BoreSnake

[Tangram]

Fact/Opinion on the Bore Snake

I've read that the BoreSnake can harm a pistol's barrel? I'm skeptical, but I really don't know.

Rick

[raz-0]

those things you read tell you how? There's not much to a boresnake you don't encounter in normal cleaning gear. I wouldn't rely on it for a thorough cleaning, but a casual de-gunking of the barrel, it's a life saver.

[Nolan]

Some people don't like to run a bore brush through the barrel. The Boresnake has a built in bore brush, but it can be removed. I've taken mine out for my .22 but have left them in for my larger calibers.

Instructions for removing the bore brush are here:

.22 crown thread

Nolan

[shred]

Some people believe that if any grit gets into the string, if you don't pull it out perfectly parallel to the bore, you'll saw divots in the barrel crown.

[raz-0]

keeping the metal out of a rimfire 22 barrel I can see. THe grit theory, while something that might apply to a nylon rod, somehow I doubt that even with a hard particle, the metal would give way before the material of the boresnake will yeild.

You don't operate the things like a survival saw.

[cpty1]

With what we put guns through, I seriously doubt any negative effects a boresnake has rank anywhere near the top of the list. Even if there are minimal side effects, the convenience more than compensates. Reminds me of a story about a local golf course here. The greens keeper decides on a day to day basis whether the cart rule is ninety degrees or cart path only. True, a cart on the course is harder on it than cart path only, but hey, if that's the logic...don't let people play golf on it at all. It'll look magnificient.

[Steve Anderson]

It's amusing how you can force hot metal that's too small to go thru it as many times times as you want, but a piece of string with a brush will ruin it.

Go Boresnake!

SA

[Skywalker]

I've been using a .45" boresnake since 1999 and a .40" boresnake since 2000.

I won't rely on it for primary cleaning, I mean I use a steel kleen-bore brush with oil to scrub lead out of the barrel, then touch it up with boresnake for a mirror-like clean barrel (every 2k rounds or so).

[shred]

Go look at some old military rifle muzzles sometime.. The ones that were issued with pull-through cleaning kits sometimes have very nice divots sanded into the crown. The bullet is pretty parallel to the bore line when it exits. A string may well not be.

I imagine the level of cleaning is higher and the level of care by the cleaner is lower, but it does happen.

[raz-0]

Go look at some old military rifle muzzles sometime.. The ones that were issued with pull-through cleaning kits sometimes have very nice divots sanded into the crown. The bullet is pretty parallel to the bore line when it exits. A string may well not be.

I imagine the level of cleaning is higher and the level of care by the cleaner is lower, but it does happen.

yes, but a number of those pull through cleaning devives are much more evil than a squishy bore snake.

For example, a nylon coated cable, or a METAL CHAIN. Running a metal chain at off angles form a bore I would imagine is fairly abusive. Especially when operated by the class of conscript who likely ran said chain through the bore.

With the bore snake, I imagine any hard grit would get pushed into the weave of the squishy shoelace deal before enough force were exerted to start trying to imbed the hard particle in the barrel.

Much like towels or sponges for washing your car, don't drop your boresnake on the ground. If the super hard crud is in your gun, ANY cleaning method is going to be abusive to the bore. And i imagine shooting a bullet thorugh it would be pretty bad in that condition too. You get tempered glass chips or sand in your gun, you might want to conside rblowing it out before you break out the boresnake.

Once again, thins like rimfire 22 barrels that are a steel sleeve affair usually, I can see the sisues as they have a small amrgin for wear, and small margin for error.

[MoNsTeR]

Wait, you guys clean your bores?

[Dalmas]

Wait, you guys clean your bores? 

I second that! After reading on Scheumann Barrels homepage about cleaning or not I've not cleaned my bore in about 5k rounds and can not tell any difference, the 12" plate at 25y still fall on the first shot..

[achard]

What if you shoot lead?

[Dalmas]

What if you shoot lead?

Ok my .22 (Hämmerli 208S) and S&W 627 get cleaned proper but lead don't come into my IPSC gun so there I only clean the chamber..

[ima45dv8]

His thoughts on barrel cleaning can be found here. Scroll down the left menu and select "Barrel Cleaning". Interesting reading. The other sermons listed are worth a look, too.

I don't recall where exactly, but I remember reading some comments he made about shooting lead. Basically, same thing. No cleaning. Each subsequent round strips out any excess lead left from the previous round(s). <<DOES NOT INCLUDE GLOCK FACTORY BARRELS!>> He was particularly against the idea of firing jacketed rounds through the bore prior to cleaning, to "help cut some of the lead out." His opinion was that microscopic amounts of copper get imbedded in the lead in the bore and will affect accuracy with lead loads the next time the gun is fired. He said it may take as much as another 1,000 rounds to get rid of the residue.

I decided to give it a try. Hell, anything that saves me from the task of cleaning guns is OK in my book. To date, I've got over 24,000 rounds through a Les Baer PremierII and have never cleaned the bore. The first 7-8,000 rounds were Rainier copper-washed bullets, and everything since then has been the Precision Bullets. I brush the chamber once or twice a year, but the only thing that's ever been through the bore is bullets. Still shoots great.

Be sure to check what he says about IPSC shooters actually annealing the inner surface of our barrels, to the point that even bronze brushes can do damage.

...Mark

[MoNsTeR]

What if you shoot lead?

Stop.