Cleaning bore brushes

westernrover

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There was as thread on this a long time ago: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/clean-your-cleaning-brushes.389904/

It was agreed that cleaning bore brushes was important. Copper solvents, even mild ones that are likely to be used with a bronze brush, like Hoppes #9, should be cleaned off bronze brushes to prevent damage. Also, bore brushes accumulate fouling in the bristles. It doesn't make sense to stick a dirty bore brush into the bore when the intention is to clean it, not foul it worse.

I have been spraying my brushes with aerosol non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner. I don't want to keep spraying it because it makes a mess in the direction I spray it, and the fumes are unwanted. I don't want to have to step outside to clean the brushes.

Instead, I was thinking I could use a jar of mineral spirits. I would dip the brush on the end of the cleaning rod into the jar and swish it around a bit. Is that the best option? What might be better?

mineral spirits
denatured alcohol
ethanol
non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner (non-aerosol)
90% isopropyl alcohol
acetone
MEK or lacquer thinner
gasoline


For safety and air quality, I'm leaning towards mineral spirits or the alcohols.
 
I use a can of Remington action cleaner with the yellow straw, place the brush on a folded paper towel inside an opened plastic grocery bag and spray it down. Then I just throw away the bag and paper towel when done.
 
It looks like Acetone and MEK could react with copper in the bronze. I wouldn't anticipate a rapid reaction, but I can imagine oxidation and verdigris if a residue remained on the brush for a time. Apparently, some denatured alcohol has copper sulfate, which could also react. I don't like methanol on my skin, but I could tolerate it in a jar that I don't even have to touch. Therefore, I may try it, the 90% IPA, and mineral spirits and see which I prefer. I have all those on-hand.
 
Have you practiced that regularly over a long term? It seems like the water would corrode the copper in the brass stem and bronze bristles. The high pH of the simple green would contribute to that also. It might work if the brushes were blown off with compressed air. Or maybe it's never a problem. I overthink to avoid overworking.
 
I just once in awhile put all my brushes in a plastic jar with some Hoppes in it, and shake the jar until they're clean. Then put the brushes back in their storage box, and dump the Hoppes back into a spare bottle I have to use again later.
 
I don't want to keep spraying it because it makes a mess in the direction I spray it, and the fumes are unwanted. I don't want to have to step outside to clean the brushes.
I step outside and spray them, and don't know of a good no fume spray product that will clean them. I clean them every time they come out of the bore, not just when I am done cleaning.
 
Why put dirt/dirty brushes back in your nice accurate gun barrel? The whole idea is to get the crud out. :)
 
For what it's worth, Will Schuemann, of Schuemann Gun Barrels stopped using bore brushes in his barrels and just ran patches with some CLP/lube on them. His barrels got shinier and shinier without using the brushes.
 
You don't have to clean your brushes. The brushes will last longer if you do clean them. The good brushes aren't cheap. CLP is not the cure for everything.
 
I live out in the country. My garage has become my workshop and I just walk outside and spray them with Supertech. It is gone almost instantly in summertime and pretty quickly in winter. I have done this for years and haven't damaged a brush yet.
 
I bought a gallon of odorless mineral spirits. I filled a small half-pint jam jar about half-way or just enough to submerge a brush on the end of a Dewey rod. I dip my brushes in that now to clean them after use. During use, I can dip them in a similar jar of Hoppes #9. Because that contains ammonium hydroxide, I don't leave it on the brushes for a long time. The jars of solvent do get contaminated, but after they sit for a while, much of the sediment settles on the bottom, and as long as I don't stir it up, the clear solvent above the sediment effectively cleans the brushes. Time will tell if I can keep brushes clean and avoid verdigris.

Before this method, I would go outside and spray with Supertech. That certainly works. I sought a different method that would not require aerosols or going outside.
 
I use Isopropyl Alcohol in a spray bottle. Gun cleaning is done in my garage and I'll give the bore brushes a few squirts over a trash can and then let them air dry. The bore brushes I use are a little expensive.
 
For what it's worth, Will Schuemann, of Schuemann Gun Barrels stopped using bore brushes in his barrels and just ran patches with some CLP/lube on them. His barrels got shinier and shinier without using the brushes.

I believe his article (before Allen) on cleaning suggested putting nothing except bullets down his barrels.
 
I believe his article (before Allen) on cleaning suggested putting nothing except bullets down his barrels.
Yes, bullets were most abrasive thing he put down his barrels. He did wipe the bore with a lubed wet patch, and he did scrape the chamber, but he believed the bore brush was counter productive to a clean barrel.

However, his experience was with jacketed bullets, so I don't know what his take would be after shooting a few hundred rounds of lead semi-wadcutters down the barrel.
 
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I generally wash my bore brushes with water and dawn (now fake dawn since those traitors changed their scent) if I need to remove something that isn't good for them. I like Brownells brand bore brushes, their Standard and Special Line brushes.
 
For what it's worth, Will Schuemann, of Schuemann Gun Barrels stopped using bore brushes in his barrels and just ran patches with some CLP/lube on them. His barrels got shinier and shinier without using the brushes.
I followed that advise with my pistol barrels, and years later they are still clean.
 
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