Bore brush

[purd0027]

Hello,
How often do brass bore cleaning brushes usually last?

What is the best way to clean/maintain them?

Thanks!

[Sigfan220]

Depends on the solvent and how often you use them. I use boretech eliminator and it goes pretty hard on the brass brushes. After a while they just fly down the barrel, that's when the are wore out. I'd say I get about 3 cleanings out of a brush before it has melted down so small that it is useless. Keep a bunch on hand just in case.

Not all solvents are that hard on brass. My shotgun brushes seam to last forever with the shotgun solvent. Then again the shotguns don't get cleaned much. They more or less just get wiped down and lubed.

I'm not sure they need to be cleaned or maintained. Being dowsed in solvent on a regular basis keeps them pretty clean if you ask me. Shotgun brushes can load up a bit but isn't really a big deal. I can't even remember how I cleaned them off if I did.

[jshuberg]

Almost all solvents will eat a bronze (brass?) cleaning brush. The better the solvent at removing copper, the harder it will be on a bronze brush. For most routine cleanings though, use of a nylon brush is good enough to get the job done. It won't get all of the fouling out of the barrel, but you don't need to get all the fouling out of the barrel. You only need to remove enough fouling to prevent excess buildup from getting to the point of causing malfunctions. Depending on how much use your pistol gets, doing a deep clean with a bronze brush can done every couple months or less.

That being said, there are two ways that a bronze brush wears out. By either a large number of bristles falling out, or the ends of the brush being worn down by friction inside the barrel making the brush no longer a tight fit.

There is nothing you can do to prevent the bristles from wearing down short of making sure the barrel is wet with solvent when brushed. Bristles falling out however are largely because solvent left on them has weakened and thinned the bristles, making them more prone to falling out. One several bristles fall out the overall brush becomes looser at the center, and even more will start to fall out. At some point every time you run the brush through the barrel you'll lose several more bristles. When this happens, the brush is done.

I've found that the best way to minimize this from happening is to swirl the brush while still on the rod in rubbing alcohol for a good 10-15 seconds, and then blow it off with compressed air to dry. Cleaning the brushes this way seems to more than double their usable life, and most of the time the ends get wore down before they start shedding bristles all over the place. YMMV.

[wrench]

Here's another trick of mine. If you have bore brushes in several different sizes, when they 'wear out' for one size, lots of times they will be fine for the next size down.
Example, a worn out .40 cal brush works great on 9mm, then it works on 8mm, then .30 cal....you get the idea.
When I'm done with them, they really are worn out!

[OldmanFCSA]

I quit using bronze brushes on my 50's because I use 33% aqueous ammonia for cleaning. it EATS copper and brass bronze. Now I use SS brushes from Brownells for cleaning. These brushes will not damage bore as barrel is still harder than brush. The 250 grains of burning gunpowder is much more abrasive to barrel throat!

[jshuberg]

These brushes will not damage bore as barrel is still harder than brush.

I read an article awhile back that stated that this isn't actually true. Under the extreme heat and pressures inside the barrel, carbon is actually introduced into the molecular structure of the first few microns of the surface of the bore. This actually changes the steel of the bore, making it brittle. Combined with microfractures and heat erosion, the bore is susceptible to damage over time from over cleaning, even with a brush that is softer than the original steel was. It went on to describe various other chemical changes that occur, and suggested that a certain amount of fouling left in the bore can actually assist in protecting the bore by slowing further metallurgical changes that a squeeky clean bore would suffer.

Not being a blacksmith or chemist or whatnot, I don't really know if what was described was correct, but from a laymans standpoint it sounded plausible. Thoughts??

[1911A45ACP]

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[Erud]

I don't use any brushes at all for cleaning rifles, just patches over spear-point jags. Works like a charm.

[dleong]

My usual post-cleaning practice is to soak the bore brush overnight in a soapy solution (a few drops of dishwashing detergent added to water), and then rinse it thoroughly the next day. My bore brushes have lasted an unusually long time this way.

[shooter115]

I don't use any brushes at all for cleaning rifles, just patches over spear-point jags. Works like a charm.

Same here unless something is really fouled up.

[JJ]

I don't use any brushes at all for cleaning rifles, just patches over spear-point jags. Works like a charm.

Same here unless something is really fouled up.

+3

[jbrawny]

I don't use any brushes at all for cleaning rifles, just patches over spear-point jags. Works like a charm.

Same here unless something is really fouled up.

+3

+4

And when I do use bore brushes, I use brass and I replace them when they start to feel loose.