I used a bore snake to clean my 15-22 and my 22lr pistol, and I loved it . It left the bore very clean after letting hoppe's bore cleaner sit in the bore for a little while. After a few uses, the leader of the snake would not fall thru the bore and I could not force it thru. I then washed it and, behold, it fell right thru after it dried. Now I'm letting it hang rather than rolling it up, hoping the hanging will keep it stretched and thin.
John

Is that a Viper Bore Snake or the standard one by Hoppes? I've never used the Viper and have never had any issues with the standard version, even the .22 snake.

I think I have one viper and it was pretty tough to get through the first three of four times when new. Getting better all the time.

+1 for the standard Hoppes bore snake.

Any tips for getting the #9 down the barrel to let it sit? Do you use a soaked patch and rod to get it in there?

I've been soaking part of the bore snake in it before I pull it through, but I'd prefer to get some down in there and let it sit for awhile. I'd pour a little in but I don't think it would get all over.

I've been doing the same thing with no problem, the snake with the Hoppes cleans the heck out of the barrel. However, I clean my rifle pretty frequently, maybe every 500-750 rounds. Between the carbon and the dust out here in Nevada I try to keep it pretty new looking. I don't have to give the rifle a hard cleaning. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I don't have any problems, no failures except for one single failure since I got it seven months ago. And that was more than five months ago.

That was the standard hoppe snake.

I use a rifle cleaning rod with a patch soaked in Hoppes #9 , and run the rod back and forth thru the bore. Then I use the snake, and then I put a little gun oil in the bore using a patch. I have never put bore cleaner or oil on the snake, but I don't know any better.

The problem with putting bore cleaner with ammonia in it on the snake is over time it attacks the brush and dissolves it. I use Ed's Red on my snakes.

Frog Lube solvent works great and smells nifty. Spray it on the brush of your bore snake, and squirt some down the barrel and roll it around, you won't get full coverage on the first soak, but three or four passes should get you a nice shiny barrel. Repeat as needed.

Then again, I clean every 500 or so rounds, so I may be a less than ideal test case for extreme fouling removal.

I also use it in my .45 about every 100 rounds or so.

I just need to man up and get a rifle rod

I have a rack full of them. 99 percent of the time all they do is gather dust. The only time I use one is to remove copper fouling. All other cleaning chores are handled by my multiple BoreSnakes. I wish they had been around 30 or so years ago when I was shooting 10k a month.

I have a number of rods and bore snakes.I usually clean the rifles with a snake and handguns with a bore brush and patches.