What cleaning equipment do I need?

[GazMorris]

Get a good quality nylon-coated cleaning rod, any sensible solvent (I use Hoppe's #9) and some good quality 4-by-2 flannelette, a rod guide and a chamber stick. That's about all you'll need IMHO. I used to use a phosphor-bronze brush but don't find any real advantage to one that a little patience won't solve. I put an ammonia-based cleaner down the bore maybe once or twice per year for a really thorough clean, but don't really need to do this more than that to prevent copper buildup.

Poor cleaning materials and technique will reduce the accurate life of your barrel. A little care and attention (which cost nothing other than a tiny but of extra time) will ensure you get your money's worth and with a top quality TR barrel costing the best part of £600 these days fitted and proofed this seems like a small price to pay.

Gaz

[dave_303]

Never known a bore snake of any type to snap yet. I do check them regularly for wear though, as I do with any pull through type.

Be interesting to see if it has happened to anyone on here or if anyone has first hand knowledge of it happening to someone else.

As a testament to bore snakes, a few years ago when a friend of mine first got involved in fullbore shooting he got himself a Mauser K98K and a 8mm Bore snake. He wasn't getting great results after using some nasty Yugo milsurp ammo so decided to attach 2 or 3 4x2 patches to the end of it, doubled up, needless to say it got stuck. Nothing we could do to shift it. So we padded a vice, clamped the rifle in, I got him to hold it whilst I attached the end to a piece of long wood and started twisting it.

To cut it short the bore snake came out in one piece, though it did get awfully thin under the tension. Barrel was undamaged and extremely clean and he still uses the bore snake now