What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Please post your favorite cleaning tools and supplies.

A tool for cleaning M14/M1A chambers, beats the ratcheting military style brush by a long shot (and that brush can break on you leaving it stuck in the chamber).

http://www.gggaz.com/index.php?id=242&parents=121

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I only use two things: Bore Snake and Break Free CLP (non-aerosol). Fast,thorough, and easy.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I second the non-aerosol clp and bore snake. Carry a small knife and a piece of a cleaning rod for carbon build-up and a few q-tips.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Haven't done a side by side comparison with CorrosionX and this product, but a buddy has put one of his hunting shotguns through a real torture test using this product and he swears by it.

http://personalsecurityzone.com/cgi-...roductID=12128

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I use Bore Snakes where practical, Break Free CLP, Gun Scrubber (for synthetics), Hoppes No.9, and NPro7...

Also 1" cotton patches for .22s, 2" for 6mm and .30 cal. and push them along with Dewey coated cleaning rods...

For pistols, use proper sized bore brush with nylon bristles...

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

What are you doing for copper fouling?

A shooting buddy swears by this stuff - http://www.boretech.com/products/eliminator.shtml

And for the severe cases of copper fouling - http://www.boretech.com/products/copperremover.shtml

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

And from what I've been told Bore Tech also has the hot tip for carbon solvent resistant one piece cleaning rods. Those carbon fiber rods are subject to being broken down by your cleaning solvent.

http://www.boretech.com/products/borestix7mm.shtml

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Have you a source for deals on bulk patches?

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Hoppes makes pre-cut patches. Cut-up old tee shirts work fine, too.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I picked up a used M1A the other day and it appeared it had not had a patch through it in years. Pretty disgusting looking bore. On the advice of one of my shooting buddies I used this product and it cleared it right out, bright and shiny now. This is some really good shit - double plus good.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1...ANING_COMPOUND

And here's the formula for the final polish - http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1...g__BORE_BRIGHT

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Yes, old tee shirts work great, when you have any laying around.

Looking for a bulk wholesale source. I suppose I can check for the Goodwill toss asides for the old tees.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

One of my favorite pieces, a Govt. Model, was subjected to a condensation situation. The top surface of the slide was covered with rust, as was the front of the grip and trigger guard. I thought for sure I was going to have to have it re-finished. Then another buddy clued me into this product for rust removal without harming the bluing. I was skeptical at first, but I tried it on a small but deep rust spot on my Model 12 shotgun. I learned from that experience to use the lightest of touches with the 0000 steel wool as well as to allow it time to work. I then used an extremely light touch with the steel wool and the Blue Wonder on my sad looking Govt. Model. I was blown away. Rust gone, bluing intact. This stuff is f'ing incredible.

Warning! Use the lightest touch possible and allow it time to work when removing rust from blued steel. It took me about 30 minutes to work over my Govt. Model. I have not had success on phosphate finishes (parkerizing).

http://www.bluewonder.us/BlueWonderGunCleaner.html

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Has anyone tried Kleen Bore's Copper Cutter for copper fouling?

I haven't tried it myself, but it's been recommended to me as working very well.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I use the Otis systems, they are fantastic. I have the eilte all caliber in its case on the workbench and a couple of the compact kits to bring along in the gun cases of whatever I'm using. I just switch brushes for the calbers I'll be using that day or that trip.:ok:
Love em!

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Due to 20 years of rifle competition, I've done and seen more barrel cleaning than most. If you go where a large number of accuracy fanatics are maintaining their equipment you will find some things that are virtually universal.

Cleaning cradle: Device to hold the rifle muzzle down during cleaning process

Bore Protector: Only used if cleaning from breech end. A device inserted into the breech that keeps cleaning rod centered in bore and keeps it from scraping lands and grooves. It also keeps fluids and solvents in the bore and not in the action or trigger mech.

Cleaning rod, bore brushes and patches: I know some of you swear by the bore snake but if you go to a match where top end shooters are cleaning their Kreiger or Hart (or whatever) barrels, they will be using the old system. The cleaning rod will NOT be multi-piece aluminum, it will be single piece bare stainless or plastic coated. Oh yeah, if you have any stainless steel bore brushes, take them out and bury them now.


Cleaning solvent: A copper fouled barrel won't shoot, period, and factory barrels are bad about copper fouling. A copper removing solvent will be used by any competitor of any discipline. Most are ammonia based, some very strong. There are probably 50 different brands, all with people who swear by them. I have settled on the Bore Tech Eliminator. Its the only one that I know of that isn't ammonia based. It is at least as aggressive against copper and powder fouling as any of the others but you can safely leave it in the bore. Just my way but I'll do a couple of patches and bore brush with Hoppes to get powder fouling because the Eliminator will rapidly destroy the bore brushes. All copper cleaners will immediately turn blue or green in the presence of copper. If you've run 20 patches through and they are still coming out electric blue, read about bore paste below.

Bore paste: This isn't universal but it's common. It is an abrasive paste put on a very tight patch and "short stroked" down the barrel. The abrasive compound is harder than powder or copper fouling but nowhere hard enough to abrade barrel steel. If you clean your barrel well, you will only occasionally use paste.

