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Premium custom cleaning rod market??

gunsandgunsmithing

M.Ezell
Gold $$ Contributor
I've kicked this around for a while and made a couple of prototype rods. I'm wondering if there is a market for a truly premium carbon fiber cleaning rod. One that won't impale you, leaving you to bleed out with a bunch of nasty fibers in your wrist. Lol!

I've read all the hullabaloo about carbon fiber being abrasive. Trust me, I've tested for this and it's a complete non issue. I believe cf is a near perfect material as long as it never breaks and becomes a serious issue if it gets run up your wrist. I'd much rather have a cf rod than a steel(drill rod) rod, as long as the other issues are addressed. It would be similar in design to a Dewey coated rod...a carbon wrapped steel rod but with premium bearings and handles, seals, etc, and likely titanium rather than brass for the jag/brush end, so it doesn't react with cleaners yet is strong and far less likely to damage a crown etc than steel. Very rigid design. Obviously, it would also come with a premium price and it could be offered with or without custom fitted bore guides. Very roughly, a rod without a bore guide would be somewhat north of a dead Benjamin, probably about $150ish

Just wondering your thoughts while I'm laid up from surgery.
 
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mfendley said:
Would the $150 be of sufficient length for 26-28" barrels? If so, I would be interested, depending on the additional cost of the bore guide.
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I'd probably have some for very common lengths on hand but being custom, I think I could do them for just about any conceivable length, so yes. 26-28 should be pretty common. I would want them to be pretty close to whatever is needed by the customer, without a lot of extra/unneeded length. Within a couple of inches anyway. Smallish handle od for stock/knuckle clearance, probably coated or just delrin.
 
My first question would be what's the benefit of carbon fiber over whatever Dewey is using to coat his.

Also, Dewey does have rods with aluminum instead of brass for the jag/brush end. What would the benefit of titanium be?

FWIW, I tried a carbon fiber rod but went back to the Dewey due to balance. I like the balance of the Dewey better.
 
No coated rods for me. Might be a great time for a good rod with the raising of the price to purchase and have a new barrel installed. Some are probably taking better care of barrels than they have.Just be sure it's is long enough. Aluminum butt plates eat up knuckles.
 
jelenko said:
My first question would be what's the benefit of carbon fiber over whatever Dewey is using to coat his.

Also, Dewey does have rods with aluminum instead of brass for the jag/brush end. What would the benefit of titanium be?

FWIW, I tried a carbon fiber rod but went back to the Dewey due to balance. I like the balance of the Dewey better.
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Less embedding of dirt with cf vs coated and stiffness but Dewey makes a good rod. Not knocking them at all. As for balance, I think you'd like the feel of these because it has a drill rod core beneath the cf. As for titanium vs aluminum, again, less embedding of grit etc. and other than strength in an area where it's not very critical...not much other advantage of Ti and may well use aluminum in this application. Not a lot of material there so not a lot of cost difference to go with it over aluminum.

I'm just bouncing this off of the members here. Not sure if there is enough demand to fool with them or not. Like most things, making one of something is a lot more expensive per piece than making several or lots.
 
TRSR8 said:
FWIW, unless you’re married to carbon, take note of what Jerry Stiller did for the RFBR crowd, a hardened, melonited SS rod, think I paid $160 for mine, nice aluminum holder included.
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I'm familiar with what Jerry did and it's what got me thinking about another way to do it. It just defeats the purpose with it being a bare steel rod and it posed a lot of challenges for him to make them without warping, as I understand it. This approach gives a very stiff and quite straight rod. FWIW, in a perfect world, a steel rod is fine. But in reality, there are times when a steel rod can hit/slap the bore and almost certainly damage it if it does. A well fitted patch/jag or brush goes a really long way here but things happen that prevent every stroke of a rod from being a nice smooth push every time. That's when I don't want a bare rod.
 
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If it's as good as anything else out there, I don't want to do it. A good salesman can sell ice cream to Eskimos...I'm not a good salesman so I only want to make things that I honestly believe are the best. That's the honest truth. It'd be easier for me to just buy an equally good product than try to make something better. But if I think it's worthwhile, others probably will too. That makes it easy to sell.
 
The most important thing with a coated rod is its resistance to particles embedding. That is what can cause damage to the barrel’s ID.

What does Dewey use. Just my opinion, but what ever it s, it will be difficult to improve upon.

I have been using the same two Dewey rods for years. One for the brush, the other the jag. I use the same rod for my 30 as the 6mm. I just change the brush or double the patch.

Often I use the worn 30 caliber brush in the 6mm.
 
In my opinion, between Dewey and Bore Tech, they have the market fairly well covered for high quality rifle cleaning rods if you are a "coated" rod advocate.

Where I saw a need is for a carbon fiber rod for 22 caliber revolvers that will minimize wear on the crown. Hoppe's has introduced a carbon fiber rod for such a purpose, their "Elite" pistol cleaning rod. I have one and it works very well.

So, for me the current market offers everything I need.
 
I make my own from pultruded carbon rods and bicycle hubs. Brass or aluminum tips are easy for me to make in a drill press that fit well enough. Current rod is 48" long and handles 32" barrels just fine. My main rod is 0.220" diameter.

I've thought about buying a really nice rod, but just can't justify it over a home made with ball bearings.
 
If it's a Cf over a steel rod it would be excellent.
I had been a fan of CF rods for years with the thought they were either straight or broke but they tend to flex and take much more effort to get through the barrel with a tight fitting patch.
After purchasing the Bore tech rods the last couple years I feel that they pass through the bore much easier, with that being said if you could combine the two and and have a steel core beneath the carbon fiber you would have the best of both products combined into one.
 
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