Brass Bore Brush in a Dry Barrel?

[reppans]

Is it harmful to use a brass bore brush in a dry barrel?

Just wondering as someone had recommended to me to try scrubbing the .38 special crud rings in my .357 chambers without using the solvent first. I think it did work better to get the bulk of the looser crud off first. Perhaps it had something to do with the solvent acting as lubricant. (BTW, I've used Hoppe's #9 and Ballistol).

 

[USAF_Vet]

Brass on steel. Steel is a lot stronger than brass, so you'll be fine scrubbing it dry. Still, I'd let it soak in solvent just to loosen it up. I'm not one to dry brush guns as it seems like a waste of time and effrt if I've got the solvent. I'll let that do what it's made for in conjunction with the brush and elbow grease.

 

[MutinousDoug]

You might want to consider that the solvents that attack Cu in your chamber and barrel also attack the brass in your brush.
When I use one, I dry brush but that follows a nylon brush or wet patch to get the loose carbon and superficial Cu out. Then a dry patch and finally a dry brush. Repeat as desired.
I'm not anal about Cu fouling and usually only use a brush to address leading and that crud ring in the chamber you spoke of.

 

[rcmodel]

scrubbing the .38 special crud rings in my .357 chambers without using the solvent first.

Put the bore brush in a cordless drill and gofer it.

It simply cannot hurt the chambers and it only takes less then a minute to clean all six chambers.

I do use solvent on the brush, but it is not necessary to prevent damage if you don't want to use it.

BTW: For really hard case chamber fouling, wrap a tuft of 0000 Super-Fine steel wool around the brush in the drill.
It won't hurt chambers either, but it will take everything out that the manufacture didn't leave in there on purpose.

rc

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

It won't hurt anything, but it won't help much, either.

 

[W.E.G.]

I learned long ago that DRY brushes remove carbon fouling better than wet ones.

Wet brushes turn the top layer into a paste, and just smear it around.

A few strokes with a DRY brush turns the carbon fouling into dust, and the dust can be ejected with a spritz of compressed air.

For copper fouling, solvent is needed.
The brush is as good a vehicle as any to deliver the solvent to the copper fouling.
Removal of copper fouling is more a CHEMICAL process than a mechanical one.

 

[stonecutter2]

Good stuff here, thanks for the tips - I've got a S&W 19 .357 that's got some super cruddy rings in the cylinders.

I put a good coating of Ballistol in them a couple weeks ago, think I'll go at it tonight and see what I can clean up.

 

[indiandave]

Use a chamber brush. Its thicker than a bore brush and works a lot better in cylinders. If you can't find a chamber brush use a .40 or.45 bore brush instead.

 

[reppans]

Put the bore brush in a cordless drill and gofer it.

I do, and the one time I tried it while dry, I think it worked better. I was wondering if this would also work better on the barrel.

(BTW, I also just got some Chore Boy Copper scouring pads - I understand a few strands wrapped around the brush helps too. I also scrap the chambers with a flared & sharpened empty .357 case which also works better when the crud ring is dry.

I learned long ago that DRY brushes remove carbon fouling better than wet ones.

Wet brushes turn the top layer into a paste, and just smear it around.

A few strokes with a DRY brush turns the carbon fouling into dust...

That's what I was thinking - the fluids were acting as a lubricant reducing the effectiveness of the brush, for the bulk of the fouling anyway. I'll still follow-up with solvent/Ballistol too, hopefully to dissolve anything remaining, but I'll first start with the dry scrub going foward.

Thanks for the comments folks..

 

[BADUNAME37]

I do wet brass brush or dry brass brush, it really doesn't matter. If I see a lot of loose crud in the barrel, I will run a dry brush and/or a patch or two through to release the loose stuff. Then I will continue with wet patches, bore brush, dry patches, wet patches, bore brush, dry patches and go like that forever or until I am satisfied that I got the majority of stuff out.

No matter how long I work at scrubbing a barrel, I have NEVER had patches coming out clean, I mean NEVER!

After an hour or two, I just decided that the barrel is most likely cleaner than it has ever been, even when it was new!

 

[ColtPythonElite]

The mention of stainless brushes brings all kinds of warnings out of the woodwork...With that said, I use as SS brush to clean the cylinders. A couple of strokes is all it takes. It must work. My pet .357 has been feed 10+ .38's and never had a sticky chamber.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I use those stainless ones. They are not bristles, but rather tight-loops that ride against the metal. I don't use them a lot and when I do, I might only run it several times down the barrel.

 

[reppans]

No matter how long I work at scrubbing a barrel, I have NEVER had patches coming out clean, I mean NEVER!

Yeah... me too. :banghead:

You might want to consider that the solvents that attack Cu in your chamber and barrel also attack the brass in your brush.

Wonder if this is really it - I've heard it several times.

 

[Jim Watson]

Use a chamber brush. Its thicker than a bore brush and works a lot better in cylinders. If you can't find a chamber brush use a .40 or.45 bore brush instead.

I have used a .410 Tornado brush as a .357 chamber brush.
A couple of dry strokes between IPSC match stages kept it extracting and reloading easily.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Ammonia attacks and dissolves copper and zinc which is essentially what bronze and brass is made of.
Ammonia's effect on your brush wouldn't be immediately apparent but the bristles become brittle and break off sooner than they would without exposure to ammonia. If you're not trying to remove Cu fouling, a non- ammonia based solvent would be more compatible with a bronze or brass brush.

 

[Onmilo]

"Brass" bore brushes are actually made of bronze and as long as you aren't dragging the steel bristle securing post into the steel of the barrel you will not harm the bore using one.

 

[Dr.Rob]

It's possible to 'stick' a brass/bronze brush if you don't push it through completely.

If you pull back before you'd cleared the cylinder or bore and it's not wet with solvent or oil, you can get the bristles going in opposite directions and get it stuck.

 

[mortablunt]

Bronze is nowhere near as hard as steel. You won't damage the bore unless you take a hammer made of bronze to it or something along those lines. Back in WW2, early models of the Sten gun had bronze bolts, which made them particularly prone to going off by accident, or not stopping. This was fixed later when they used steel.

 

[50 cal]

That brass brush won't hurt your barrel any more than a copper plated lead bullet screaming down your barrel at super sonic speed. Duh.:banghead:

 

[FROGO207]

After the abuse some of my black powder rifles get when cleaning them this is all a moot point. Fun to see what others think however. I drop my cylinder in Hoppes for an overnight trip and it seems to work well and show no adverse reactions yet.

 

[gym]

I always found that cleaning the front of the cylinder is the biggest pain. But a dremmel with a cotton tip and some polish usually gets the crud, especially lead off, otherwis you end up scratching it unless you leave it soak overnight.