When my bore snake gets dirty.
I'll simply toss it into the washing mo-chine.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yeah, but when is dirty too dirty? It's dirty after the first pull.