Is a bore snake enough to clean your gun all by itself?

MistWolf said:

To clean the bore of a modern firearm using modern, smokeless powders, a Boresnake is more than adequate. It may not get every little bit of fouling, but as long as the weapon is shooting accurately, there is no need to remove every little bit. In fact, some firearms are more accurate with a bit of fouling in the bore, or if you don't clean the bore at all.

Try the Boresnake for awhile and see if it works for you. If it doesn't, try something else

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I guess no one has bothered to view the YouTube video I posted above since this is exactly what it suggested.

So it takes 51 minutes on youtube to get across four lines of text?

I have a boresnake I bought maybe 20 years ago and never used much because I didn't feel like it was getting the bore clean so spent the next 20 years going to town with patches and rods. As I get older I realize life is getting shorter as is my patience so as of late I think boresnakes are great and have them for a number of calibers. Not a perfect solution but good enough now.

First on the Otis kit and similar pull through kits. These are the packs of tools where you can run a patch through, or a brush, or jag as you like and are interchangeable for caliber. They work the same as a rod but you pull them through rather than push. This means they take more time than a rod. On the other hand Otis kits are handier to pack and transport for a clean at the range or while hunting etc. They can clean a bore, or the chambers of a revolver, as well as a rod by about any measure that I'm aware of. As I said though, they do take a bit more time. That may not matter if you clean a gun while watching Johnny Cueto pitch, or Dremond Green defend.

The Otis kit and the rod are tools that are a part of a good and through cleaning of a gun long or short, or can be.

A bore snake is different. They cannot clean as well as a rod or Otis kit. They are not meant for that.

I take bore snakes to the range. A drop of solvent on the pull end and oil after the brush. I can run them through a bore a few times for a quick wipe clean. I use them mostly with revolver for the bore and chambers. They come in handy when I've been shooting 38 Spl. and transition to .357. Same with 44 Spl. and 44 Mag. I use them also for .22. At times the paraffin coat on some 22 ammo and/or fouling builds up and prevents the rounds from proper chambering. A few swipes of the bore snake and that issue is cleaned up, so to speak.

Bore snakes collect dirt over use. Grit becomes impregnated and unlike a rod or Otis kit I can't discard a dirty patch or a worn brush, because on the bore snake there is no patch and the "brush" is kinda a kiss on the cheek. So as needed they go in a laundry bag and into the wash. Then a dry and a couple of days hanging to thoroughly dry. They last till they don't. They are handy tools for what they are designed for.