Hello, I am looking for a new gun cleaning kit. Something that encompasses most calibers. My current cleaning rod/kit is starting to give me false positives for copper fouling. I have looked into bore snakes and was wondering if they would do just as good as a regular cleaning kit. Cabela’s has a nice set of bore snakes on sale that I was looking at. I will post the link below. Anyone have any recommendations?
Copper fouling is a different kind of animal than lead, lubricants, burnt powder and soot. There are many kinds of solvents and gizmos expressly for remediating copper fouling—some being fairly harsh on barrels if left in contact for too long.
I don’t have an issue with copper fouling and Outer’s Nitro Solvent with a lot of ptches works for me (you want NO green patches—zilch—zero! That will take a lot of patches. Place the patch on top of a wool mop to get a press fit inside the rifling grooves
Bore snakes OTOH are usefull for quick jobs on firearms that are difficult to clean from the breech, and on warm barrels, but they won’t substitute for a rod, brush and patch, and are less than adequate for plastic wad fouling in shotguns( my opinion) Good for .22 lrs though—will save you a lot of patches. Be careful pulling on any pull through because they can damage the muzzle over time, so keep your bore snakes clean and replace them regularly.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at enough war surplus Mausers clean with issue pull through and you’ll eventually see the cattywompus wear to the crowns.
I find the best cleaning kits are the ones I assemble my self. If you want multiple cailbers consider using a fishing tackle box to contain it all.
One overlooked component for cleaning kits are the patches. True old cut up t-shirts will work well enough (old Oxford cloth dress shirts even better), but good cotton flannel GI surplus/style patches with “tooth” on one side are, I think, the best thing going. Modern synthetic patches simply don’t compare IMHO.
Ok thanks. My issue is I’m getting a false positive copper fouling. I don’t have the issue of copper fouling in my barrel (atleast I don’t think I do). If a patch coated with hoppes 9 synthetic blend briefly touches my cleaning rod it turns a blue color all over the patch. So I was hoping to get away from the traditional 3 piece cleaning rod so I don’t run into this issue again.
I spent quite a bit of time today trying to figure out why no matter how much I cleaned my rifle it would still come out with blue patches. Granted, I am cleaning a “new to me” used rifle. So I cleaned a brand new rifle I bought a few months ago and I still had the same issue of blue patches. I figured since the issues progresses to a rifle I know does not have copper fouling, that it must be my cleaning equipment. My cleaning rod and kit has been used a lot over the few years I’ve had it. So it might be time for a new one.
If your brass brushes are dirty use a nylon brush and dawn dish soap to clean the accumulated oil and solvent off and use them until they wear out. The same happened to me and I was getting frustrated and then the light came on. DUH.
I am guessing it’s your standard brass brushes, cleaning rod, and jag. Loops were all plastic. I’m not 100% on the material used for making the rod and jag.
But I did confirm if any cleaner touches the rod the patch will turn blue. I did some research and found some “positive proof” cleaning rods, jags, and brushes that I might look into.
I would get an assortment of one piece rods. I have gotten them in all sizes for all my guns. Its a little pricy if you just try to sit and buy them all at once ( I have calibers from .17 to .50 BMG not counting shotguns) but start with a basic handgun and rifle rod or two and add as needed prioritizing the ones that are giving you a false positive. You can usually go one size bigger than the caliber range without too much problem assuming you are using a carbon fiber rod. I used to use Dewey cleaning rods (and still do as I have not worn one out yet) which are steel with a bore-protecting coating. They work great, but stay within the caliber recommendations so that you dont bend/bow the rods too much and they are no longer straight. Lately, I have really liked the Hoppe’s elite one piece carbon fiber cleaning rods. There is no coating to wear out and have material imbed in and they will stay straight even if pushing a tight patch through a little larger bore than the caliber recommendations. Also, wipe down your rods regularly during cleaning and clean them before putting them up.
Bore snakes are fine for a quick range clean-up but are no substitute for a rod and patch. Also, jags and brushes wear out so replace them on a regular basis.
