Brushes !

There seems to be to schools of thought over on my side of the pond when it comes to brushes Bronze or Nylon ! Personally I've always used Bronze but I thought it my be intersting to see other peoples preferances of the two ?

Dave

I like the bronze, but i use a nylon brush as a jag it will work in everything but my 22

I'm very fond of the Tetra Jags that are shaped like little pistons for all of my rifles . I do'nt reckon that a nylon brush moves gunk as well as a bronze brush ! Yet a few Bench rest shooters I spoken to won't use Bronze unless they have to.As they say it wears barrels out! I suppose they are more concerned with accuracy than me But I'd frie more rounds off in a week than some would fire in a year! Myself & a lot of the other Pro shooters I know go through a barrel every year if not sooner ! My Barrel maker is still not talking to me since I retired!

Dave

I like bronze a lot better, especially with lead fouling. I think a lot of folks have trouble with them because they were never taught to use them properly i.e. never reverse it in the bore - push it ALL the way then pull it ALL the way. The nylon ones are perfect for those who like to scrubby-scrubby like they are tooth brushing, and they're a little better when you are using solvents to remove copper fouling, they don't add any blueness so you know when the patch is white, it's all gone. Both have their places. :coffee:

The biggest problem with the brass/bronze brushes is if you're using Sweet's, or another copper solvent. The Sweet's, etc., will both destroy the brush AND give you a false positive "blue" on your patch.

I don't use brushes much any more, unless wrapped with a patch around it and JB and Kroil. Sometimes need that stuff to get the "crud" out.

For pistol (not sure it wouldn't work in a rifle), I wrap copper mesh from copper pads such as "Chor Boy" around an old brush. A few swipes with it and the lead is out of my pistols, should work in rifles as well. Much faster than playing around with a brush. Just make sure the copper pads are not just copper coated, I hear some are, you want 100% copper cleaning pads like your wife uses on her pots.

Stay Safe

Hey Bob I've tryed it, it works good. But i mostly use them pistol brushes with the handle i pick up at the gunshows. A lot better brushes than the ones at wal-mart

I ordered a 38 wc mould from midway so i'll be cleaning lead. It's about time for snake and turtle shooting

Hey are you serious about a snake shoot. Don't like to tell stories on myself but heck, I made up some shotshells for my .45LC. Use cardboard from cereal boxes for wads. Top wad is crimped on then I apply wax as a sealer. At close range the darn rounds work like they should. Would be a great snake load EXCEPT we don't have any snakes up here other than garter snakes and they are good for the area as they keep the mice in check. Kind of feel like I got a boat but no motor...

Stay Safe

Bronze brushes don't wear out barrels. Dirt, neglect, and improper cleaning does. I've seen far more bbls. ruined by not cleaning than by cleaning or using bronze brushes. I'd have to say the stainless brushes are too tough on bbls. though. Chore Boys are good. J-B paste is okay once in a while, too. Nylon is good in conjunction with copper solvents. Some of the concoctions people use can be tough on a bbl., also. Plugging a bbl. and letting it sit too long with ammonia will etch one. I don't have any real old guns but do have one that's about 35 yrs. old and has shot truck loads of coyotes and praire dogs. I clean it often and it still shoots into nice, tight 1/4 in. groups so I don't buy this business that cleaning wears out a bbl. Think about it. If a copper jacketed bullet at
3700 FPS takes thousands of rounds to wear out a bbl. then why would a lowly bronze brush hurt? Even with the wear that occurs with bullets it's not the bore that wears out first, it's the leade just ahead of the chamber. Ain't no way a flexible, clean, solvent-soaked brush is going to wear out a bbl. No way!