Cleaning rod advice needed......Best bang for buck?

[jess01999]

I have purchased a couple rifles of which I would like to take great care off for accuracy purposes. I have 2 or 3 walmart special 3 pc rod kits that I don't trust. What is the best bang for the buck rod that I can purchase and where? I have seen the Bore Tech and it looks nice. Any other advice such as complete kits would be helpful as well. Thanks to all.

[Guest 308Phantom]

I prefer the tipton rods, carbon fiber . I have tried several and I like the the best. Make sure you get a rod guide if you don't already have one.

[Rightwinger]

Plus one on the Tipton single piece coated rods!

[MikeW]

+1 on Tipton and I also use Dewy cleaning rods. If they are bolt guns use a bore guide.

[Guest nosnos]

I have found a bore snake to be useful on a rifle. But now you all have me thinking about the Tipton rods. Hopefully this isn't a hijack, but why a rod instead of a snake?

[MikeW]

I have found a bore snake to be useful on a rifle. But now you all have me thinking about the Tipton rods. Hopefully this isn't a hijack, but why a rod instead of a snake?

I have snakes but dont use them any more... I cant see dragging a dirty snake through the bore over and over again.... If I do use a snake at the range I always go chamber to bore.

[leroy]

I have snakes but dont use them any more... I cant see dragging a dirty snake through the bore over and over again.... If I do use a snake at the range I always go chamber to bore.

Mike:__________

RE: Bore Snake Cleaning: Take a quart glass jar with a lid, add some diswashing detergent( 2 or 3 drops) and warm water. Fill about half full and put the dirty snake in; then shake. Do it a couple more times. The sudsy water will will start out dirty and get clearer. Then rinse with warm water, squeeze the snake, then hang up to dry. Works like a charm.

RE: Jess -- Cleaning Rod: Spend the big bucks and buy a one piece Dewey. (PS: I'm sure the Tipton one piece are good too-- just more modern materials.) They cant be beat. While you are at it; buy a bore guide or muzzle guard for each rifle you clean. That's what the old benchresters did.

Kind regards,

LEROY

[jess01999]

Mike:__________

RE: Bore Snake Cleaning: Take a quart glass jar with a lid, add some diswashing detergent( 2 or 3 drops) and warm water. Fill about half full and put the dirty snake in; then shake. Do it a couple more times. The sudsy water will will start out dirty and get clearer. Then rinse with warm water, squeeze the snake, then hang up to dry. Works like a charm.

RE: Jess -- Cleaning Rod: Spend the big bucks and buy a one piece Dewey. (PS: I'm sure the Tipton one piece are good too-- just more modern materials.) They cant be beat. While you are at it; buy a bore guide or muzzle guard for each rifle you clean. That's what the old benchresters did.

Kind regards,

LEROY

Thanks to all for the advice..........In the past I have used my old Walmart kit and that is not going to cut it anymore............... I do not want to screw up any of my rifles. I will be taking the advice and buying nice equipment including the bore guides as suggested (1 rifle is benchrest only).

[Ropin4gold]

Buy a Dewey one piece rod in the caliber and length that is optimal for your rifle. I get mine from Brownells.

[Kenstaroni]

Boresnakes get my vote

Quick, simple, easy and compact to carry, not putting a rod together, feeding a patch in, risking damage to barrel from improper use.

Just my $.02

[runco]

 

 

I thought I would blow the dust off this old post.  See I am not too lazy to search and you shall find kinda of guy. 

 

Anyway, for Christmas my mother-in-law gave me a gift certificate to Bass Pro.  I wanted to buy something that I would not normally buy with my own money, so I started browsing.  I wanted something gun related, boat related or outdoors clothing related.  After an hour or two of just browsing, I kept coming back to Tipton cleaning rods.  I probably have 4-5 gun cleaning kits, from the cheap Walmart stuff, to Otis deluxe gun cleaning kits, and a few snakes in between.  Now I do have a pet peeve with those 3 piece alum. or brass cleaning rods.  For one, I have bent some over time by dropping, stepping on, and not paying close attention to my angle of insertion.  I have also stripped the threads, and honestly the assembly / disassembly of the rods is just annoying (I know I am weird).  So using the gift card I bought the Tipton cleaning rod at $39 + tax, which was the 36" model for my various 22 caliber rifles including my ARs. 

 

Excellent is all I can say, and why did I wait so long.  $39 is why I waited so long.  To me what makes this rod very good, is the rotation of handle which has excellent ball bearings on the inside which makes for a very good feel (like butta), and to me what I was really after I don't have to assemble the rod or have to re-assemble during my cleaning.  Now after using it, I liked it so much, I have gone to Ebay and bought one for my pistols.  It just arrived yesterday.  The one for my shotguns will be next.  My Bday is coming up in March, maybe then.

 

I would have never bought this item if it wasn't for my mother-in-law, just too dang to expensive for gun cleaning.  So kudos to the really old woman in my family.  Did you know she is so old she really does expel dust when she expels gas.  Its like a sand blaster.  What is really funny, I have on purpose kept telling my kids when they were younger that grandma is so old she use to baby sit George Washington.  I told that story for so long, one day the kids made mention to grandma about this baby sitting of George in a non-joking manner, which was just hilarious.  The look on her face was just priceless.  My wife made me unlearn the kids!  Sorry, just wanted to tease my mother-in-law without fear of retribution because she will never read this.

[runco]

Just one more post.  Here is a good youtube video review (not me):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0AnYkBWgzI

[StPatrick]

I have both the Dewey coated and Tipton CF rods in multiple calibers.  You can't go wrong with either, and the up-front cost isn't that bad when you think about it - one piece rods last pretty much forever, so when you get a .30 cal carbon fiber rod, it's likely the last rod in that size you'll ever buy.

[R_Bert]

I have several Deweys for .17 & .20 caliber, and love them.

[Mark@Sea]

Last thing this post needs is another vote for Dewey coated rods, but they are the best.  Kept mine in a piece of PVC, capped on one end.  Little piece of elastic cord knotted through holes in the open end.  Kept the rod from getting banged up when out and about.  If you have to clean from the muzzle, get or make a bore guide.  If nothing else, a 12 ga. hull with the primer drilled out to the proper diameter fits several flash suppressors for a treat.

  I prefer a jag over a loop, but everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinion :)

 

  Best patches available.   Try these, you'll never want to use anything else.

 

http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/patches-mops/bore-patches/mil-spec-gun-cleaning-patches-prod8007.aspx

 

 

By the way, we used to say that the worst thing you could do to a piece was not clean it.  The second worst was cleaning it (wrong).  More GI bores were worn out with those jointed steel rods than were ever shot out.  Please take those jointed rods and give them to someone you don't like.  Or use them to stake tomatoes or something, but don't let them be in the same room as your rifle.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Mark@Sea

[mikegideon]

I use a Tipton carbon fiber rod and Tipton jags. Never have tried the Deweys