Bore brushes?

[171farm]

What bore brushes do you all prefer? Both brand and material? I see so many varying reviews on both, Im not further ahead than I was prior to looking at them.

Also, all my other rifles I have been able to find dedicated brushes for...looking to get ones to clean my 7mm and am having issues. Several of the brands out there are for 6.5/7mm or 270/7mm...are those going to give a loose fit? Should I just get whatever brand has a dedicated sized one?

 

[171farm]

Any input?

 

[Flyjunky]

I use both nylon and bronze from Sinclair, Tipton, boretech, isso, and Dewey. Haven’t noticed a big difference in them to be honest.

 

[rayporter]

just stay away from steel.

 

[Mr Drysdale]

According to many on this forum you should never clean the bore of your rifle.
I do clean mine periodically but not much brushing. Bore jags (cotton patches) with Hoppes # 9 followed by CR10 copper cleaner and finish with another pass of Hoppes, also with a jag. I only brush when there is excessive powder or copper build up. I do buy caliber specific brushes and have always used bronze.

 

[171farm]

According to many on this forum you should never clean the bore of your rifle.
I do clean mine periodically but not much brushing. Bore jags (cotton patches) with Hoppes # 9 followed by CR10 copper cleaner and finish with another pass of Hoppes, also with a jag. I only brush when there is excessive powder or copper build up. I do buy caliber specific brushes and have always used bronze.

Yea have also heard from many others to not clean. This is a new rifle build and the barrel break in suggestions from the builder is to do extensive cleaning for the first x number of rounds and then move to a cleaning as on necessary. Part of the reason to “break the barrel in” is to ensure cleaning is quick and easy. I know there is a camp of people that do not believe in barrel break in either. This is my first custom build so I’m going to listen to my builders advice and do it.

 

[flyfisher117]

Nylon brush for me. Most everything I own now is Boretech since they won't react with their cleaners. I still have some Montana Extreme or what ever they're called.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Yea have also heard from many others to not clean. This is a new rifle build and the barrel break in suggestions from the builder is to do extensive cleaning for the first x number of rounds and then move to a cleaning as on necessary. Part of the reason to “break the barrel in” is to ensure cleaning is quick and easy. I know there is a camp of people that do not believe in barrel break in either. This is my first custom build so I’m going to listen to my builders advice and do it.

You could take 2 rifles, both from the same builder with the same components, do a break in and not do a break in and you’d never tell the difference.

 

[171farm]

You could take 2 rifles, both from the same builder with the same components, do a break in and not do a break in and you’d never tell the difference.

I bet. The break in is really time consuming but Im going to give it a shot. I guess it cant hurt haha

 

[Pickettpuncher]

I bet. The break in is really time consuming but Im going to give it a shot. I guess it cant hurt haha

It can hurt. Make sure you use bore guides and a good rod. I’d guess more barrels are ruined by the break in process than helped over crappy cleaning practices and supplies.

 

[SchwarzStock]

When required (hard fouling) I use bronze brushes. Don't buy those spiral things, they can't engage the crud.

Cutting is controlled tearing, doesn't matter if it is paper or steel. When you look at cut steel under magnification you will see it is not as smooth as it looks to the naked eye. If you have a cut or broached barrel it will be rougher than a button rifled barrel. Sure the makers usually lap their barrels but still they are not as "smooth as a baby's a.." That is the reason it can really pay off to do a break-in, especially if the maker says to do it. If you don't what you have is each successive bullet laying down a little gilding metal and some burnt/unburnt powder, one shot after the next in those exposed pores of the barrel. Following a break-in regimen allows each successive bullet to burnish the pores a bit eliminating the rough surface and reducing the build-up of fouling. Why do you think bores with pits lead more than those without, it is because of the open surface. Same go for nicely burnished bores versus those that are only cut and lapped.

Mike Rock used to advocate for cleaning (solvent only (Shooter's Choice/Sweets 7.62)) between each shot for the 1st 10 shots. Then between every 3 shots up to 50 total and then every 5 to a round count of 100. He believed after that every 20 rounds or so were enough. Mike made the original barrels for the Army's M24 so I suspect he knew a thing or two about cleaning. FWIW Mike also was big on using cut up paper shop towels as patches. I have tried that but I prefer regular cotton patches. I have also had good luck with spray carburetor cleaner as a solvent for both carbon and gilding metal.

