Go To Cleaning Rods

[prepare]

What are your go to cleaning rods?

[TMS951]

We may be doing different things here, but I just pull a bore snake through the barrel of my ARs. I think many other members just do that as well.

[GH41]

What's a cleaning rod?

[Arik]

The shiny metallic one that's laying around somewhere. Don't get into name brands for cleaning supplies.

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[diving dave]

I use a coated Dewey rod for most of my rifles when at home, but keep a boresnake and an old GI segmented rod in my kit.

[Artos]

Haven't used a rod / brushes in years...Wipe Out Accelerator & then the Foam Cleaner using a weed whacker string & patches.

[gunnerblue]

I have a brass Dewey that I use for black powder rifles. I don't remember the last time used a rod in an AR, though.

[TomMcC]

A Dewey for rifles, some no name short aluminum job I had laying around for pistols, and a bore snake for my SG's.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Otis pull-cable and patches for all ARs and other semiauto rifles.

Coated carbon fiber rod for precision bolt-action rifles.

Cheapo aluminum rods for pistol barrel cleaning.

[Delta-3]

I use a coated Dewey rod for most of my rifles when at home, but keep a boresnake and an old GI segmented rod in my kit.

This is me as well.

[mRad]

I use coated Dewey rods or Tipton carbon rods.

Bore snakes are not a way to clean a barrel, it really doesn’t do much. I’ve bore scoped barrels with various methods to evaluate results. If you want to get a barrel clean, bore snakes won’t do it. What they will do is keep them clear of obstructive deposits if used regularly. Also, you don’t want to have a bore snake break in a barrel. It can be bad news. It does happen.

If you’re going to use a rod, best practice is one-piece in design made of a softer, non-abrasive material (or at least coated in one) that won’t flex.


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[SteyrAUG]

We may be doing different things here, but I just pull a bore snake through the barrel of my ARs. I think many other members just do that as well.

Brass rods to clean, bore snake for final wipe. Any brand will do so long as you know how to clean a barrel without damaging it.

[HKGuns]

I have a Gunslick for long barreled rifles and a shorter Tipton for shorter stuff.

I don’t know I’d call them “go to” but they seem to work. I don’t give cleaning rods much thought.

ETA: I also have and regularly use bore snakes on all my rifles and pistols.

The only exception to this is I use the Otis system on my shotguns as it is the only way I have had good results on those barrels. It works better than bore snakes or anything else I’ve used over the years to clean shotgun bores.

[markm]

Dewey. They don't see much use these days, but if I get a wild hair to clean, they are the best.

[jsbhike]

Best cleaner for 12ga barrels I have found is a 1/2" wood dowel with a slot cut just back of 1 end that can hold a segment of Scotch Brite pad then chuck it in a drill and run it back and forth followed by the blue paper shop towel for oiling/patching out.

https://wethearmed.com/shotguns/cleaning-a-shotgun-barrel/

[Disciple]

Scotchbrite is abrasive. Why do that to a barrel even if it is not rifled?

[DG23]

Scotchbrite is abrasive. Why do that to a barrel even if it is not rifled?

I get where you are coming from but one has to consider how hard the material is that the scotchbrite is being used on.

Barrel steel is not going to be effected the same way plastic or aluminum will.

Fairly common to see guys using scotchbrite disks to clean gasket material or carbon deposits off of engine parts / surfaces quickly and without doing harm.

[Averageman]

Check your boresnake for abrasions.
I had one break in my first AR, it was intresting getting it out.

[jsbhike]

Scotchbrite is abrasive. Why do that to a barrel even if it is not rifled?

I use the milder blue ones and keep it moving. I assume(and I know how that can go) no worse than steel wool and I figured if I missed a strand of it there wpuld he less chance of problems since steel wool can rust so easy.

[Disciple]

The abrasive used in nearly all Scotch-Brite is the same kind used in sandpaper, either aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. These are much harder than barrel steel, more than twice as hard as chrome plating. They will remove material from the barrel. Getting the abrasive particles that are shed into moving parts of the gun will cause more problems.

There are a lot of warnings on the Internet about the use of Scotch-Brite on engines as well. You might want to search for that if you haven't seen them.

[Buncheong]

What's a cleaning rod?

This ^

[Krazykarl]

If you can differentiate between a dirty barrel that is full of copper jacket fouling vs that same barrel after being cleaned, then YES , you need a cleaning rod.
1. Dewey rod with smooth ball bearing handle so that the brush/jag doesn't unscrew itself. The rod is coated to protect the bore.
2. Bore guide to ensure that the rod is centered in the barrel.
3. High quality brass jag and bronze bore brush.
4. Bore solvent that actually dissolves copper fouling (butch's bore shine, sweet's 7.62, etc). The solvent can also be used to revive an unconscious roommate as they are typically ammonia bases.
5. Preservative oil of your choice.

I use a bore snake on rifles that shoot the same dirty or clean .

[Krazykarl]

Double tap