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Bronze Or Nylon Brush For Cleaning?

Hey all.

What would be the best one for cleaning a barrel and not damage it?

I presumed bronze was fine untill a friend bought a Cooper rifle and in the manual is says to use nylon.
 
use montana extreme nylon and let your cleaner chemicals do the work.
always push thru and don't pull back thru
 
yup!

hold your hand at the end when the brush exits and feel the spray! if you pull it back it will do the same to your action and trigger etc...unless you use a sealed bore guide.
push the gunk out,dont pull it back thru

pulling a bronze brush back thru the crown is not good for it over time.
 
I don't ever use a brush. Nylon doesn't do anything and bronze leaves as much in the bore as it takes out.

Good solvent and patches are all you need. And some JB once in a while.
 
You will get many different answers & opinions. I patch out about 6 to 8 times, then use a bronze brush & patch then repeat brush/patch sequence about 6 to 8 times more or less depending on the powder. Use the bronze brush sparingly. Nylon works a little but not as good as bronze in my experience. I'm sure others will chime in. You came to a great site.
Happy shooting.
 
Read this article and try to decide for yourself:

http://www.6mmbr.com/borebrushing.html

I've never encounter a topic about anything with more controversy and difference of opinion then cleaning a barrel. It is like the tootsie pop question. The world may never know.
 
From what I understand, copper brushes are barrel killers. If just one of the bristles breaks off and gets lodged in the barrel, a fired bullet will mash that sucker and score the rifling. Not a good thing.

FWIW, pushing a nylon brush through the barrel and having to unscrew it before you withdraw the cleaning rod is too much work for me. I've had good luck with using a patch soaked in Hoppes to remove a good bit of the fouling. After that, I will push a patch w/ Sweets, let it sit and repeat until the barrel is clean. Then another patch with Hoppes to remove any Sweets residue, followed by dry patches until the barrel is dry.
 
I have started using the Isso blue brushes and have been impressed with them so far. They are lot stiffer than the ordinary nylon brushes and clean a heck of lot better and plus they have held up to Barnes CR 10.
 
Walt_NC said:
From what I understand, copper brushes are barrel killers. If just one of the bristles breaks off and gets lodged in the barrel, a fired bullet will mash that sucker and score the rifling. Not a good thing.

.
WOW! Copper can score rifling? Could you explain what brand of physics is involved. Can you quote the source? This is some really interesting stuff. Do I need to quit shooting copper jacketed bullets?
 
armorpl8 - lay off. As a matter of fact a bristle stuck in the bore could plausibly score the barrel. Its not the relative hardness, but the comparative compressive strength that would matter. However, I've never seen nor heard of any evidence of such a thing happening. I'm glad too, because that would just be one more thing to worry about...

As for the actual question: There are lots of methods of cleaning barrels, and we've probably all used a handful of them. This isn't surprising because different barrels and different chamberings foul differently. I would recommend getting or borrowing a borescope. Then, let your barrel tell you what it wants.

-Mark
 
armorpl8 said:
WOW! Copper can score rifling? Could you explain what brand of physics is involved. Can you quote the source? This is some really interesting stuff. Do I need to quit shooting copper jacketed bullets?

You don't need to do anything besides acquaint yourself with Wheaton's Law.

"Score" was not an entirely accurate choice of words. Allow me to restate: when a bullet makes contact with a copper bristle that was accidently left in the barrel, it can damage said barrel. This is based on of the Pauli Exclusionary Principle (the physics you were asking about). The Pauli Principle more or less says that two objects cannot occupy the same space.

To demonstrate, put a little too much lube on a case and mash it up in sizing die. The lube will dent the brass every time even though it's much "softer" and has a lower density. Why does this happen? Because inside that die, there is a ton pressure being applied and the excess lube has nowhere to go. The lube only be be compressed so much. "But brass cases are soft. That could never happen to a stainless barrel". Put enough pressure behind it and even water can cut steel.

Going back to the Pauli Principle: a 168 gr. bullet is travelling down a barrel @ 2800 fps with tens of thousands of PSI behind it. The bullet meets a bit of metal left in the barrel. Neither the bullet nor the bit of metal have any place to go. Physics would dictate that something has got to give.

The "source" that first explained this to me was John @ (Leonard) Baity's Custom Gunworks. I believe he is Leonard's son. His experience and background + the fact that his argument is supported by physics leads me to believe him.
 
"The bullet meets a bit of metal left in the barrel. Neither the bullet nor the bit of metal have any place to go. Physics would dictate that something has got to give."

Agreed, something has to give, but the barrel is much harder than either the errant bristle or the bullet. The barrel isn't the object, in this scenario, that is going to yield.
 
I agree that it’s not likely that the barrel will be the one to yield, though I believe it’s possible due to the bullets force applying substantial pressure/friction to such a small area. Obviously I’m not a metallurgist, though if there are any on the forum: how small does a partial obstruction need to be in order to cause unsafe stresses on the barrel or even catastrophic failure?

A friend of mine just pointed out that the kinds of pressure/friction/heat created by in a scenario like this could be enough to cause the bit of copper to braze to either the bullet or the barrel. It doesn’t seem like either would be good for accuracy.
 
Theory and conjecture is all anyone is putting forth as I suspected. Noone has ever seen evidence of a bore scored by a bullet running over a bronze bristle. Don't tell me to lay off. The lube in the die trick does not apply here. That is an example of hydraulics. If this errant bristle theory had any merit then simple copper fouling could present a problem as it builds up.
 
Who would build a custom gun or buy a factory target rifle and not buy a bore guide before cleaning it the first time? I always follow the bronze or nylon brushing with several patches. I have seen brush particles on the first patch several times. That is why I patch until there is nothing on the patches. Later! Frank
 
I will agree with Frank on this one, and I think there's a time for both, brass and nylon, plus lots of patches, and I believe most barrel Mfg would say the same.
And I didn't know that lube would compress, at all.
 
armorpl8 said:
Theory and conjecture is all anyone is putting forth as I suspected. Noone has ever seen evidence of a bore scored by a bullet running over a bronze bristle. Don't tell me to lay off. The lube in the die trick does not apply here. That is an example of hydraulics.

And hydraulics is really just the transfer of force via pressure. You are obviously adamant in your position that it is impossible for a copper bristle to damage a barrel. I am anxious for you to provide your own theory as to why this is impossible (supported by whatever "brand" of physics you choose).

armorpl8 said:
If this errant bristle theory had any merit then simple copper fouling could present a problem as it builds up.

Your statement would have merit if copper fouling did not build up uniformly, along the entire length of the barrel.
 

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