I have seen some pretty rough factory barrels and advocate for doing a good break-in of those as well but first one must get all of the crap out of the barrel from factory testing/proofing. One barrel I saw on a Winchester looked like a mirror image of a rat-tail file. The gun would not group and once we got the barrel clean the reason was readily apparent.

 

[BenRubin3]

First rifle I had I broke in and cleaned with brush. Had nothing but problems. Next rifle I didn’t break in and have never used a brush and have no problems with it.

 

[RadialJett]

@SchwarzStock ok, this has been bugging me about the barrel break-in concept… I can get on board with the polishing concept, removing microscopic burs and whatnot for better accuracy makes sense. But when I think of the force involved in pushing a bullet through the barrel… how are we going to do anything by rubbing metal with a q-tip that isn’t being done by shooting, or hasn’t already been done by the builder’s lapping process?

And if our scrubbing is doing something, how do these barrels stand up to hundreds to thousands of rounds before the incredible heat and pressure they endure wears them out?

I am all for putting in the work to make a gun shoot it’s best, I just can’t understand this one. I end up assuming the folks who put in this huge effort cleaning and breaking in the barrel are also shooting and doing way more to accurize their rifle than others and get great results because of that as opposed to the special break in procedure.

 

[Lawnboi]

I use nylon in the chamber, bronze in the bore.

The bronze ones don’t last long.

Mostly from bore tech

 

[digger]

Iosso brushes

 

[wapitibob]

Buy your brushes on Amazon, by the gross, they wear out real quick and are cheap.

 

[SchwarzStock]

@SchwarzStock ok, this has been bugging me about the barrel break-in concept… I can get on board with the polishing concept, removing microscopic burs and whatnot for better accuracy makes sense. But when I think of the force involved in pushing a bullet through the barrel… how are we going to do anything by rubbing metal with a q-tip that isn’t being done by shooting, or hasn’t already been done by the builder’s lapping process?

@SchwarzStock ok, this has been bugging me about the barrel break-in concept… I can get on board with the polishing concept, removing microscopic burs and whatnot for better accuracy makes sense. But when I think of the force involved in pushing a bullet through the barrel… how are we going to do anything by rubbing metal with a q-tip that isn’t being done by shooting, or hasn’t already been done by the builder’s lapping process?

And if our scrubbing is doing something, how do these barrels stand up to hundreds to thousands of rounds before the incredible heat and pressure they endure wears them out?

I am all for putting in the work to make a gun shoot it’s best, I just can’t understand this one. I end up assuming the folks who put in this huge effort cleaning and breaking in the barrel are also shooting and doing way more to accurize their rifle than others and get great results because of that as opposed to the special break in procedure.

You are not trying the burnish the barrel with your brush, you are trying to get the bore clean, remove the fouling, so the bullet can burnish the bore and not force more fouling into the pores.

 

[RadialJett]

You are not trying the burnish the barrel with your brush, you are trying to get the bore clean, remove the fouling, so the bullet can burnish the bore and not force more fouling into the pores.

That sounds possible- I won’t deny my personal skepticism, but that sounds more reasonable than prior explanations I’ve heard which invoked special bore pastes polishing the throat etc.

 

[SDHNTR]

Blue Iosso

 

[Davyalabama]

You had someone build you a rifle, you trust him? He wants you to do a break-in procedure? I would ask him these questions and rely on his advice. Some of us have been doing this a long time and trust what works(ed) for us for years. We stand by it. Some of us are engineers and know what should work based on scientific parameters. Some of us know everything including how a woman thinks and love pontificating. The best advice I’ve read from all on this thread is to get a good bore guide and a great rod ( please make it one piece and non metal) I did like the guy that mentioned cotton shirts cut up and the one that mentioned hoppes #9 just to get the smell and atmosphere correct and the one that mentioned Shooters Choice. You want to break the barrel in? Do it. Don’t use cheap ammo, use quality. Take your time and clean carefully, do a good job, don’t force it to clean, let the materials do their job. Do it easy, at first, you may have to run a lot of patches, ok fine. Don’t scrub! Do it like a knife, let the materials work together, you are just the orchestra master, no one came to see or hear you. You want to do it right, don’t rush, do it right. Beer drinkers swear it’s in the hops, gun nuts know it’s all about the Hoppes #9.