Break Free: commonly used but most competitors use carburetor cleaner, it's cheaper and does the same thing.

PS: Don't use WD40

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...m/cleaning.jpg

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

What's the blue and yellow thing attached to the muzzle?

Gregg

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

That's a patch collector. I use a cheaper version (as in free), I took a two-pound Vhita Vouri powder container, cut one side off and strapped it to my cradle using plastic wire ties.

Found this picture of one of my rifles buried in my computer, think I took this last year to illustrate another cleaning thread here on GIM.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...aningsetup.jpg

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Anyone have an opinion on Gunslick Foaming Bore Cleaner?

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

What is the thought of solid brass cleaning rods? Is it the fact that the brass is soft and can pick up grit/particulates that will eventually scratch the barrel?

I also notice a lot of cheap bronze/brass brushes have a steel wound core, basically negating the fact that the bristles are brass if you somehow get that core poking the barrel etc.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

http://www.deweyrods.com/

I prefer the plastic coated rods by J. Dewey, though brass is probably soft enough to be just fine for cleaning firearms...

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I woulda thought so, I also have heard that some are so paranoid that they worry about what even the plastic may harbor. So they stick to SS. I dunno, I don't think I'll ever be that accurate/obsessive compulsive anyway.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I'd think that if your bore was foaming, it would really need cleaning. :biggrin:

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

It will be too late for shots...:biggrin:

Oh, different kind of foaming....Sorry...:biggrin:

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I don't get it. A fouled bore will turn a mediocre shooting rifle into a horrible shooter. A cleaning rod, patches and solvent is the basics. Just which of those 3 to you think unnecessary?

If you're in the military, you'll damn sure clean your rifle. Do you think that is just a form of make work?

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

And for those who want to get as 'basic' as possible for as cheap as possible, there's always the homebrewed 'Ed's Red' bore cleaner and lubricant, which is pretty awesome in it's own right. You can find the recipe for Ed's Red and plenty of commentary on it via your favorite search engine.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Semper Fi

TomD
1969-1973

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Even more economical patches, 1,000 pieces of 100% cotton flannel - http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1...EANING_PATCHES

Cheaper still - http://www.letargets.com/estylez_item.aspx?item=GAI-07

Might want to do a price check on these, they show to be extremely cheap on this webpage - http://www.opticsplanet.net/hoppes-r...g-patches.html

Very low price here as well, but no specifics - http://www.agrisportsinc.com/cleanin...k-p-28589.html

Or you can go down to the fabric store and buy exactly the material you want by the yard and cut it yourself with a rolling knife and a fabric cutting pad, which is what I think I'll do.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Usually I use a Tipton carbon fiber 1 piece. On lever guns like Marlin or Ruger 10-22 I use a bore snake. Most always hoppes or clp.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I'm not a big cleaner. I have a SOCOM 16 with a few k down the tube w/ no cleaning other than a wipedown.

I do shoot a lot of corrosive, be it milsurp or blackpowder, so I use Ballistol a lot, and love it. Just field strip and hose it down, it's not really cleaned, but you won't end up with any orange fuzzies, just a nice coat of oil. (You do have to scrub out the coke left from BP.) Takes less than half the time of hot water/ammonia then oiling.:ok:

For regular cleaning it's surplus GI patches bought cheap at gunshows, a Dewey rod, Hoppes, CLP, and an old sock/tshirt/etc, with a few specialty tools thrown in as needed per the platform.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

For pistols, my tools of choice are a bore snake, some foaming bore cleaner if I am not shooting plain lead, any decent gun oil, and a nylon toothbrush. Pistols get lubed with Slide Glide.

For rimfires, I use a bore snake and CLP. Rimfires do not suffer from copper buildup; it is all lead and unburned powder. My rimfire bore snake is made from an old fishing line with a point made by melting the end. I just puncture a patch and clean in a few passes. Rimfires do not need much cleaning.

For centerfire rifles, I use a J. Dewey rod, brass jags, patches, Sweet's 7.62, and CLP. Chambers are cleaned with a chamber brush, often with Hoppe's solvent. The Sweet's gets the copper out fast, but the Sweets needs to be removed quickly.

Shotguns get cleaned with a chamber brush and a bore snake. I am more concerned about plastic buildup in the chamber than lead/powder in the barrel.

Other stuff I keep: assorted rags, a portable rug than can used for cleaning at the range, screwdriver set, hex head drivers, Renaissance paste wax, brass mallet, Kroil penetrating oil for cleaning suppressors, and gloves for my hands.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

All I own is a Glock, so I don't even have a cleaning kit:ok:

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

I forgot to include the link where the fellow wrote about cutting your own - http://www.chuckhawks.com/gun_cleaning_patches.htm

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Boresnake and Ballistol.

Re: What are your favorite cleaning kit and supplies?
 

Tom, what is your objection to WD40? I've used it before as a cheaper way to flush out debris and carbon. Then follow up with CLP as a final lube. Just looking to learn from your experiences. Thanks. :coolbeer: