What's wrong with bore snakes??

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I have them in my range bag for intermittent cleaning when/if needed. Don't use them at home during the normal cleaning regimen.
 
I like them for my shotguns. They sweep out a smoothbore in a jiffy. Anything with rifling gets a rod and patches.
 
I think they are good for light cleaning in the field. I only run them thru dry, if you use anything that cuts copper fouling you are also wearing down the copper on the bore snake.
 
I've always been under the impression that they were for quickly cleaning a rifle or pistol barrel while actually out shooting, but they're not meant to be a substitute for actually cleaning a firearm.
 
Who cleans there firearm while actually out shooting? A bore snake is about all most of my firearms get anymore and never while shooting, only later at home. IMHO many shooters over clean there firearms. Not really and issue other than a waste of time. I think it's a hold over from when propellant and/or primers resulted in corrosive residue being left in the barrel and action. Not cleaning was not an option back then. With modern propellants and primers that is no longer an issue and the only real problem is building up enough carbon and other fouling to start causing malfunctions or accuracy problems. My competition handguns get a simple wipe down (no solvents) with a clean cotton rag and a bore snake pull through a few times with a little CLP. I then re-lubricated and put them away. I would like to say that happened after ever match but in reality it is probably ever 3rd or 4th matches. I never clean a gun before a big match, just add some lub and keep going!
 
mcb said:
Who cleans there firearm while actually out shooting? A bore snake is about all most of my firearms get anymore and never while shooting, only later at home. IMHO many shooters over clean there firearms. Not really and issue other than a waste of time. I think it's a hold over from when propellant and/or primers resulted in corrosive residue being left in the barrel and action. Not cleaning was not an option back then. With modern propellants and primers that is no longer an issue and the only real problem is building up enough carbon and other fouling to start causing malfunctions or accuracy problems. My competition handguns get a simple wipe down (no solvents) with a clean cotton rag and a bore snake pull through a few times with a little CLP. I then re-lubricated and put them away. I would like to say that happened after ever match but in reality it is probably ever 3rd or 4th matches. I never clean a gun before a big match, just add some lub and keep going!
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I can't speak for others, but when I'm putting a hundred or more rounds of 22lr through a target rifle or pistol, I will run a bore snake through it a few times. That's what bore snakes are for. I suppose you could substitute actually cleaning a barrel with one, but not if your shooting soft lead like a lot of 22lr or even hard cast out of larger calibers.

Regardless of powders or primers, lead is lead is lead.
 
milemaker13 said:
I read a comment that suggested bore snakes were not good/great for cleaning. While I agree a rod is better for cleaning, is there a problem with using a snake for quick cleaning?
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Is there a problem with using the same piece of toilet paper over and over?

I keep one for EMERGENCIES, but no way in HeII will i ever use one on a regular or even casual basis.
 
acdodd said:
I use a line made from weed eater line.
Melt one end into a blob, put a clean patch on the line and pull through the barrel.
Simple, cheap, quick and it works well.[/QUOT

That's my method. I always have a short piece of line left out of a refill package and I have enough old, worn out, tee shirts cut up and saved that I could live to be 150 and still be shooting and I would have tee shirt material for patches. Totally free cleaning method except for solvent. Also the bore snake is dirty with the first pass and just gets dirtier with each pass. Change the patch each time on your weedeater line and you always have a clean patch.
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mcb said:
How did a bore snake scratch the forcing cone? I am having a hard time seeing how a bore snake would scratch forcing cone in a shotgun. Everyone that makes them uses bronze brushes and the steel core that hold the bristles is under the sock so it cannot come in contact with the barrel.
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Great question. It was very tight and hard to pull through. I should have just stopped and rethought it. Not the greatest picture but you can see it. The scratches line up ever so nicely with the snake and only extend the length of the forcing cone and again at the choke.

** Edit - got a better pic
 
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Bigmike79 said:
I can't speak for others, but when I'm putting a hundred or more rounds of 22lr through a target rifle or pistol, I will run a bore snake through it a few times. That's what bore snakes are for. I suppose you could substitute actually cleaning a barrel with one, but not if your shooting soft lead like a lot of 22lr or even hard cast out of larger calibers.

Regardless of powders or primers, lead is lead is lead.
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I was always in the camp that a target 22lr never get a brush of any kind in the bore until accuracy decreases. A good 22LR barrel with good ammo should go many thousands of rounds before it needs cleaned with a brush.
 
mcb said:
I was always in the camp that a target 22lr never get a brush of any kind in the bore until accuracy decreases. A good 22LR barrel with good ammo should go many thousands of rounds before it needs cleaned with a brush.
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There are two schools of thought on that, but for what it's worth, most Olympic level shooters scrub their barrels with a brush, patches, and solvent just like you would with any other rifle. Then before a competition they season the barrel with high quality target ammo which has a ton of lube on it. Air rifles are never to be cleaned with a brush, but patches and solvent are used every so often if they're used frequently.