Thank you. I was kind of hoping there’d be a cleaning kit that covered the various caliber pistols and rifles I have. But that seems to not be the case. I made this post primarily about a “new to me” used hunting rifle I just purchased. Remington model 700 BDL in 30-06. Probably from the 70s or 80s. I’ve never had patches come out blue before this rifle so I was trying to figure out what my issue is. Posting here was one of my various attempts to get an answer.
I did stop today into my local gun shop and found a nice one piece, coated cleaning rod. I ran some wet patches through my rifle and still had blue patches. It eventually got less and less as I cleaned, however, it never fully got rid of the blue color I’d get. As a last ditch effort, before contacting my gun shop about the rifle to see what they’d suggest, I sprayed some CLP in the barrel and let it soak for about 10-15 minutes and then cleaned it. By the time I was done this time around there was very little dirt or blue color coming out of the barrel. Once dried I ran a patch with a little bit of hoppes gun oil through the gun and put it away. (No dirt or anything coming out with the oil on that patch either, thankfully). So after now cleaning it 4 separate times I’m gonna say it’s good to go. I’ll just have to take it to the range and see how it shoots. If I can find some ammunition now. Lol.
And that can be part of the “problem.” Copper can be stubborn to get out, and if you purchase a used rifle, there is a chance that the prior owner never bothered to really get the copper out. I purchased a used .243 a couple years back that took me two evenings of cleaning to get all the copper out of.
What did you use and what was the process to get all the copper out?
What was weird though was I cleaned a brand new rifle that I’ve maybe put around 70 rounds through and the first patch I put through it came out blue. It never has before so why would it now all of a sudden? So I figured it had to be my cleaning rod, jag, and etc.
Thank you for explaining things better for me. I never took into account the age of the rifle and how far along cleaners have come since then. Do you have any recommendations on copper and carbon cleaners and a good process for cleaning? So far I have just been using hoppes 9 synthetic blend and hoppes gun oil.
One other question. How long do you normally let bore cleaner sit in the barrel? I just realized I am probably not letting it sit long enough at all. I normally run a wet patch through. 60 or so seconds more later I run dry patches through until clean. Am I doing this wrong or is there a better way?
@Enzo_T, thank you for a more complete explanation of the process. And yes, older rifles would typically only get Hoppe’s #9 and oil. While it would work well with carbon, it does not get the carbon in layers. The one thing that I would add is I use a copper brush in between carbon and copper cycles. It does a great job of loosening up the carbon.
@CDW15, some of the good cleaners are Sweet’s, as mentioned above. I also like Montana Xtreame copper cleaner. My general cleaner that I use on carbon is Butch’s bore shine. That is a good general purpose cleaner, but the copper solvent is not as aggressive as the other ones mentioned, meaning that it will take a lot more work to get that stubborn copper out. I have also had decent results with the foaming bore cleaner products such as Hoppe’s and Outers Foaming bore cleaner, but they work more like the Butch’s in that they dont go after the copper as aggressively as Sweet’s or Montana.
One last thing, most solvents, especially copper solvents, should not be left in the bore for extended time periods. Read the directions to ensure you are not leaving it in too long. Also, make sure that you run a couple dry patches to ensure all solvent is out of the bore. If the rifle is not going to be shot right away, make sure to run a wet oil patch down the bore to protect the metal and to run a dry patch prior to shooting your rifle to remove the oil before you shoot. Finally, certain oils, such as Kroil Oil, can be useful in that they can creep into the layers and soften the fouling, so if you are not done, but wont get back to it for a few days, let it sit with a good oil such as that to soften up the fouling.
@Enzo_T@Brian139
I really appreciate the advice and help. That is one thing I make sure to do is clean all cleaning solvents out of my guns before I put them away. Then I also run a oiled patch through at the end. So I’m already on top of that. I’ll look into the cleaners you guys have listed and go from there. If you or anyone can think of anything else to add to the conversation please let me know.
