cleaning rods

[lxd55]

swabbing a bore and I read "it might appear that soft metal, such as aluminum, would be best for a rod, because of the danger of throat abrasion.
this isn't so. soft metals pick up bits of dirt which have an abrasive affect on the bore. steel rods are best." gunners bible copywrite '65 '73. hmm.
what are you thoughts?

 

[Onewolf]

I like carbon fiber cleaning rods.

 

[TMCCOY]

I believe the best cleaning rods are the Pro shot brand. Strong, polished stainless steel.

 

[RaceM]

Aluminum rods are fine. If you're worried about them picking up dirt then give 'em a wipe down before putting 'em back in the cleaning kit. I've been using aluminum rods for decades without issue.

 

[Deanimator]

Dewey coated rods and nothing else.

 

[CWL]

I like bore snakes and my cleaning rods have coatings on them as well.

 

[redneck2]

Wiping down an aluminum rod is like trying to wipe sandpaper so that it's not abrasive.

If you clean infrequently and use a guide you'll likely do minimal damage. The rod will still bow and contact the bore somewhere towards the middle of the barrel

There's an excellent article on either Rimfire Central or Accurate Shooter (i forget which) that talks about the amount of damage done by typical cleaning

I use Dewey rods (sparingly). I've seen older military rifles that have a substantial groove worn in the crown from poor cleaning practices

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I take the time - in every possible instance - to pull rods from the chamber to the muzzle.

Sure it takes more time and sometimes special/custom tips but I'm never in a hurry during real cleaning anyhow.

Pushing things into firearms just feels damn wrong to me so I avoid it whenever possible. Besides, I like the greater control of pulling rods through. As far as pulling "bore snakes"... I can't stand the lack of feed back from them stretching.

 

[moxie]

They all work

I've used brass and aluminum rods on handguns, shotguns and fairly large bore rifles forever. No problem. I wipe them off after use. I just looked at all my brass and aluminum rods and can detect no embedded abrasives whatsoever. Hadn't heard there was a problem!

I use steel rods on small bores like .22LR and .223/5.56. I prefer their rigidity and strength. Also steel or brass attachments for these. No plastic. Never had a problem.

 

[Legionnaire]

I use Pro-Shot stainless and Dewey coated rods. I use a bore guide, and wipe the rod down often; just part of the routine.

 

[Robert]

The cleaning rod for my 375H&H is a coated something or other. I use a metal rod for the AR and FAL...

 

[Trent]

Dewey coated rods and nothing else.

^^^ this.

Best gun cleaning tool I've ever bought.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I think this is a mostly nonexistent problem that continues to be debated strictly by comparing personal habits, which proves nothing. So, in order to bring some semblance of scientific basis to this endless palaver I will add my opinion..... I own over 30 long rifles of varying age and usage, including a lot of the war surplus variety dating back to the 1860's and have yet to find any noticeable wear when examined by a bore light and magnifying glass that could definitely be attributed to repeated contact with a cleaning rod. Do I believe it could happen? Yes, if cleaning is not done in a proper manner and the cleaner is very careless in his (or her) usage of the cleaning rod. Do I believe it is a problem that affects the average shooter? No. Bore snakes and cleaning cables pretty well eliminate any chance of crown or throat damage but as you have read many people do not use them because it is not what they use.... If we are to continue on a higher plain as the moniker of this group suggests I would hope that these endless "I think" diatribes would be controlled to actual verifiable evidence instead of the bully tactics mostly employed to cow everyone into embracing only one method of whatever the issue of the day may be.

 

[twofifty]

I think this is a mostly nonexistent problem that continues to be debated strictly by comparing personal habits, which proves nothing. ....
...
Bore snakes and cleaning cables pretty well eliminate any chance of crown or throat damage ....

Yes we all have our preferences, but isn't it easy to pull a boresnake off axis so that it rubs the muzzle? More so than a cleaning rod that is introduced via the chamber through a bore guide?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I use solid brass and clean them periodically....There is a machine shop in Maine that sells very nice rods on eBay. They come in a nice storage tube. I just got a .22 caliber 36". It was about 22 bucks shipped.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I really have yet to see evidence that a cloth soft rope can become abrasive enough to grind away at either the rifling or the throat. This is exactly my point, if we drift into the world of theoretical (I call it the world of "what if", which is used by a wide range of people trying to change opinions without factual evidence) I am sure that given enough velocity and grime of the snake something would happen, but anyone who has used rubbing compound of any type understands the pressure and time factor involved in actually removing metal. The rapid transit of a brass cased bullet has a far more potentially harmful effect than the occasional rubbing of a bore snake or cleaning rod, in my opinion.

 

[coloradokevin]

Carbon fiber rods and a bore guide is my recipe for success with the rifles I care about. The other key is to use these items a whole lot less than you were probably taught to use them… most people clean their rifles too often. I only clean every few hundred rounds, and it isn't because I don't care about my competition rifle (which is probably worth as much as the car I'm driving it around in).

