Which one is the bore cleaner?

[Venus Pax]

Mars' new kimber says to clean the barrel with the "bore cleaner."
I'm not sure exactly what this is. I've always just taken a cloth with cleaner on it and pulled it through the barrel a few times for my other guns.
Mars is thinking that he's supposed to use those prickly brushes, and I'm worried they might scratch up the inside of the barrel too much.

Your thoughts?

[pedalman]

Mars is supposed to be the bore cleaner. That's the way it works in my house.

But seriously, the brush is used to scrub out the barrel. The steel of the barrel is going to be harder than the brush bristles.

Scrub away!

[WildBill]

Venus - There are many methods for cleaning a gun as there are forum members. Each one does it a little different. The box-o-truth shows one for the Kimbers http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu47.htm

As far as the brass brush - think about it this way. You are shooting thousands of rounds of copper-jacketed bullets out of your barrel at 900 fps. The brass brush is wetted with Hoppe's and is only pushed through a few times.

[Venus Pax]

Sounds good. I'll tell him.
Thanks for replying so quickly.

[tarkus]

I think of it like cleaning tile and grout in the bathroom. Chemical cleaners do a pretty good job but once in a while you need to use a stiff brush to get into all the nooks and crannies.

They could also mean to use a chemical bore cleaner for the barrel.

[MoJo]

Venus - There are many methods for cleaning a gun as there are forum members. Each one does it a little different. The box-o-truth shows one for the Kimbers http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu47.htm

As far as the brass brush - think about it this way. You are shooting thousands of rounds of copper-jacketed bullets out of your barrel at 900 fps. The brass brush is wetted with Hoppe's and is only pushed through a few times.

Box-o-Truth recommends WD40 as a cleaning solvent for a firearm?????!!!!!!!!!!!! WD40 is for rusty bolts and squeaky hinges NOT GUNS!!!!! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, use WD40 on a gun if you don't get it all off it can kill your primers and then all you have is an expensive rock.

[Keith B]

Venus - There are many methods for cleaning a gun as there are forum members. Each one does it a little different. The box-o-truth shows one for the Kimbers http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu47.htm

As far as the brass brush - think about it this way. You are shooting thousands of rounds of copper-jacketed bullets out of your barrel at 900 fps. The brass brush is wetted with Hoppe's and is only pushed through a few times.

Box-o-Truth recommends WD40 as a cleaning solvent for a firearm?????!!!!!!!!!!!! WD40 is for rusty bolts and squeaky hinges NOT GUNS!!!!! NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, use WD40 on a gun if you don't get it all off it can kill your primers and then all you have is an expensive rock.

I have used WD-40 for years on my weapons, as well as Kroil, Rem-Oil, Tri-Flo and Hoppes and never had one problem. I think the 'killing primers' myth is just that. Even the Box-O-Truth tested placing oils directly on the primers in puddles and 5 weeks later there was no seepage into the primer pocket that impacted primer or powder. So, the light amount you would use to spray on a pistol is not going to do any damage.

[WildBill]

As I previously stated, there are as many cleaning methods as there are forum members. I am not going to get into a debate about WD-40. It has been discussed several times on this forum.

My previous post was to specifically address Venus' concern about damage to the barrel from cleaning the bore with a brass brush. My point was that a wet brush should be used.
Box-O-Truth states:

I use Hoppes #9 and a .45 caliber bronze brush to scrub the bore.

A brass brush wetted with Hoppes will not damage a Kimber 45ACP barrel.

[frankie_the_yankee]

I use Hoppes #9 for cleaning and Breakfree for lubrication. They seem to work fine and I have never had a dead primer problem in a carry gun loaded with factory ammo.

The real question is, between Hoppes #9 and WD-40, which one smells better?

The test performed by Box of Truth was interesting.

I think it's clear that WD-40 will kill primers if it gets into direct contact with the primer material. Of course, it is also possible that other cleaners or lubricants might kill primers too if applied directly. We don't know from the Box of Truth experiment because other materials were not tested the same way.

But what we do see is that none of the lubricants and solvents tested kill primers in factory ammo - Winchester white box anyway. This must be because the lubricant or solvent does not penetrate the seal between the primer and the primer pocket. (Because we know that if the WD-40 got in there it would kill the primer.)

But doing this experiment with handloads might give a different result. I think with most commercial ammo a small dab of lacquer is applied to the primer pocket before the primer is seated in place. The purpose, of course, is to act as a seal to improve shelf life, resistance to humidity, etc. Most handloads, especially those made on progressive presses, will not have a lacquer seal. So they would be more susceptible to exposure to oil, solvents, etc, compared to factory ammo.