I am not an Olympic level shooter, and I shoot bulk ammo witch leaves all kinds of nonsense in the barrel after just a few boxes. Running a bore snake through something like a Ruger 10-22 every few boxes keeps your groups tighter, and not taking solvent to the barrel after shooting cheap ammo all day will eventually lead to pitting. I couldn't tell you for sure if a brush is 100% necessary to clean a 22lr, but solvent is.
 
Creature said:
Wonder no more. It was a rifle length snake cleaning a rifle bore.
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A Hoppes Viper... let me guess... .223/5.56? They are notorious. Not only is the cleaning element overbore, but they are too short. You get 35 inches of lead cord and 18 inches of cleaning element. It's a product that shouldn't be offered for sale.
 
tubeshooter said:
For casual cleaning, especially for the average .22LR barrel (which some say shoot better 'dirty'), I think they should be fine.

Same goes for centerfire barrels that are chrome-lined or otherwise somehow augmented for heavy use and/or potentially inconsistent cleaning.

I could see someone maybe not wanting to use one for their high-end barrel that is optimized for supreme accuracy, or for a treasured/heirloom gun.


Have also heard horror stories about them getting stuck or tearing off in barrels. A real pain to extract. I would echo Ohen Capel's caution in post #4. YMMV.
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Wondering your thoughts about putting a brass brush on a rod, gently pressing it into the bunched up rope, withdraw (rotation of rifling) while turning?
 
I think that might work fine IF the brush will catch the rope. I hope I never have to find out!

As stated, I have heard (read) horror stories but have not experienced this personally.
 
I have one in every caliber I have rifles in. I don't think any of them do a very good job of cleaning, but they are easier than using a rod. I had the first one I got, an Outers one in the 9mm size, break off inside my Kel-Tec SUB2000, there was just enough of it sticking out on the back side to grab hold of with a hemostat, and pull out. I check them for any damage at all now, and toss them if there is anything wrong with them.
 
Some 12-14 years ago in the defensive pistol class I took the instructor recommended quickly using a bore snake before you leave the range.
His logic was if a crime had been committed and you were somehow pulled over on the way home, you had a clean barrel. Not gong to argue the logic or lack there of, that's just what we were told.

I have used the same boresnake for .380 thru .40 cal in revolvers, pistols and a lever carbine for years. ( I also use rod and patch) Albeit I'm not what you'd call an avid shooter. It never occurred to me it might break so I guess I better go shopping...
 
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ClickClickD'oh said:
A Hoppes Viper... let me guess... .223/5.56? They are notorious. Not only is the cleaning element overbore, but they are too short. You get 35 inches of lead cord and 18 inches of cleaning element. It's a product that shouldn't be offered for sale.
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And why I will (again) say that a bore snake will never come near the bore of any of my firearms in the future. Imagine that.
 
IllinoisBert, that's plastic fouling from shooting shells with plastic wads.
Get some solvent for plastic fouling, a bore brush, and some 0000-steel wool.
Wrap a small piece of the steel wool around the brush and lightly soak with solvent. It'll take those "scratches" right out.
 
milemaker13 said:
I read a comment that suggested bore snakes were not good/great for cleaning. While I agree a rod is better for cleaning, is there a problem with using a snake for quick cleaning?

I use one with CLP on my .22s just to clear out any bits of unburned powder, etc. I'm a new user of CLP, but in theory I like the clean & preserve aspect I think I'm getting...
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I use them on most of my guns, and they do a pretty decent job for simple routine cleanings. I'm no longer of the opinion that the "sun never sets on a dirty gun" is the best way to clean firearms. Over cleaning can do more damage than less cleaning in most cases. I don't use bore snakes on my two best precisions rifles (my match rifles), but those rifles only get cleaned every 175 and 225 rounds, respectively (the number that seems to work best for each gun). When I do clean those guns I do a full cleaning using conventional materials.
 
I have a couple for range/field use only. My Marlin model 60 gets a few passes before we go home just to break the crud loose. I do a full rod and solvent clean at the house to remove any and all serious crud. They are also good for checking the bore of a pawn shop special.
 
Creature said:
And why I will (again) say that a bore snake will never come near the bore of any of my firearms in the future. Imagine that.
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So, a single improperly made product from a single company puts you off to a whole class of products?

Do you not buy cars because Ford Pintos?

Will you not buy a gun because Remington?

It just doesn't seem rational to say that you won't use bore snakes because one company produced a turd.
 
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