[ShipWreck]

Instead of assembling and disassembling the cleaning rod everytime, I went and bought a 22 cal rifle boresnake. I must say - its worth the money.

When I used the cleaning rod, it would flex too much if I had my hand on the end handle. So, I'd have to push it thru a little at a time with my hand on the rod itself.

The boresnake is very nice w/ just the 1 pass thru. I pour a bit of CLP on the "brush" part of it and give it a go

 

[ShipWreck]

Anyone else use the boresnake?

 

[Promoted Pawn]

I put the solvent fore of the brush.
Also, I pull a patch through first, to grab any pieces of brass or steel that might be sitting in the chamber, the color of the patch also tells if there is any rust or an excess of copper that needs to be attended to.

The bore snake is very effective though! I like it. I don't use so many otis patches now.

I've been shooting the .308 a lot lately. That sucker takes some scrubbing. A bore snake makes it look clean. But if you give it the old brush and jag treatment you see what the bore snake leaves behind.

 

[SunsetSam]

I got a snake too. So far I've been adding it towards the end of the cleaning. If I used it exclusively it I feel like it would just load up with gunk. I'll run a couple of patches through the bore, brush the chamber with a .30 brush, run a couple of patches through, run a .22 brush down the bore 10 times, 5 patches, boresnake 5 times, 5 patches. I may repeat a step with the brush or snake depending on what mood I'm in. I've been using Breakfree and Hoppe's Elite. The Elite costs a lot more, but smells better.

If I were out in the field I'd just use the boresnake.

If I need to change, let me know. It has always seemed that I can never get a patch to come out 100% clean.

 

[ShipWreck]

Last night, I tried to use the cleaning rod/brush again. But after 3 passes, I kept bumping the breach area with the leading edge of the rod after the brush. The barrel was still dirty, so I just went back to the Boresnake and gave up on the rod.

That thing is so nice...

I still use the rod to push the cleaning patches thru, but I'm just gonna use the boresnake everytime.

 

[Tomac]

I use a rod/brush to clean the chamber then boresnake the bore several times. Afterwards I wash the boresnake to remove any accumulated gunk.
Tomac

 

[134Bravo]

Boresnakes

You're right.

There's nothing easier than a boresnake, especially on the PS90.

However, my experience with the boresnake is that it gives the impression that the chamber/barrel is clean, but when you pass a patch through it it'll come back dirty (in any firearm).

Clean it solely with the boresnake for +/- 500 rds., then the last time you clean it with the snake, break out the regular cleaning patches and you'll see what I mean.

What I do now is after a patch cleaning I run the snake through with a little CLR to leave that light storage film. Later I'll pass it through again when it comes out of the safe to get the film out. Or if it's riding around with me - it's quickly becoming my little truck buddy - I'll snake it to get out those "gross particulates" that general carry seems to accumulates in anything that has a hole.

I, too, am having trouble with the rod head passing from the chamber breech. Has anyone any better suggestions? Think the Otis system would work better?[/u][/i]

 

[ShipWreck]

Well, I am almost tempted to get one of those covered rods that makes it safer for the gun - but they are not cheap...

 

[134Bravo]

Cleaning Rods

A good friend of mine is a very decorated ex-Marine sniper. He's very adament about what goes into the barrel to clean it and he turn me on to the $40-50 rod that have the ball-bearings (gosh, what the name of that thing...? They're advertised on television now...Tippton, maybe?) in the handle to make it spin as it's pushed through the barrel.

But what's important is the rod is in one piece and wont knick anything as it passes. Like $7 Hoppes special or the military cleaning kits where you screw the rod together, sectional rods are notoriously uneven at there sections and can create little "divits", for lack of a bettter word, in the barrel.

I'm not sure how expensive the cleaning rod you're talking about is - I've only seen them at shows but never really looked at one - but I would think if it's strong, smooth it'd be worth the price. Unless you think it's only going to last you about 10 cleanings...then I'd reconsider.

 

[ShipWreck]

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I'll have to look into that eventually.

 

[black campbell]

Anyone else use the boresnake?

Yup. Love 'em. I've found you have to replace them about every six months, depending on the amount of use. I shoot about once a week, so I went through the .22 one pretty quick. The .45 one lasted about a year, cleaning one-three guns each week or so.

 

[BW100]

Well, I am almost tempted to get one of those covered rods that makes it safer for the gun - but they are not cheap...

You would be doing yourself a favor by getting one. There the only ones I use. Tipton are the best I've used. Just make sure you buy the correct rod diameter for the bore. They sell one for .22-.27 and one for .28 and up. 8)

 

[ShipWreck]

Yea, I know I need to eventually - They sure do cost a lot, though....

 

[BW100]

Yea, I know I need to eventually - They sure do cost a lot, though....

The last one I got was from WWW.cheaperthandirt.com . I think it was only around $28. And their in Texas as well, so shipping shouldn't bee to bad. Good Luck.

 

[ShipWreck]

Well, for now, I never shoot that many in 1 setting - so the boresnake has been good enough for me.

 

[Sgt. 0811]

Yes,
I have a bore snake for each one of my weapons. I also use a Dewey Rod on selected weapons. The Dewey rod is coated (so it's better for your barrel) the grip rotates (which lets the brush or patch to follow the rifling) and it's a one piece which is much better for the barrel and chamber.

The reason I like the bore snake is because
1) it forces you to clean in 1 direction which is much better for the barrel
2) it has about 50 times the cleaning surface of a patch

I still recomend useing a good quality one piece rod to run a solvent patch threw a few times and a dry patch before useing the boresnake but it's hands down the best cleaning invention in quite some time.