One Way Brushes

[NoMiss]

I read about shooters who only use brushes in one direction. I imagine that means they push the brush through, take it off of the rod, pull the rod out, reattach the brush and repeat. I can't see any reason for that. Can anybody explain.

 

[gaboon]

Doesn't damage the crown.

 

[Shynloco]

Doesn't damage the crown.

Yep! And I've done it both ways over the years and have never seen any advantage or sustained damage. Just don't be jerking hard on the rod on the back pull once the brush clears the crown. Remember, this ain't a strength exercise.

Alex

 

[fdshuster]

When I used to push and pull the bronze brush's thru the bore I always saw tiny bristles breaking 0ff, and when pulling, they end up in the chamber and receiver. No different than when you bend a piece of sheet metal back and forth so it will seperate quickly. I also had short brush life.

Also, even with a bore guide a lot of the dirt from the bore is being deposited in the front of the chamber and in the bore guide. The trigger is in a good location to receive many of these droppings.

A normal cleaning involves about 15 brush strokes, in 3 groups of 5 each, so for me, no big deal.

Everyone is free to do whatever they believe is best, and I'll continue to take the little extra time to remove the brush and stab jags in front of the muzzle.

 

[TrxR]

Fdshuster : so you dont backstroke your brush at all. You just push it through the remove it? No scrubing?

Thanks

 

[bheadboy]

i found back brushing created a cleanup problem in the chamber, locking lug area and at times on top of the trigger as the brush would drag stuff back down and out of the bbl.

by stroking the brush only in one direction the advantage also exist of not flexing the bristles back and forward, a motion that on brass ultimately cause them to break off and you do not know when or where the parts land,.

Bob

 

[fdshuster]

TrxR: Yes, push from chamber to muzzle only.

There were a few times when inspecting the bore with my Hawkeye after cleaning, I found a piece of bristle laying in the bore, in the 90 degree corner where the land meets the groove. A tight fitting patch would not remove it. Had to do more brushing and wetting down the bore. I don't think a bullet passing over the bronze bristle would do the barrel any good.

I also don't like to pull the stab jag across the crown(s) since all the 90 degree angled undercuts will contact the crown at the 6:00 position, going in reverse when it no longer has the covered protection of the patch.

Call me overly cautious, but I've never had to have a barrel crown re-cut. One in particular, a 6ppc chambering that had 2200 rounds on the first chambering, has an additional 1875 on it now since the first set-back, and the crown cannot be told from new. It is nearing the end, but not because of crown damage.

 

[Preacher]

Plus 1 on only one way brushing....

 

[TrxR]

Do you all suggest brass or the nylon coated ones?

 

[fdshuster]

TrxR: I use he Sinclair bronze brush's, buy them in the 12 packs. They are the most effective when new with resistance. When they become noticably easier to push, I get rid of them.

Tried nylon brush's, checked the results with the borescope, and prefer the bronze.

 

[nosualc]

I've always thought of barrels as one way streets.

I only use a brush only when I have to (rarely), and when I do it goes from chamber (bore guide actually) to muzzle. Nothing ever goes the other way.

Brushes get thrown away after using.

-nosualc

 

[savagedasher]

I read about shooters who only use brushes in one direction. I imagine that means they push the brush through, take it off of the rod, pull the rod out, reattach the brush and repeat. I can't see any reason for that. Can anybody explain.

They pretty much don't know anything about barrel cleaning. When your hands are dirty do you just put soap on them and rub them one way. A barrel needs to be cleaned just like you do your dirty hands.
Two thing you must remove from a barrel is copper from the bullet and baked in powder residue. Solvents only loose it does not remove it When you patch or brush one way you only clean one side of the lands.
Watch the cleaning process al the bench rest shooter do .They wet brush both directions and patch from the breach.
Larry

 

[Nomad47]

I agree with nosualc. I rarely use a brush and never use chemicals. Just dry patches.

 

[nosualc]

I read about shooters who only use brushes in one direction. I imagine that means they push the brush through, take it off of the rod, pull the rod out, reattach the brush and repeat. I can't see any reason for that. Can anybody explain.

They pretty much don't know anything about barrel cleaning. When your hands are dirty do you just put soap on them and rub them one way. A barrel needs to be cleaned just like you do your dirty hands.
Two thing you must remove from a barrel is copper from the bullet and baked in powder residue. Solvents only loose it does not remove it When you patch or brush one way you only clean one side of the lands.
Watch the cleaning process al the bench rest shooter do .They wet brush both directions and patch from the breach.
Larry

And yet my barrels are clean, shoot very well, and I've never damaged a crown or needed to re-crown. Maybe there's more than one way to skin a cat, eh?

-nosualc

 

[savagedasher]

I thought mine were clean also and they shot very well. Then I got a bore scope. Not only were the not clean but they now shoot better. Larry

 

[nosualc]

My bore scope shows mine to be clean too.

In fact, I believe the value of a bore scope is in its ability to show you exactly how much or how little cleaning effort you need to keep your barrel clean. For me it has shown me that wipe out without a brush takes care of cleaning my barrel 90% of the time without using a brush at all.

When I do use rarely use a brush, I don't need to scrub it to and fro, a half dozen chamber to muzzle strokes with a fresh brush and a proper solvent does the job.

Some folks find they have good results with heavy brush usage. Great, have at it. Glad it works for you.

But like I said, there's more than one way to skin a cat. To say that folks who do it in a way different than you don't know anything is as silly as your hand washing analogy.

-nosualc

 

[Lapua40X]

I thought mine were clean also and they shot very well. Then I got a bore scope. Not only were the not clean but they now shoot better. Larry

Likewise ....
I had what I thought was a "clean" bore. Even with a bore scope it looked clean to me. An old and very long time shooter friend of mine showed me what carbon deposits look like with the bore scope (I thought the shiny surfaces were a good thing; turns out they were simply polished carbon deposits) and how the bore should look (using a new barrel as an example). It's more than just black deposits and alligator skin.
I brush both directions, making sure the crown isn't damaged when pulling the brush to the rear. I also spray the brush with a bit of carburetor cleaner before pulling it back after each of the first couple of forward strokes to remove any large pieces of carbon that might scratch if they get pulled back through the barrel.
Each of my cleaning processes involve anywhere from 30 to 100 brush strokes in sets of ten strokes, with a solvent soaked patch between sets, and I have yet to find any negative result from that practice.

 

[nicholst55]

Does anyone pull their brush from chamber to muzzle? I have heard some advocate this.

 

[fdshuster]

Then it's not possible to use a bore guide. Damage to the crown seems more likely. You would still need to go into the chamber to dry it thoroughly with an oversize patch. If there is solvent on the patch and/or brush, then at least some of it is going to drip onto and into the trigger.

Use that method if you like, I'll continue to go from the chamber to the muzzle.

 

[Lapua40X]

Does anyone pull their brush from chamber to muzzle? I have heard some advocate this.

I've read where some use the Hoppe's "Bore Snake" for that purpose. It should not be difficult to line up the tool to pull through the bore from the chamber, with or without a bore guide (but I think I'd still want to use a bore guide) but I haven't tried the bore snake so I can't speak from experience about using the "pull through" technique.