Get me up to speed on pull-through cleaning kits, please.

[benEzra]

A lot of people praise the virtues of Boresnakes, and I see lots of ads for Otis pull-through kits in gun magazines. I've never used anything other than a traditional cleaning rod, so get me up to speed here. Pros/cons compared to a regular cleaning rod? Is the boresnake or the Otis the better system, or are they even directly comparable?

My primary guns are .223 and 7.62x39mm.

 

[Dienekes]

273 people will probably post how thrilled they are with their boresnakes and Otises; I am not a fan of either. I use the M16 military jointed kit with a bore guide for both .223 and .30 calibers as it isn't all that large or heavy and can poke a case out if the rim gets torn off.

Pull throughs are okay for getting oil out of a barrel before firing or getting some bore cleaner down it before heading home with a dirty rifle. But if that's all you want to do a .060 piece of nylon weedwhacker line will do that, and weighs about an ounce.

Booniepacker makes a real simple pull-through kit if you need that sort of thing. IMHO the Otis thing is about 90% hype.

 

[DWARREN123]

I use one piece stainless steel rods, bore snakes and I have a Otis all in one kit. They each have their place in firearms maintenance. I do like like the Otis as I believe it cleans more like a rod but is a small compact package.
I do use all 3 but at different times and for different reasons.
Also it's hard to push a stuck case out with the Otis or a Bore Snake.

 

[dfariswheel]

Nothing cleans as well as a rod, brush, and patch.

The pull-throughs are OK for field maintenance.
However, they all have one major weakness: sooner or later they'll break off in the bore leaving you with a plugged bore and no way to extract it.
This has happened recently to several Boresnake users.

To be fair, they seemed to be using worn Boresnakes that had been washed several times and were probably weakened, but all pull-through cleaners are a risk.

 

[dstorm1911]

get yourself a couple AK cleaning kits for $5 ea. the wallet type will have a pull through brushes and oil bottle one kit for the 5.45 to cover your .22 and .223 needs the other for 7.62x39 to cover that caliber plus any other .30 cals ya might get.....

Centerfire and cheaper than dirt etc... all have em they fit in a back pocket like a wallet.......

here are a few samples of military cleaning kits with pull throughs

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CLN120-2255-855.html

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CLN024-46593-855.html

there are others, I have a few hundred of the wallet ones in both caliber ranges and see em all the time for a couple bucks....

here are a couple super versatile solid rod types as well

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/49631-64078-855.html

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/AKS036-55142-855.html

I keep one of those attached to the shoulder strap on my primary AK mag carrier (the mag pouch has pockets for a bottle of GI bore cleaner for corrosive ammo cleanup and a buttstock cleaning kit for extra tools in the field as well as hold 5 30 rnd mags) I have a similar setup for the small bore stuff, the .223 kit will cover everything bored for a .22 cal slug etc...

The wallet kits are with every gun, onea the solid rod kits is with each ammo pouch for guns I tend to use corrosive milsurp ammo in...........

Cheaper and tougher than any of the commercial stuff plus the solid rod ones use common attachments so ya can custom tailor each kit to your needs, ya can even get one or the other and just add the brushes etc... for the other caliber for an all in one kit, use a second oil bottle for bore solvent and your set for any situation at home or in the field.......

Pull throughs are very handy but keep in mind that ya needa clean the pull through as contaminants will get embedded into the material...... this is the only real bad thing about bore snakes if ya use more than one pass then your just re-depositing some of what ya just cleaned out right back into the barrel again.....


BTW....... a broke pull through isn't too hard to extract in fact soldiers been doin it going back to WW1 when they were very much in use particularily with Enfields.......... ya pull it out from the other end.... an I ain't even college edumicated or notin

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I haven't used the Otis kit to any practical extent. I have used boresnakes for a while and they are a useful tool. They won't clean a bore as effectively as a rod, jag and patch will; but they will do a decent job. Using nothing but a boresnake, you can make a rifle run for quite a while.

I mostly use the boresnakes for a quick cleaning during training and use the rod/jag when I get home after a weekend of shooting. I've also had some luck using slightly oversized boresnakes (.243 in a .223 bore for example).

 

[SaMx]

www.patchworm.com
I have one of these kits and it's nice.
It works with regular patches.