Brass brush or plastic

[Lou_the_welder]

Hello all,
I got a question. I'm starting to think I'm brass brushing my barrels too much. I did buy those nylon/plastic barrel brushes.

What do you guys think? Do you think brass brushing too much a barrel will harm it?

For your consideration are my uses. Guns shot weekly are cleaned (except for last week) . Barrels are brushed. Cleaned/ wiped. Lightly oiled then another pass to dry. On the shooters that are shot weekly.

Mostly shooting plated and jacketed only. No bare lead or coated.

I think that's all. I can't think of other considerations.

What do you think? Again. Brass brush or plastic. Or it shouldn't harm anything.

Lou

 

[Fishinfool]

I always use brass / bronze. They are much softer than steel, and will not harm a barrel. Nylon type brushes do not do a good job removing fouling, and may react to some solvents. I would also avoid stainless steel brushes, as they can be harder than the barrel steel, and cause wear / scratching.

You are more likely to wear and damage the crown of your barrels from excessive rubbing by the dirty, gritty cleaning rod. I always use a cleaning rod bore guide, or a pull thru system like a bore snake.

Larry

 

[ken158]

Brass is very soft - and much softer than steel.

 

[BE Mike]

Brass brush for centerfires and shotguns. No bore brushes for .22 LR caliber guns.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Plastic brushes belong IN THE GARBAGE.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Brass. Not worried a bit, but I don't brush what I don't need to.

 

[Lou_the_welder]

[emoji848]

Ok. Sounds good.

Just curious if there was a reason to sell those plastic brushes . I've noticed some manufacturers now include plastic barrel brushes in their boxes too. Maybe a cost saving expense?

 

[CH4]

I prefer brass brushes. Never tried plasitc

 

[robertrwalsh]

I have on occasion used a nylon bore brush if all I fired was as relatively small quantity of low velocity plated bullets. Mostly I use brass / bronze brushes.

 

[Racer X]

Brass is very soft - and much softer than steel.

even softer still if the barrel has a nitride finish. I think those are like 70 rockwell c. very wear resistant. 4150 or 416R stainless are around 40 C

 

[Alk8944]

Plastic brushes are totally useless! Bronze brushes aren't that effective for leading and simple fouling doesn't need any more.

FWIW, the wire used in stainless steel brushes is softer than barrel steel too although everyone seems to be afraid of it! I have barrels, both stainless and carbon steel, that I have been using stainless brushes for many years because they are far more effective than bronze. here is no observable damage to any of these barrels. Think about it, which is more likely to cause damage, 6-10 passes with a stainless steel brush, or sometimes 50, or sometimes many more, with a bronze brush to get the same result!

I've been doing this (gunsmithing) for many years and have yet to see a barrel that was damaged by a stainless steel brush!

Be afraid of stainless steel brushes if you want or save a lot of work removing leading, it's up to you. Remember, much of what everyone posts and believes is a result of "It sounds right so it must be true", and not determined by actual research. Internet myth is very strong, especially when combined with peer pressure!

 

[s&wchad]

I mostly use bronze, but I do use nylon bore brushes when applying an aggressive solvent intended to remove copper fouling from rifle barrels. Bronze is mostly copper and the solvents can degrade the brushes prematurely. Good bronze bore and chamber brushes aren't cheap and I like to make them last as long as possible.

I'll make a few passes with a bronze brush to remove loose debris, then dip a nylon brush in the solvent (Hoppe's Bench Rest, Sweets, Barnes CR-10, Etc…) and make a few passes through the bore. I let it work for about 10 minutes, then wipe it out with dry patches. Most of these solvents have a warning about how long to let it soak. If the bore is heavily fouled, I'll resort JB Bore cleaner and Bore Brite.

I follow that up with about 10 passes from a bronze brush, then a patch soaked in Hoppe's 9 and then dry patches again until they come out clean. I apply a light coat of oil before storing the gun, but I wipe that out before shooting the gun again.

 

[Krogen]

Brass brushes are just fine. The effects pale compared to a jacketed bullet flying down the bore with its associated heat and pressure is.

