[john l]

Friends,
I have heard good and bad things about Boresnakes. I bought a couple a month ago and they are real easy to use. Then I heard some negative comments on them and now I would like to consult the experts here at the High Road.
I finally got a Flat top RRA carbine and want to know if I should use a Boresnake on it. I am not afraid of staying with the old fashioned way, but the Boresnake seems nifty and timesaving.
I would like to know if any of you have had specifically negative experiences, and what anyone else thinks are advantages, or disadvantages.
I know that you all will not sugarcoat the issue, so please help me out,
thanks,
John L

[DRG]

love um :D

[TechBrute]

I think they are a great supplement to normal cleaning. They are perfect to pack in your pocket when hunting or in your range bag. If you drop your gun in the mud, they are a perfect emergency swab setup. I shoot trap and like to run them through the barrels after each shoot, but I don't use them as a substitute for a thorough cleaning.

[Sisco]

Don't have any for my rifles yet, love 'em for my pistols. I still do a through cleaning with old fashioned brushes & patches every few hundred rounds but they're just the ticket for cleaning up after a short day at the range.

[jem375]

.....I use them on all my pistols, rifles, and shotguns.........

[cratz2]

I've never used one on a shotgun but I swear by them for handguns and rifles. Shooting jacketed bullets, I've only used boresnakes on pistols for the last year or so. A bore snake, a bottle of FP10 and two cloths. For rifles, I use the traditional rod every once in a while but about 5 out of 6 times a rifle gets cleaned, it's with a bore snake.

[444]

indifferent

[cool45auto]

Boresnakes: Good.

[Soap]

Awesome!

[bad_dad_brad]

I bought one for my AR and one for my Win 94 .30-30. Love em.

Why? Because I am the laziest person on the planet, and they make cleaning my rifles pretty easy for the every day shooter.

I realize once and awhile you have to go over things in more detail, but I find I shoot more if I can balance the urge to clean a gun after shooting, with the ease of cleaning it against actually shooting it.

That is, if I shoot a gun, I just have to clean it afterwards, and the boresnake makes that job a breeze.

[Crimper-D]

Although they are a bit awkward to use on long barreled rifles... but then so is a cleaning rod and you can't coil a rod up in your field jacket:cool:
I have them in .22, 30 cal rifle length and .44 and .38 and .45 Pistol length.:)

[CZ 75 BD]

with a bit of solvent, can't beat them for a quick and easy swab. Not a substitute for break-down cleaning, but great out in the field. :D

[Chuck Dye]

I have absolutely no basis in experience for a valid opinion, but I prefer to throw away dirty patches rather than reuse them. Bore snakes, unless you launder them 2-3 times per cleaning, strike me as reusing dirty patches. Given the price comparison between bore snakes and my rag bag, I'll stick to patches.

[Dave R]

I use one whenever I do a "quick clean", like when I have not shot many rounds through a rifle (or handgun) and know I'm going to shoot it again soon.

Like others, I still do a "patches and brush" cleaning every hundred rounds or so.

Except .22's. Bore snake is the only thing I use to clean my .22's. Does fine.

I spray CLP or G-96 on the end, ahead of the "brush" portion, then use 3 pulls or more. The cleaner really helps get the fouling out. I figure the rest of the pulls get all the CLP out of the bore.

After 2-3 uses, I clean the bore snake, by hand in the sink. I've heard some folks send their through the dishwasher.

[444]

I replied indifferent because I agree with everyone else. It doesn't replace a regular cleaning, but it does do a good job for a little quick cleaning. And as mentioned, this is pretty much all I do with my .22 rifles.
They are especially handy to take hunting. It allows you to do a quick cleaning of the bore to remove any moisture or dust at the end of the day when you don't need to or have the facilities to tear down the rifle for a complete cleaning.

[Forseti]

Whats the bad things you heard about them?

[larryw]

Bad things? Not cleaning them or using them as a replacement for proper cleaning in everything but a 22LR.

They're great for light/field cleanings and wonderful to clean revolver cylinders.

They're also the only thing that the bores of my 22s see ('cept my son's 22 rifle, but that's only because he's learning how to properly care for a gun, he'll graduate to a bore snake in a couple years :D ).

[Handy]

Comparing a single patch and a bore snake doesn't make sense. One snake has probably 100 times the absorbant surface area of a patch. In my mind, you should be able to do the cleaning of 100 or more patches before the snake is even dirty.


I think they make a lot of sense. Even my .223 looks clean in just 2 or 3 passes. They also avoid the risk of rod friction damage to the bore or muzzle.

Keep in mind that I clean bores until they are "clean enough", rather than cleaning until the patches turn blue with eroded barrel material. So I don't see a down side to Snakes for all bore cleaning, short of some sort of super match rifle.

[Ullr]

I love 'em. As others have mentioned, you'll probably occasionally want to do it "the old-fashioned way" (say, every 500 rds or so).

I break out the cleaning rod and run 2 solvent-soaked patches through the bore. Let stand 5 min. Run the Boresnake through once or twice. Voila! Clean barrell, elapsed time, 6 min.

When the snake gets nasty, just soak it in a pan of detergent and water, rinse thoroughly, hang dry. Couldn't be easier.

[john l]

I guess the only negative thing that I heard was that "you basically are pulling the same gunk thru the bore each time". So I wondered if minute particles of the bullet's jacket could harm the barrel, and I guess when you break it down, the copper jacket particles still aren't harmful if they are repeatedly pulled thru the bore. And, if you keep your boresnake reasonably clean, then I guess it is a non-issue.
Thanks for the comments,
John

[RustyHammer]

Love them ...

however, I'm always a little paranoid about the wire bristles wearing down the bluing as it gets pulled into the chamber/cylinder (depending upon gun) ... but so far, so good.

Well worth the money in my book.

YMMV

[Chipperman]

Not using them properly (ie not cleaning) is the fault of the user, not the product.

[pinetree64]

They are great on my shotguns, easy to carry in the field for quick and easy clean-up on trips. I opt for the rod for my rifles. Pistols, I like to break down to clean, so the rod is fine.

[goon]

Well, they work pretty well, unless...
Well, this one time, I was cleaning my AK, and I grabbed the 30 caliber boresnake I have, or so I thought.
Turns out that I had grabbed the the 9mm Boresnake instead.
I couldn't figure out why the damn thing was so hard to pull through.:banghead: