The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Used correctly a boresnake can save some time and effort later in cleaning if you remove some of the carbon whilst the barrel is still warm, at least is my understanding.

You should, however, always be VERY conscious of the crown when pulling a boresnake through your rifle, as any pressure not directly parralel to the direction of the barrel could see the "cord" of the boresnake wearing grooves in the crown of your barrel.

With this in mind, I am after soem additional boresnakes - one for my 12g and one for my 20g to give them a "once over" between shoots where I know that I'll be shooting again the next week. Currently I'm giving my shotguns a thorough clean after each shoot, and whilst it seems like good practice, I think it's a little unneccessary, especially when only shooting 25 rounds of 20g and 40 rounds of 12g at any one time - Is there such a thing as overcleaning...? if there is, I may be doing it.

My point here, anyone that's still with me, is this: Are the cheaper (£4?) boresnakes on ebay any good?

The only one I have is a .22 boresnake and I made sure it was Hoppes. However if I were to get one for each calibre 20 and 12, then I'm looking at almost £40 - as opposed to the £8 I could get the cheaper ones for.

Anyone got any experience...?

ta, TG

Personally I wouldn't buy a cheapy, wouldn't want the risk of the cord snapping.

Airbrush wrote:Personally I wouldn't buy a cheapy, wouldn't want the risk of the cord snapping.

Surely you run the same risk with a Hoppes. or are you saying the build quality is worse...? From experience?

Airbrush wrote:Personally I wouldn't buy a cheapy, wouldn't want the risk of the cord snapping.

This.

No Experience of the cheap ones, but my first reaction would be why take the risk of damaging your barrel for the sake of a few quid? If they retail for £4-£8 it means they're probably being made in China for 50p, which in turn means the quality will be questionable.

On the other hand, it isn't unknown for factories in China to sell genuine original manufactured goods 'out the back door' to unscrupulous exporters, which means you could be buying the original item at a fraction of the price. Doesn't go on so much these days, but it may be an idea to buy one of the cheap ones and compare it to a 'real' one. I suspect you'll see a difference, however.

Ben Denise wrote:

Airbrush wrote:Personally I wouldn't buy a cheapy, wouldn't want the risk of the cord snapping.

This.

As Above. More risk with the cheapy ones than Hoppes based on what? build quality? Materials used? From experience?

JSC wrote:No Experience of the cheap ones, but my first reaction would be why take the risk of damaging your barrel for the sake of a few quid? If they retail for £4-£8 it means they're probably being made in China for 50p, which in turn means the quality will be questionable.

On the other hand, it isn't unknown for factories in China to sell genuine original manufactured goods 'out the back door' to unscrupulous exporters, which means you could be buying the original item at a fraction of the price. Doesn't go on so much these days, but it may be an idea to buy one of the cheap ones and compare it to a 'real' one. I suspect you'll see a difference, however.

There is the rub. Are they from the same factory out the back door, made in the same plant?

Hoppes ones are apparently made in china too, so....

TattooedGun wrote:

Ben Denise wrote:

Airbrush wrote:Personally I wouldn't buy a cheapy, wouldn't want the risk of the cord snapping.

This.

As Above. More risk with the cheapy ones than Hoppes based on what? build quality? Materials used? From experience?

Experience. Had a non branded snake cord snap, luckily managed to pull the rest out backwards (the brush part hadn't entered the chamber). Never had a problem with a Hoppes, I use them on .22, .357 and .308.

TattooedGun wrote:

JSC wrote:No Experience of the cheap ones, but my first reaction would be why take the risk of damaging your barrel for the sake of a few quid? If they retail for £4-£8 it means they're probably being made in China for 50p, which in turn means the quality will be questionable.

On the other hand, it isn't unknown for factories in China to sell genuine original manufactured goods 'out the back door' to unscrupulous exporters, which means you could be buying the original item at a fraction of the price. Doesn't go on so much these days, but it may be an idea to buy one of the cheap ones and compare it to a 'real' one. I suspect you'll see a difference, however.

There is the rub. Are they from the same factory out the back door, made in the same plant?

Hoppes ones are apparently made in china too, so....

Everything (pretty much) is made in China these days. They can and do manufacture high quality goods, but only when they are managed well by QA inspectors and told to use good quality materials. Left to their own devices, they use the cheapest materials and churn out product as fast and cheaply as they can.

I doubt the cheap bore snakes are true clones, especially as someone has had one snap on them. You won't be able to snap a genuine one unless you're the Incredible Hulk.

Only ever used Hoppes branded ones so can't give a comparison. However, even if one does snap its far easier and less risking fishing one out of smooth shotgun barrel than a smaller & rifled, rifle barrel.