[BILLY D.]

t.j.

don't want to sound condescending here but as far as i'm concerned the bore snake is a great contrivance for field cleaning if you slip and fall and get mud, snow in your barrel and need to clean it.

do yourself a favor and purchase a coated one piece cleaning rod or a carbon fiber rod. you can also purchse a complete set of jags from 17>45 caliber for less than $20. you can also purchase caliber specific patches for around $10 per 1k. bristles bore brushes run about $12 per dozen. i buy almost all my cleaning supplies at midway usa. sinclair, natchez, and midsouth and lock, stock and barrel have similar deals. they are all polite and anxious to serve the customer. by the way, you also need a bore guide. saves dinging up the chamber in your rifle.

as far as cleaners go, i like the wipe out and lyman foaming bore cleaners. they are a godsend. put your rifle in a cradle or vise, padded jaws only please, barrel angled slightly down, squirt in the cleaner according to directions, let it set overnite if you want, when time expires run a clean patch through the rifle to push all the crud out and i then run a clean patch with hoppes through it and the cleaning chore is over. you will be amazed at how well it works.

if you have reservations about the foaming bore cleaners then my 2 favorites are sweets and cr-10. follow the destructions. if you use these to clean though i suggest using nylon bristle bore brushes because using brass will cause the bristles to deterioate and also cause a false reading on the presence of copper fouling. they turn blue.

if you need any further assistance, scream. i'm usually around.

good luck.