But this is probably not a big deal, since most people don't use handloads as carry loads anyway. Most handloads are used for target practice or match shooting. As such, they are mostly shot off soon after being loaded into the gun. So there's no time for penetration or deterioration to occur.

All that said, it's always a good idea to rotate your carry ammo every couple of months or so. Given the Box of truth data, commercial ammo, and regular rotation, it looks to me that the choice of solvent or lube is a non-issue.

[bpet]

Hoppes #9 is my bore cleaner of choice for two reasons.

First, it does a mighty fine job of cleaning and second, it adds that special aroma to my safe. As I open the door, I often invite my wife to experience the wonderful aroma.

She has declined every invitation I've extended to put some of her "treasures" in MY gun safe.

[Venus Pax]

MoJo, I'm not going to put WD-40 on my guns. Since chemistry isn't really my forte, I tend to stick to products that are made specifically for guns.
It sounds like everyone agrees that the little round bristled wand is fine for the barrel.

[Liberty]

MoJo, I'm not going to put WD-40 on my guns. Since chemistry isn't really my forte, I tend to stick to products that are made specifically for guns.
It sounds like everyone agrees that the little round bristled wand is fine for the barrel.

I wouldn't dismiss the usefulness of WD40 completely.
If one of my guns got soaked I wouldn't hessitate to flood it with WD40 to protect it. It is a great water displacement and protectant .
I wouldn't would use motor oil before I ever used WD40 as a lubricant I also find I don't need more than about 3 drops of oil to lube my entire gun. Even then I still end up sopping half of it back up. All metal guns might want a little more lubrication, but not much.

[dukalmighty]

I use to duck hunt and if you ever got caught in a rainstorm when i got home i would dismantle my shotgun and spray it down with wd40 which is used to displace water it beads it up and runs it off then i wipe the gun down clean it and apply a light coat of oil from a rag with some oil on it,then with a clean rag wipe down exterior of weapon

[TDDude]

MoJo, I'm not going to put WD-40 on my guns. Since chemistry isn't really my forte, I tend to stick to products that are made specifically for guns.
It sounds like everyone agrees that the little round bristled wand is fine for the barrel.

I wouldn't dismiss the usefulness of WD40 completely.
If one of my guns got soaked I wouldn't hessitate to flood it with WD40 to protect it. It is a great water displacement and protectant .
I wouldn't would use motor oil before I ever used WD40 as a lubricant I also find I don't need more than about 3 drops of oil to lube my entire gun. Even then I still end up sopping half of it back up. All metal guns might want a little more lubrication, but not much.

Rules for using a brush on the bore: Go all the way in one direction and then once the brush is through, pull it back. DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, STOP HALFWAY THROUGH AND TRY TO REVERSE THE DIRECTION. The bristles will go straight and put a tremendous amount of pressure on needle sized surfaces that can damage whatever bore lining that you have.

"W"ater-"D"isplacement-Formula #40 is what it stands for. I may be all "wet" (pun intended) but I remember hearing that it was developed by/for NASA after that Apollo capsule burned during a test run. Water was collecting through condensation on the electrics causing a spark hazard. Combine that with the Oxygen rich environment in that capsule and the resulting spark caused a flash fire and resulted in the death of three astronauts. I may be wrong and perhaps there are some NASA geeks here that can correct me and please do but I believer that WD-40 was developed after that. I remember when I was doing farm work as a kid removing the distributor cap on old trucks and gasoline tractors in the morning and spraying them to get rid of the moisture so they would start. Lubrication was just something else it could kind of do.

So, saying that, I guess it would be a good tool to remove moisture from a gun that got an accidental soaking but that's about it for me. WD-40 also can be used as a penetrating oil and if ammo is exposed to it over time, the oil could seep into the gunpowder and cause issues.

However, of one shoots every day and never lets their ammo get old I guess all that doesn't really matter.

[WildBill]

According to Wiki, WD40 was developed in 1953. That is much earlier than the Apollo fire. Maybe the fact that the inventor worked for Rocket Chemical Company contributed to this myth.

Anyway, TDDudes advice about brushing is right on. I think he's trying to say that you should push the brush all the way through the barrel.

Venus - Another important thing that is covered in the Box-O-Truth is that you put in the brush from the breech end so you don't damage the crown of the barrel with the cleaning rod.