Cleaning rod, shaft made Only of plastic etc. Dick's or Bass Pro?

Actually, many target shooters feel a hard steel rod causes the least damage to the bore and crown. Plastic rods (and brass rods) may get grit imbedded in them, causing them to act like sandpaper when pushed down a bore.

I don't know for sure, but Tiptons grafite rods probably do not have a steel core.

As far as I know, plastic threads just aren't as strong as metal threads, so the design is going to have some metal at that junction.

The Dewey rods I have are slightly smaller in diameter at the brass adapter than the nylon coated rod itself. I have used them for many years and have not worn the coating down.

Why not just get Dewey rods and be reasonably sure the brass won't be exposed in a reasonable service life?

And even if it is, there is very little possiblity of it causing bore damage. See articles in GCA Journal on cleaning rod damage to bore, Summer 2007, which found that it took 66,000 strokes to degrade ME from a 2 to a 3, and this was with a USGI steel cleaning rod, working the rod around the circumferance and pressing it against the side.

Use a coated rod, wipe it clean after use, and quit obsessing...

Based on a few of your other threads you are starting to get a tad compulsive about this.

Likely a carbon composite rod could be made that was metal free but I do not know of any made. Likely cost would be a factor.

In the past I suggested cleaning gear made by Dewey and Tipton.

J. Dewey Cleaning Supplies.

Tipton Gun Cleaning Tools and Supplies.

You are not going to damage your bore with any of their products. I have seen plastic jags and they suck. A good jag is sized for the bore and patch. That is not going to happen with plastic and a good jag and patch will give resistance as it is pushed down the barrel, you won't push it well using plastic. Most good rods are not plastic coated but Nylon or Teflon coated and last many, many years through thousands of cleanings. No magic to it, you buy quality stuff.

Those are my thoughts. Someone else may have better suggestions.

Ron

i concur with ron.

i use tipton carbon fiber rods. they have brass at the threaded end. you're not going to hurt your bore with them.

dewey's rods are also nice and won't hurt the bore.

And just think what they were cleaned with while still in military service.

That's right!

Phosphate coated & jointed steel rods.

And phosphate coated one-piece steel rods in the armory or rebuild depot.

I prefer one-piece Kleen-Bore rods in the shop.
You will not live long enough to damage a bore with one!
Or wear it out.

http://store.safariland.com/kleen-bore/product386.html

rc

Ignition Override said:

Maybe the concern is compulsive.

Thanks for the practical viewpoints and info. These two Garands have by far the best bores of any of my milsurps.

Click to expand...

Just as a channel check my use of compulsive was used in a nice way.

Ron

And just think what they were cleaned with while still in military service.

That's right!

Phosphate coated & jointed steel rods.

And phosphate coated one-piece steel rods in the armory or rebuild depot.

Click to expand...

And some of them you can really tell they were overcleaned. Got one here that is toast.

I've used Tipton with great success.

Lots of things damage bores besides cleaning rods.

Corrosive primers and infrequent cleaning under field conditions might be one of them. Followed by sergeants ordering that the bore be clean for inspections...

I tend to believe the cleaning rod damage test performed by the GCA, which showed minimal damage with a determined effort (66,000 strokes), despite the prevalence of cleaning rod damage theories.

However, I have not seen a test conducted using a grit-embedded pull-through cord, such as was used in the '03 Springfield era. I understand this might do some damage to the crown, as the soldier typically pulled it an an angle.

I have owned a few old Winchester lever-actions & .22 pumps with no rifling left in the muzzle due to grit embedded cleaning rod use.

It is a fact, and there is no deigning it.

However, I believe if those old guns had been cleaned with a non-embedding, stainless-steel, one-piece rod from the muzzle that many times?

There would still be rifling, and they would still be shooting!

rc

I have owned a few old Winchester lever-actions & .22 pumps with no rifling left in the muzzle due to grit embedded cleaning rod use.

It is a fact, and there is no deigning it.

However, I believe if those old guns had been cleaned with a non-embedding, stainless-steel, one-piece rod from the muzzle that many times?

There would still be rifling, and they would still be shooting!

rc

Click to expand...

About how long would you guess they were cleaned like that? That's amazing that it caused that much damage. I really had no idea that it was such a significant thing to look for.

No idea how long it took?
The guns I mentioned were all well into 100 years old.

The barrels back then were soft steel.
And primers were corrosive.
The primer compounds often included ground glass to act as a friction producing agent to get them to go off.
And a lot of people used wood or jointed cleaning rods back then.

Ground glass on a stick?
You couldn't ask for a better lapping tool to wear out the muzzle rifling.


Anyway, the more diligent gun owners cleaned the crap out of them for two days every time they shot one.

The ones that weren't cleaned properly & constantly all have smokestack black bores with deep pitting, and sharp muzzle rifling!


It is also worth noting that the M1 Garand had to be cleaned from the muzzle with steel jointed, rough phosphate coated GI cleaning rods.

SO they invented a muzzle wear gage to measure when an M1's muzzle rifling was worn beyond acceptable standards.

However, a hard S/S steel one-piece rod would not have done that much damage.

rc

Not true, there is no US Army standard for muzzle wear, only throat wear