How many people use Bore Guides when cleaning their guns?

[Aim1]

Just wondering how important it is to use a bore guide when cleaning your gun and if so, what one do you use. Also to see how many folks use one.

How necessary are Bore Guides for cleaning?


*** Correct me if I'm wrong but Bore Guides are normally used to clean from breech to muzzle thus not affecting the crown at all?

If that is the case, then protecting a rifle's crown should have no impact on whether or not you are using a bore guide if you are going from breech to muzzle? ***

I've always cleaned from breech to muzzle, so unless I'm roughly and careless ripping the cleaning rod backward through the rifle barrel the rifle's crown should never be touched by the back of the cleaning jag I believe.

 

[Legionnaire]

I do. I have three Tiptons for various calibers.

Edit: Actually, I think two are Pro-Shot and one is Tipton.

 

[edwardware]

I like ProShot's guides, and have replaced all the others with them. The only exception is a Possum Hollow for my CZ .222, due to it's small-diameter bolt.

 

[tbs]

Always, i use Sinclair O-ring guides.

 

[Walkalong]

Never clean without a bore guide if the weapon allows. Some are better than others.

 

[film495]

I don't, but do worry about it. My feelings if I'm using an aluminum rod and being careful, cleaning from the muzzle end, can't really nick the crown with an aluminum rod. If cleaning from chamber end, possible to nick rod when pulling back through depending on what jag attachment is made out of.

 

[Captcurt]

I have used one for years but I don't remember the brand. It fits everything I have except my CZ 455.

 

[Chuck R.]

Religiously......

I wouldn't clean a rifle without one. At about $25 per, it's cheap insurance.

I've got a couple Tipton's, but my favorites are Possum Hollows. IF you order direct, you'll get a tube for storage and a couple spare O-rings.

 

[sequins]

I'm curious about this. I use all brass rod and jag from Dewey and I'm unsure how brass would damage steel guide or no? Even if I'm careless theres no way brass is harming the barrel, is there??

I mean I shoot copper jacketed bullets at 2800+ FPS through my barrels, how could 1fps brass do anything to it that the bullet isnt doing a thousand times worse and a hundred times more often?

I suspect I'm speaking from ignorance based on the voices saying "I always use a guide" (smarter members than I) so what gives?

 

[Walkalong]

Never clean form the end of the muzzle if the firearm allows cleaning from the breech. Never use two/three piece rods.

 

[Walkalong]

Even if I'm careless theres no way brass is harming the barrel, is there??

You can damage the crown or the throat area by being "careless". Friction is friction, rubbing is rubbing.

You want to keep from scrubbing the side of the crown or the throat while running the rod in and out, especially in under pressure where the rod can flex and press against one side of the bore.

 

[boom boom]

There is an old saw that more barrels are ruined by improper cleaning than wear by shooting them. A fair number of barrels from old military rifles have become oval at the muzzle from cleaning rod wear from enthusiastic cleaning by recruits. Chambers can be scratched along with the throat if you don't use a bore guide and clean from the breech.

I agree with walkalong that bore guides are very useful accessories and for the remainder that have to be cleaned from the muzzle, a crown saver helps center the rod and prevent damage to the crown. In a particularly dirty bore, it also helps to wipe down the rod between strokes as grit can be transferred to the rod. You also need a rod sized to the barrel caliber that you are cleaning to prevent rod flex.

If you are using something like jb bore paste or lapping the barrel, it is essential to have a bore guide to prevent damage from an uncentered rod.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Just wondering how important it is to use a bore guide when cleaning your gun and if so, what one do you use. Also to see how many folks use one.

How necessary are Bore Guides for cleaning?

Only where a premium *match* muzzle is in play.

Since I exclusively draw from breech to muzzle - the greater effect may be to slow me down and establish procedure more than protecting sensitive ends of lands.

Todd.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

You can damage the crown or the throat area by being "careless". Friction is friction, rubbing is rubbing.

You want to keep from scrubbing the side of the crown or the throat while running the rod in and out, especially in under pressure where the rod can flex and press against one side of the bore.

I always keep in mind: Water erodes stone!

Todd.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

There is an old saw that more barrels are ruined by improper cleaning than wear by shooting them. A fair number of barrels from old military rifles have become oval at the muzzle from cleaning rod wear from enthusiastic cleaning by...

Yup, it's disheartening to see actual video clips or hollywood movies of recruits or lot-timers yacking away while running those bare steel rods back-n-forth.... over and over.