As noted above, watch out for grit caught between the cleaning rod and bore. Just wipe it off frequently. Use a bore guide where you can. If you can't use a guide, like with a revolver, then use a small diameter rod and carefully guide it into the muzzle with your fingers.

 

[2152hq]

I use stainless brushes as well as brass. Stainless won't harm the bore, they do clean better than brass and much quicker.
Not always needed, but when they are, they are a good choice to remove heavy crud.

No brush will remove rust that is down in pits that are in the bore. The bristles just don't get down in there well enough. They mostly skip over the pits and clean the smooth surfaces.

They won't remove pits either as most realize but some still imagine they will. Pits are just that. Craters in the steel surface.
If they did remove the pitting,,they would be removing steel from the bore to level the surface,,and it wouldn't be uniformly. Any rifling profile would be badly deformed in the process.

Most guns need little brushing during cleaning, many need none.
Over aggressive cleaning likely damages a bore, crown, lead rifling and chamber throat more than the firing that most people ever do.

 

[rockquarry]

Having tried synthetic brushes briefly and found them lacking for serious cleaning, I also prefer bronze brushes. However, I figured there would be a number of synthetic brush advocates here, especially nowadays.

 

[Racer X]

there is a wide variance in synthetic brush quality. brownells and Eliminator Premium Bore Brushes – Iosso.com spring to mind for the stiffer, quality ones. there are several others.

 

[djohns6]

I posted on another forum about using a stainless brush to clean the cylinders on my two Single Sixes and you would have thought that I had advocated drowning puppies . NOT the barrel , just the cylinders .

 

[RGPM1A]

I was always taught you should not use a bronze brush if you are using a solvent with ammonia or designed to dissolve copper. They will slowly dissolve copper out of a bronze brush and your patches will never not come out with a blue tint (and never know if your bore is clean of copper fowling). Plastic bristle brushes are for use with copper solvents. If I am cleaning a gun with copper fowling I first use a bronze brush and Hoppes #9 to loosen powder fowling then switch to a copper removal solvent and a plastic bristle bore brush.

 

[rockquarry]

I was always taught you should not use a bronze brush if you are using a solvent with ammonia or designed to dissolve copper. They will slowly dissolve copper out of a bronze brush and your patches will never not come out with a blue tint (and never know if your bore is clean of copper fowling). Plastic bristle brushes are for use with copper solvents. If I am cleaning a gun with copper fowling I first use a bronze brush and Hoppes #9 to loosen powder fowling then switch to a copper removal solvent and a plastic bristle bore brush.

With handgun bores, none of this matters much, but it's different with rifle bores when using jacketed bullets. Bronze brushes will eventually come out with no blue or only a slight hint of blue after using copper solvents. I consider them clean at that point, but I seldom clean to where all the copper is removed. A bore scope will easily tell you where you're at if you really need such information.

Depending on the barrel, it's unnecessary to remove every trace of copper (or carbon). Granted, when accuracy falls off, the problem is likely copper or carbon fouling or both. In this era of fastidious cleaning of everything, I've found it sometimes detrimental to get a barrel too clean.

With an accurate rifle barrel, it's often necessary to fire up to a dozen rounds to get a good barrel shooting again after it's been stripped to bare metal in an overzealous cleaning process, removing all carbon and copper.

Some years ago during a tour of Ed Shilen's barrel shop, Mr. Shilen remarked that copper removal was only necessary when accuracy falls off. Who would know this subject better than a long time barrel maker and benchrest shooter?

There are exceptions to everything and there may be a legitimate use for synthetic brushes, but many of us haven't found that niche and may never.

 

[Lou_the_welder]

That's right. I remember using hoppes and it does turn the brass brushes green/ blue. And corroded them.

I haven't had that problem with Mpro7, clp and wondered why. The brushes do come out black . But that's just the fouling/ carbon.

[emoji106]

Great responses guys! I just cleaned some guns earlier today. And used brass brushes. It's just that you clean them all the time and wonder if any different a process might be better or give better results. And what's more better than to ask.

To be honest I've never had any problems using brass brushes but figured they must sell those nylon brushes for a reason. And what would be the reason.
Rgpm1a' reasoning sounds right. Maybe for use with just copper solvents as to not errode the brush. That would make sense.