My firearm was filthy after the Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Instructor course. I shot about 750 rounds that weekend and my gun needed to be cleaned before I went… (Let’s just leave it at life has been too busy lately and I slacked on cleaning my gun before class.)
After a rather involved cleaning with cotton swabs and an assortment of brushes, I’m guessing there’s got to be better brushes for cleaning your gun.
Photo from Midway USA of the Otis All Purpose Gun Cleaning Kit.
The nylon brush and bore snake
I like an electric SpinBrush when I clean my own. When they’re worn out, a new one is around $8-$9 to replace brush heads about $4 for two new ones. Works well with many areas a brush can get to.
On the rare occasion that I clean my sticks I generally go ALL out and disassemble them to component parts then LIBERALLY hose them down with CLP and let them sit for a couple hours and go after them with a bronze brush. If they are really nasty (like after shooting with Bullseye powder) I will hose them down and let them sit again and scrub them again. Then I will take Brake Cleaner, Carburetor Cleaner or Dry Cleaning Solvent and hose them down and scrub with a nylon brush. One more time with CLP and wipe down, re assemble and grease lube the important parts.
For cleaning barrels I am a fan of Butch’s Bore Shine and a bronze bore brush but if the copper is REALLY bad and I am going back to zero I will submerge/fill with Hoppe’s #9 or even straight ammonia (you need to neutralize ammonia if you use it straight (the solution to pollution is dilution) and HOT water w/ a touch of Baking Soda works well followed by gun oil or motor oil)
Cheers,
Craig6
@Dawn It’s not your brushes and swabs that do the work, it’s your choice of cleaning fluids. That’s where the magic happens.
Cheers,
Craig6
In addition to the usual cleaning rod and bore brush, I use old tooth brushes and tooth picks. I was taught to clean guns by my Dad. His method was to use the solvent (Hoppes #9), then clean off any remaining solvent with rubbing alcohol, then a light coat of oil for a lubricant. He thought that if the remaining solvent wasn’t removed it would break down the new coat of lubricant. I can only imagine what he would have to say about CLP 
I will second that a lot of the work is the solvent…
I use the nylon brush pictured above most of the time. I have a couple of guns that are stubborn in spots, and they get the brass one also pictured above. I use them for one season, then toss them for new ones.
For bores, I use both nylon and brass. I use the nylon ones about 80% of the time on pistols, and 40% of the time on rifles. Yeah, I measured that, scientifically, both ways, and even on Sunday. 
“Oral-B Pro-Health Superior Clean Manual Toothbrush” … sounds professional 
… it’s just regular tooth brush. Never needed anything harder, however I also keep brass brush.
For bore - I’m using bore brush which came with the gun.
Nylon brush and boresnake for me too!
Old toothbrushes, Q-Tips, and a brass brush for the barrel.
I have been using gun cleaning q-tip swab like disposables, towels which do not shed lint, Hoppes cleansing liquid. I distinguish cleaning from oiling. I found some drinking straw and baby bottles long thin flexible bristles of nylon for deeper scrubbing when needed, they tend not to scratch, but please use care not to use them as tools if they are rusty. Some are rust resistant.
My question is about the metal gun brushes and metal bristles; Do they ever scratch or damage, especially the bore? Appreciate any feedback.
Most bore brushes are made of a softer metal than the barrel of the gun. That being said don’t go crazy with a metal bore brush, let the solvents do their job, and a plastic dental pick or wooden tooth pick can do a lot of the work before you finish it off with the brush.
Thanks Greg. You also made me think to look for silver colored streaks within the barrels- after use, which I suspect is lead material/residue, and although they might appear as straight lines inside the barrel, that the metal brushes might help strip away the lead streaks, as actually cleaning. I will try the metal brushes, the next time I have any “lead” build up in the barrel, which I think I might have missed at first glance.
I like Bore snakes for firearms that cannot be cleaned from the breech with a rod and brush (revolvers, lever actions etc…)
An old tooth brush works great for cleaning actions and magazines on semis and under the ejection stars on DA revolvers.
Nylon brushes bore snakes, oh my.
I also like to use Z-max in the bores and use gun grease for the rest. Hi temp.
I use old toothbrushes
Bronze is softer than steel so no worries, Now the rod you thread the brush onto, that’s an issue!
Hard metal, like steel, can attract crud that can wear your bore. Soft materials like aluminum, plastic coatings and cordage can be embedded with grit and will wear too.
Thanks to all for the tips, I will also check on using brushes. I was wondering, if we hear that nice squeaky sound when cleaning barrels or cylinders (such as in the final step of using cloth or cotton cleaning material), does that mean it cannot get any more clear/clean, or not necessarily?;
Are bore/barrel/cylinder flash-lights to look in the bores/barrels/cylinders, worth it and helpful to look for … say … remnants of lead material debris?
When you run a dry patch through the bore/chambers and it comes out clean— no discoloration, it’s clean enough for government work.
At least that’s what I was taught
brush is the easiest way to get rid of residues, especially from the frame
that’s the moment you run patch with oil through it
Firearm is a tool. If you keep it in good shape and clean properly - no needs to spend money for fancy schmancy bore scope or lights. (Once you see the inside of the barrel after 5K rounds with bore scope you will do nothing else than scrubbing, brushing and polishing it for next two weeks 
)