Best gun cleaning picks?

[ColdDayInHell]

I've been trying to find the best picks for cleaning the hard to reach areas in my rifles and pistols, specially my Ruger 10/22. Does anyone have advice on the best one to buy or anything else I could use?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0048KGFHU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

These seem to be getting high reviews.

 

[Texan Scott]

cheap (maybe trailer parkish cheap, don't care)... get a box of good hardwood toothpicks ( not the cheap crummy food prep kind).
They get into all those little hard-to-reach places, and remove all but the most hardened crud, and you never have to worry about scratching the gunmetal or finish. then, you can throw away the few you've used, no mess, no fuss.

 

[ColdDayInHell]

cheap (maybe trailer parkish cheap, don't care)... get a box of good hardwood toothpicks ( not the cheap crummy food prep kind).
They get into all those little hard-to-reach places, and remove all but the most hardened crud, and you never have to worry about scratching the gunmetal or finish. then, you can throw away the few you've used, no mess, no fuss.

Thanks a bunch. So hardwood toothpicks are different from generic grocery food toothpicks?

 

[Texan Scott]

Yeah, sometimes the cheap ones are made of something too soft to be cut to a hard fine point... they're soft and dull. sounds wierd (in a jeff foxworthy way, probably) but the ones most restaurants give away at the table are the cheap kind, soft wood and almost look like they were pressed into shape... the kind you BUY (i can usually find them at Cracker Barrel) are good oak and seem to have been turned out... like I said, harder wood, sharper points.

 

[rcmodel]

Round Toothpicks.
Bamboo skewers from the grocery store.
3/16" hardwood dowel sharpened on a belt sander to whatever shape you need.
Used dental picks from your dentist.

rc

 

[murf]

q-tips hold solvents and oils better. can't get in every crack and crevice, but work well in most situations.

murf

 

[splithoof]

Midway sells some really good picks made out of their blue plastic, in a variety of pick styles. I have had great success with those, and because they are hard plastic (and tough) there is no damage to the finish.

 

[JohnBT]

The Tipton picks are good. So are the old, worn steel dental picks my dentist gave me 20 years ago, but I use the plastic ones more often. When you really need to snag a tiny spring end, there's nothing like a metal dental pick.

For cleaning, I use Q-tips the most and hard, round toothpicks next.

John

 

[GarySTL]

I bought some swabs from these guys http://www.bearmetalclean.com/ a while back. They are very tightly wound and have different shapes.

That aside I also use dental picks as well as the plastic ones. Seems the top of the receiver on a Ruger pistol is hard to get clean.

 

[ColdDayInHell]

Thanks THR, you've been helpful.

 

[FireInCairo]

I cut the end off a q-tip tonight, and that worked pretty well. I cut it at an angle.

 

[StrutStopper]

I have a cheap set of steel picks I picked up at harbor freight that work pretty well for many things but I do use toothpicks for getting at hard to get crud without scratching anything up. I suppose polymer picks would be a good addition to my cleaning accessories/range bag. Best of both worlds (non-marring and getting to hard to reach crud.)