How useful are nylon bore brushes?

How useful do you find nylon bore brushes? Do you use them much, or just stick with bronze? Thanks for any opinions.

Bronze only. Mostly jag and patch work, though.

I find Nylon-bristled brushes very useful. I use a bronze-bristled brush on the bore of a revolver while letting the cylinder soak in a jar of Hoppe's No. 9, finish cleaning up the barrel and frame, and use an over-sized Nylon-bristled brush on the cylinder bores.

I used to use them until someone asked if I'd noticed what nylon monofil does eventually to a metal guide at the tip of a fishing rod. It may be different stuff, and certainly firearms barrels are better stuff than the old metal guides, but I stopped using 'em.

I consider nylon brushes useless if there is anything more in the barrel than a bit of burned powder or dust. They won't clean out anything else.

If a nylon brush wears out a barrel, it must be a very poor barrel, probably made from the same zinc as line guides on fishing rods, in which case it will blow up and you don't have to clean it.

Barrel steel is a lot harder than nylon or bronze and is harder than even the steel used in steel cleaning brushes.

Jim

A lot of the wear on a rod guide is due to the pressure concetrated in one spot.To put that much pressure on a bore,the brush would be so large it would take an arbor press to push it through.
And as noted,barrel steel is a whole lot tougher than rod guides (discounting certain really cheap guns.You know,the kind you load with +P ammo,cock the hammer and throw it at your assailant :) ).
I don't use nylon brushes much at all.I prefer bronze and in extreme cases of fouling,stainless.
And before anyone has a stroke,remember most of the damage done to a barrel is from the rod.
Just my thoughts,
Robert.

I use nylon brushes on rifle barrels when I am using CR-10 or Sweets to work up a froth in the barrel to dissolve copper.

I find nylon brushes last much longer when using copper solvents, but for cleaning out powder fouling or lead, they are not as good as bronze. So I only use nylon when I have been shooting jacketed ammo.

OK, makes sense...the rationale for nylon would be Stans' point, right? That copper solvents don't mix well with bronze brushes. I just make sure I clean the brush out with hot soapy water (Dawn or similar). I, too, have found that the nylon doesn't really scrub out powder deposits. Is washing the bronze brush sufficient?

Yes, it is sufficient. Just don't let that ammoniated copper remover sit on it very long. It shouldn't be in the barrel longer than 10 mins. imagine on a far more reactive metal.

I'd just like to add something about the relative hardness of barrel steel. I hear often that this or that can't harm the barrel because barrel steel is MUCH harder than the nylon or the aluminum rod or whatever. The problem is that soft materials like nylon can embed with grit, which will then scratch steel. The aluminum cleaning rods we know have the oxide layer which is abrasive to steel. Softer doesn't necessarily mean safer.

I only use nylon brushes anymore, but more as patch holders than brushes per se. Wrapping a patch around a nylon brush is much more effective than using a slotted tip and much more convenient than using a jag.

OTOH, if you shoot lead, you need more than just patches and solvent, and I see bronze brushes in your future. Otherwise though, why bother?

Mr romulus

I would like to thank you for you comment on soft materials taking imbeded grit and then cutting hard material with the grit. I have tried to explain this to people for years to no avail. By the way if you ever watch a glass ingraver they use a dead soft copper wheel and spin it slowly and drip oil with grit on it. This is what they cut glass with.

ed

Would use nylon to evenly coat the bore with a solvent - not for scrubbing.

I have tried to explain this to people for years to no avail.
Scalinghammer, I have a dear brother who I've tried to explain this to fpr the longest time...he's worn lovely little scallops in the crown of his beloved long arms by using those "softer-than-barrel-steel aluminum cleaning rods..." I know your frustration...

romulus-sounds like your bro hasn't heard of bore guides either?

Think the cleaning rod thing gets tossed around a lot-truth be known, ANY cleaning rod will pick up debris from the bore while you are cleaning it. The important part to to ensure that not one part of the cleaning rod, be it aluminum, nylon coated, steel or whatever, touches the bore.

I use Dewey rods on my rifles and they seem to work very well. I try to find cleaning rods which aren't so whippy that they will bow when I'm trying to run a patch through the bore.

As for nylon cleaning brushes, the makers of CR-10 specifiy a nylon brush for cleaning out copper. What I have found to be helpful is to wet the bore with CR-10 a couple of times, wait a few minutes, and then wrap another wet patch around a nylon bore brush and give it several strokes. As I stated before, the only time I use a nylon brush is when I'm using a copper cleaner, otherwise its hard to tell from the dry patches whether I'm dissolving copper out of the bore or the brush I'm using.

For powder fouling, gimme those bronze brushes every time. I take out the powder fouling and/or lead fouling first, before I start on the copper.

A thousand years ago in the Army we used patches on string. We had steel rods but it was easier to use and faster to cleanup after. If we used a string that was oal * 2 + hand grip range it works great. Tie the patch on with a quick knot and your off. There is very little chance of barrel scratching if you use new string every time you clean. Also you could carry everything in a small space.

Ed

JNewell said:

That copper solvents don't mix well with bronze brushes. I just make sure I clean the brush out with hot soapy water.

Expedient method, much quicker and neater...Leave the brush on the rod
and swish it around in a bottle of 90% rubbing alcohol. Remove, shake
off the excess and let dry. Works fine, a small bottle last forever, and it
can go in the range box for those of us who clean rifle barrels every 5-10 rounds.

Cheers!
Tuner

I use a .45acp nylon brush to clean the fluted chamber of my CETME. I can reverse the nylon in the chamber without damaging it. Not sure I could do that with bronze.

I use nylons as patch carriers only, for oiling and scrubbing with solvent and a patch.

barrel steel is a whole lot tougher than rod guides

Even carbide, ceramic, and zirconia(sp) ones?

Hey, Hey gamachinist! Welcome to the High Road! I'm your neighbor, just down the road a piece in Conyers. Small world! BigG

Just chiming in to ditto. Sweets 7.62 solvent will eat a bronze brush up in no time at all, as in, before you get finished cleaning the rifle the first time. It was awe-inspiring.

And the nylon bore brush comes out blue, you know it wasn't from the copper content in the bore brush, unlike the bronze versions!