I have a stack of brass rods threaded for bore brushes and patch holders. I do have some 'small bore' rifles ..... For me, small bore is less than .35 caliber.
Cleaning rods (and ram rods) used to be made out of wood because that was all they had at the time. Back then most everything was over .50 caliber and wooden rods did a reasonably good job because they could be thick enough to be sturdy.
Most common caliber for eastern "Pennslyvania, Tenn., Kentucky, etc." was .36 to .45 caliber. Far from being .50 caliber. Hickory being the most common wood to use.
After reading the above replies I feel like a goofball, but I have been happily using wooden rods (aka 'chopsticks' from a Chinese takeout) to do a significant portion of my handgun cleaning for quite some time.
When it gets drty or impregnated with debris I throw it away and use a new one. It has worked fine to push through patches soaked in solvent to coat and soak the bore prior to running through a brass brush on a threaded cleaning rod. They also seem to work well for pushing through an oily patch prior to storing the handgun. I have to be careful that I do not shave off any wood splinters, but the small diameter even works well in my .22LR revolvers. I also like using them to push a cleaning patch down the magwell or inside a magazine when cleaning.
Other than watching out for scratching a bore with a dirty chopstick, carelessly wearing down the muzzle, or leaving shavings behind, am I missing some other downside to using my 'wooden cleaning rods'?
Well, I was assuming the bore snake was to finish the "de-mudding" after you poked out the plug with a whittled stick...not that I've ever used a stick to clear a muzzle
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