[ZombiesAhead]

As a self-taught firearms enthusiast, I have done my share of stupid things while cleaning my rifles and pistols. Luckily, most of it happened when I still only owned my first rifle - a used 10/22.

Most of this stupidity revolved around using a cleaning rod (once I got a brush stuck; there was the period before I understood you shouldn't clean from the muzzle, etc).

Thus, I now only use boresnakes for my rifles (FAL, AK, AR-15, 10/22, Sub-2000).

Do you really need to use a wire brush and rod (other than very very rarely)? Shouldn't I be more worried about the chamber and that area?

[Ifishsum]

I think copper fouling would be next to impossible to remove with just a boresnake, so yes I would still use the cleaning rod/jag/patch with a good copper solvent from time to time on the centerfire rifles.

[rcmodel]

+1

An oily bore-snake might be fine on a .22.

But any high-power rifle will eventually pick up copper fouling, and a rod is the best & only way to get it out.

rcmodel

[CRITGIT]

.22 lr doesn't need a bore bush. The Boresnake with some Breakfree CLP is perfect. However centerfire absolutely requires a proper cleaning including copper solvent, a tynex (plastic) brush or equivalent and a proper light lubing for corrosion protection when finished.
The copper bore foams work great and are available from Gunslick, Breakfree, Wipe Out, and others.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/Rimfire01/Wipe_Out__with_Adapter.gif
They cling and cover the bore better and need less elbow grease via the rod!

CRITGIT

[krs]

Alex,
If there's a benchrest rifle match anywhere near you drop in and ask any of the shooters about the need to remove copper fouling if there's any hope of continuing accuracy from a barrel.

[Jim K]

Let us know when you break that d***ed bore snake off in the barrel. Those threads are always fun.

Jim

[krs]

Bore snakes ought to be burned in eternal fires with the inventor boiling in a pot of oil over the flames.

:D

[Blue Line]

What about those electric bore cleaners? Not sure how it works but you put a rod of some sort down the barrel and it attracts the copper to the rod. Anyone have any experience with them?

[Ifishsum]

I own an Outers Foul-Out II (electrochemical bore cleaner) and it's main usefulness is a bore that's been neglected for a long time. Otherwise it's probably not worth the investment, and for normal cleaning duties it's not worth the set-up time and hassle. It does work, I've used it on a couple of old mil-surps and such, but it has to be really bad before I'll mess around with it.

IMO the Wipe-Out bore cleaner pictured in post #4 is perfect for the gun owner who doesn't want to spend much time cleaning. I still use the old fashioned method myself, but I've seen that stuff in action and it does a good job on copper fouling if allowed to sit in the bore awhile.

[Zak Smith]

I rarely clean my LR precision bolt gun barrels. Some of my 308's best groups (1/4 MOA) were shot when it had over 1000 rounds fired and a year without cleaning (I haven't cleaned it since).

-z

[allain]

All of my rifles/pistols are cleaned even if only 1 round is fired.

2 saturated patches w/Butches Bore Shine; then bronze brush thru back & forth for each round thru the barrel; then 1 wet patch to remove the crud; then dry patch out. Finally, 1 patch with 2 drops of Kroil and shoot.

This is how I was taught to do it in Benchrest and have never found a better way. Time consuming, yes. Clean bore, absolutely.

The only difference with pistols is a shorter barrel.:D

Roy

[Sunray]

"...the chamber and that area?..." Yep. That needs cleaning too.
"...attracts the copper..." Copper residue is only part of what needs to be cleaned out. The carbon residue must come out too.
There's no quick fix for firearm cleaning. However, endlessly running patches though the barrel will just take longer. Run a solvent soaked patch through the barrel and leave the solvent there for 20 minutes. Gives it time to work. Then clean as per normal.
"...got a brush stuck..." Likely too big.