Several decades of accumulating many brands of mismatched cleaning rods and tips have come to the point wherein, I just want to divert the Alpheus and Peneus rivers through the stables, and start anew.

What single brand of cleaning rods, jags, tips, etc. would you recommend for long guns and handguns from .17 to .30, .22 to .45ACP, and 20 to 12G?

Tipton

I like Dewey and have standardized to that thread size

Dewey fan here for a long time.

Dewey. I like their jags better than any others. I still use their rods that I bought 20+ years ago.

I like: Tipton Deluxe 1-Piece Carbon Fiber Cleaning Rod

Paired up with: VFG WEAPON CARE RANGE of felt pellets. I use the ones with brass and without.

I buy the VFG products from: Nikkonos on eBay

The Tipton carbon fibre rods are nice, turn well and have a good feel to them.

I like the VFG system because the felt pellets are used once and then done.

Dewey, I had to have just one brand

Gunslick match grade

Dewey.

quote:

Originally posted by klstclair:
I like: Tipton Deluxe 1-Piece Carbon Fiber Cleaning Rod

Paired up with: VFG WEAPON CARE RANGE of felt pellets. I use the ones with brass and without.

I buy the VFG products from: Nikkonos on eBay

The Tipton carbon fibre rods are nice, turn well and have a good feel to them.

I like the VFG system because the felt pellets are used once and then done.

I really like the idea of those felt pellets. I'm going to have to try those.

I guess I'm not the 'discriminating gun owner' type. If the gun doesn't clean up 'good enough' with a Hoppe's boresnake then it ain't worth shooting or owning.

Either Tipton or Dewey work well. I have rods from both. Most my jags are Tipon.

Consider waiting for holiday sales, then make your decision.

quote:

Originally posted by soggy_spinout:
I guess I'm not the 'discriminating gun owner' type. If the gun doesn't clean up 'good enough' with a Hoppe's boresnake then it ain't worth shooting or owning.

Boresnakes work a lot of applications. A chrome-lined bore AR is one. Another is .308 and larger bores. Ditto for non-precision firearms.

Likely the worst use of a boresnake is a dirty, dry one on on 22lr rifle. The primer residue in 22lr ammo produces small, sharp residue -- rubbed dry against the barrel and the bore starts down of path of premature wear.

Many people use a boresnake that's dirty and dry. A talented gunsmith stated that is akin to wiping one's backside with used and dried toilet paper.

Precision rifles perform better and longer with proper barrel cleaning. A .308 rifle is a little more forgiving, but as the chambering approaches an overbore condition, cleaning becomes more important. Like in the 6.5mm and 6.0mm chamberings based on a 308-ish capacity case.

I generally keep a boresnake with me in long matches and training courses. In the event the gun's accuracy goes south suddenly, a boresnake make help clean out the barrel muck. Especially if it's the dreaded carbon ring just forward of the chamber. But I also clean my boresnakes after each use and I carry a spray cleaner/lube so the snake won't be dry when it's passed through the bore.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
Likely the worst use of a boresnake is a dirty, dry one on on 22lr rifle. The primer residue in 22lr ammo produces small, sharp residue -- rubbed dry against the barrel and the bore starts down of path of premature wear.

My experience has been that as long as you stick to plain lead standard-velocity ammunition (i.e., target ammunition), there is no reason to clean the bore of a .22 rifle.

I've put probably 1000 rounds through a Sako Quad with a Lilja barrel, 2000 rounds through a Kidd 10/22, and 5000 rounds through an Anschutz with no bore cleaning and no decrease in accuracy.

The 10/22 needed its action cleaned periodically or it got so gummed up with residue that it would stop cycling reliably, but I never touched the bore.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
My experience has been that as long as you stick to plain lead standard-velocity ammunition (i.e., target ammunition), there is no reason to clean the bore of a .22 rifle.

For a long time I thought the same. Would clean the action regularly, because 22lr just seems to deposit stuff. Definitely worse with semi-auto actions.

When I started shooting beyond 150 yards, holding consistent vertical POI became critical. I found that by roughly 300 rounds after a bore cleaning, vertical variation began to increase. By 400 or 500 rounds it started getting ugly, especially at distances of 200-250 yards. I thought it was just me, the ammo, or the vertical effects of the wind conditions where I shoot. But after swabbing the bore and re-fouling it, vertical variation was noticeably reduced. This is for a Kimber classic bolt action and a JP AR-22 upper. Using match-grade ammo -- Wolf, Eley, Lapua, RWS.

Hopefully by this time next year I will see what cleaning practices work best with a Remy 40x trainer. I'm about 30 days out from the Manners stock delivery, then the action goes to Jelrod for re-barrel and assembly.

All barrels are different, and they have their own preferences for ammo. YMMV.

I don't clean my 22lr barrels all that thoroughly. First is a couple of loose, wet patches -- this is where the primer residue crap comes out. Then at most a handful of tighter-fitting wet patches, until the patches turn from black to a light gray. Re-fouling generally takes 5-10 rounds.

Fair enough, I only shoot out to 100 yards with my .22s, so I wouldn't have seen that.

This is probably the bottom feeder quality, but I bought this recently for sort of the same reason, but then, I haven't been shooting and cleaning rifles for decades.

I also reset on cleaning supplies, but that has not been that successful.

https://www.brownells.com/gun-...g-kit-prod71436.aspx

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SIGWolf,