 

[twofifty]

I can't point to a specific example where a muzzle was damaged by a pull-through device, but I do know from personal observation in the cave exploration world that a nylon rappelling rope will eventually cut a slot into any limestone ledge as cavers' passage repeatedly pulls the rope back and forth. Of course, limestone is softer than steel.

In earlier days I used a sectioned aluminum cleaning rod on all my rifles, after each outing. They shot fine. The one that got the most cleaning back then was my target rifle, and it shot very fine. The other rifles have come and gone, but the target rifle has graduated to a Dewey rod. It still shoots very well.

Nowadays I don't clean the bore until copper build up causes accuracy to drop off. Or until the rifle gets wet in a storm; or brought out from the cold into a heated space. What has changed is that my cleaning compulsion is gone. Edit: kinda like Kevin above.

 

[jcwit]

The one that got the most cleaning back then was my target rifle, and it shot very fine. The other rifles have come and gone, but the target rifle has graduated to a Dewey rod. It still shoots very well.

Shooting very fine and shooting very well are very subjective to say the least.

Those who shoot the best as in the NRA Small Bore Nationals use uncoated S/S rods as do most Bench shooters.

Its a given they also use a rod guide AKA bore guide.

 

[rcmodel]

One-piece S/S rods for me.

Brass rods & copper solvent don't play well together!

rc

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I'm blasting tightly swaged brass jacketed ammunition down a barrel at several hundred fps or more. Not only that, but I'm doing it often enough to heat the barrel a wee bit, too. Thousands...even tens of thousands of times in the lifetime of any given gun.

If my guns can handle that, I'm thinking cleaning a room temperature barrel with a few passes of an aluminum cleaning rod, which I keep as clean as one should expect for something with the word "clean" in its name, isn't going to have a whole heck of a lot of effect.

 

[Trent]

I really have yet to see evidence that a cloth soft rope can become abrasive enough to grind away at either the rifling or the throat. This is exactly my point, if we drift into the world of theoretical (I call it the world of "what if", which is used by a wide range of people trying to change opinions without factual evidence) I am sure that given enough velocity and grime of the snake something would happen, but anyone who has used rubbing compound of any type understands the pressure and time factor involved in actually removing metal. The rapid transit of a brass cased bullet has a far more potentially harmful effect than the occasional rubbing of a bore snake or cleaning rod, in my opinion.

If the bore snake snaps in the middle, it can be devastating to the bore.

There's been plenty of threads on THR and other boards where a bore snake lead has separated from the body, resulting in a lodged-in rope in the barrel that can be devilishly hard to remove. (Sometimes resulting in a damaged / destroyed barrel.)

Because of the risk of eventual pull-rope separation from the thicker main boresnake body and no way to tell when or if it will occur, I quit using bore snakes on rifles entirely. I still use them on pistols; but I'd just rather not take the chance and risk getting my entire rifle barrel plugged with a broken snake, and no way to grab either end...

 

[CWL]

I'm not doubting you, but I've never heard of a snake snapping and becoming stuck in the barrel. Most snakes aren't thick enough to become permanently wedged inside a barrel, except perhaps a .22/.223 diameter barrel.

In fact, I prefer using one size-up bore snakes in my firearms (9mm, use .40cal; .40cal use .45, .45 use .50 etc.) just to get a bit more friction contact in the barrel. -but I will start paying more attention to my bore snakes and examine them for wear and fraying from now on.

 

[Kynoch]

Wiping down an aluminum rod is like trying to wipe sandpaper so that it's not abrasive.

If you clean infrequently and use a guide you'll likely do minimal damage. The rod will still bow and contact the bore somewhere towards the middle of the barrel

There's an excellent article on either Rimfire Central or Accurate Shooter (i forget which) that talks about the amount of damage done by typical cleaning

I use Dewey rods (sparingly). I've seen older military rifles that have a substantial groove worn in the crown from poor cleaning practices

What makes you say that? It's simply not true. I recently took up blackpowder shooting. Cleaning rods are a huge topic there. I use a bronze barb in .54 caliber mated to a (don't faint) .22 aluminum rod which is fed through a brass bore guide. Even when drying the bore (after a thorough cleaning with soap and water) with a thick felt patch wrapped around the jag I'm still not bending the rod and the crown is protected by the bore guide.

I used a 1/2 hickory dowel as a ramrod. Works just fine without any wear to the crown.

FWIW, aluminum rods can be polished so that they are every bit as slick as SS rods.

 

[Kynoch]

I'm blasting tightly swaged brass jacketed ammunition down a barrel at several hundred fps or more. Not only that, but I'm doing it often enough to heat the barrel a wee bit, too. Thousands...even tens of thousands of times in the lifetime of any given gun.

If my guns can handle that, I'm thinking cleaning a room temperature barrel with a few passes of an aluminum cleaning rod, which I keep as clean as one should expect for something with the word "clean" in its name, isn't going to have a whole heck of a lot of effect.

Nice to see someone actually employing some critical thinking...