I've brought back many a surplus gun barrel, rifle and sidearm with a deep-crown to otherwise wonderful bores and chambers.

Todd.

 

[boom boom]

Yup, it's disheartening to see actual video clips or hollywood movies of recruits or lot-timers yacking away while running those bare steel rods back-n-forth.... over and over.

I've brought back many a surplus gun barrel, rifle and sidearm with a deep-crown to otherwise wonderful bores and chambers.

Todd.

I have to have some rifles counterbored if I wanted to keep the original front sights on the barrel because of this.

 

[Fyrstyk]

Never clean without a bore guide if the weapon allows. Some are better than others.

I never clean the bore without using a guide. It is too easy to damage the crown on a rifle, and that is where your accuracy can be severely affected.

 

[GBExpat]

I have an assortment of different bore/muzzle guides. I often use them on the longguns that have to be cleaned from the muzzle (M1s, M1Carbines, Marlin Levers, Marlin Pump, .22RF Semis, etc).

I have also accumulated an assortment on one-piece cleaning rods for longguns. I have a number of multi-piece cleaning rods that only serve as emergency items (at least two of them in standard M16 Cleaning Kits) and/or antique oddities.

The one-piecers "live" together hanging from a rack, each with a patch-holder+clean patch installed. Prior to walking out of the basement door, I use an appropriate rod to run thru the bore of my selected longgun(s) to assure that it is both unobstructed and not too oily.

The smaller the bore, the more apt I am to use a muzzle/bore guide device.

Quite frankly, I am not that concerned about damaging my bore/muzzle during cleaning because I am careful to not let the rods rub excessively (my rod-action is slow & controlled rather than get-it-done-quick frenzied) and I think that bore & muzzles are much tougher than we are often lead to believe.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I’m not a freakish OCD accuracy nut but I have a lathe and made a few out of delrin for kicks. So I use them.

 

[edwardware]

My feelings if I'm using an aluminum rod and being careful, cleaning from the muzzle end, can't really nick the crown with an aluminum rod.

The aluminum doesn't nick the muzzle. The grit embedded in the aluminum, especially in the joints, abrades the crown and will eventually bell it (probably unevenly).

This is why we avoid aluminum rods, segmented rods, and cleaning from the muzzle. In cases where cleaning from the muzzle is necessary (M1/M14 family) a bore guide is used to prevent the rod from touching the crown.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

The aluminum doesn't nick the muzzle. The grit embedded in the aluminum, especially in the joints, abrades the crown and will eventually bell it (probably unevenly).

This is why we avoid aluminum rods, segmented rods, and cleaning from the muzzle. In cases where cleaning from the muzzle is necessary (M1/M14 family) a bore guide is used to prevent the rod from touching the crown.

Important point to apply to coated rods like Deweys as well. The length should often be checked for nasties imbedded into the surfaces.

I know a fair amount of very well respected Snipers and match shooters who loathe aluminum or coated rods in favor of *polished* steel rods carefully used.
My favorite Dewey from my Army days is in fact, a single-rod 26 inch with the coating removed.

Todd.

 

[shoobe01]

(Two other answers before I finished mine say the same thing).

Never, ever think that a substrate is all that exists. You can scratch up steel, or glass, with a soft rag, if you got some small particle of abrasive in there. This is also how many water jet cutters work: there's abrasive in them.

For our purposes, IF we assume perfectly non-wearing brushes and rods, since the world is full of microscopic abrasive dust you can therefore still assume anything you rub on anything else will wear it. So, you avoid contact with critical wear areas. That means:
Clean from the chamber end to avoid wearing the crown, etc.
Use a bore guide to avoid wearing (or at least unevenly wearing) the chamber, leade, etc.

 

[Riomouse911]

Just wipe any cleaning rod down with a clean patch after a scrubbing and you’ll find bits of jacket, lead, grit and maybe even particles of cartridge brass along the length of the rod. As was stated, it’s a good idea to protect the muzzle because it’s not just the metal of the rod that’s literally sawing back and forth on a barrel.

Stay safe.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Always

 

[Walkalong]

One of the best. 21st Century Bore Guide

Yea, not everyone is going to pony up for one of these when a Tipton or Pro Shot are $30ish and work pretty well. But lets say we just spent 7/8 hundred dollars on a new match barrel and will spend hundreds on match fees etc, what's $50 on a great bore guide.

If Possum Hollow makes one for your rifle they are pretty good, but I make a "centering" piece for mine. It is two diameter, slips over the one piece rod, then goes into the end of the bore guide to help center the rod better. Some makers bore guides come with that little addition.