Is there any such thing as a decent portable rifle cleaning kit?

[LDHunter]

I guess the title says it all... I rarely need a cleaning kit for a rifle at the field or range but when I do I really do.

It seems that we've all read how the old Hoppe's sectional aluminum cleaning rods that used to be popular will damage your bore due to particles getting embedded in the aluminum and then rubbing against the sides of your bore.

The old military sectional rods used to have sharp edges at the joints and were steel and as such I was always leery of them.

I'm not really looking for a cleaning rod only but I guess that's the most important part since the rest of the stuff you might need is easy to find in almost any store or online vendor.

By the way I hate bore snakes. I won't argue their effectiveness but I really prefer to have a rod I can push jags and brushes through the bore with that have clean patches and brushes each time I use them. I'm kind of anal about clean bores especially after a recent unpleasant surprise of rust in my favorite hunting rifle bore.

Thoughts? Ideas? It doesn't have to be an all in one kit but that might be nice. A good quality sectional rod would at least be a very nice start.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I carry an Otis kit when hunting. It is almost a bore snake, but has a plastic coated cable instead of the soft fabric rope that the bore snake has. I carry it just in case something gets in the barrel. It is stiff enough to push the debris (or mud or snow) out of the barrel from the muzzle end, but it coils up into a round zipper pouch that is about 4 inches in size. I always tape the muzzle, but "just in case" carry the Otis. It has a bore brush, slotted jag, and some patches in it. Think I paid about $19 for it.

As far as a cleaning rod for normal cleaning, I use a Bore Tech shooting stix coated bore rod. The tip is an alloy metal that will not react to copper solvents.

 

[LDHunter]

That's a great idea but I'm specifically looking for a rod or a kit with a rod... It's such a pain to carry long one piece rods even if there's room in the rifle case for one. I have a few tubes that rods were shipped in and I may end up using one of those if I can't find a decent coated sectional rod.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Laelkhunter]

I don't know of a coated sectional rod. It would be difficult to have the end of each section coated so that it would mate with the next section and the coating not be prone to chipping or flaking off. I used to carry an Army surplus M-16 rod that was in about 6 pieces. It was steel and designed to fit in the butt-stock of the M-16 rifle. It was about 5 inches long when taken apart, and came in a thin plastic pouch to keep dirt off of it. I took some electrical tape and wound it around the package to make a tight bundle so it wouldn't rattle in my pack when I was walking.
It was steel, and I only planned to use it in an emergency where the hunt would be over if I couldn't clear the bore of the dirt or whatever. Fortunately I never had to use it.
I think they are still available for pretty cheap, and come with a slotted tip. I had a couple small bore size cotton patches in the pouch also to dry the bore if I ever got anything in the barrel.
As I stated earlier, I now use electrical tape over the muzzle, and carry the Otis for emergency bore clearing/cleaning.

 

[shaughn]

If you can find the Swiss (I think) cleaning kit, its a segmented steel rod, but they use brass at the joins, tapered so that they will slide instead of catching, even if it did catch the softer metal shouldn't damage the throat or crown.

They also have a bore guide, intended to fit over a flash hider, I presume.

Another way to use segmented steel rods, is to get the rubber washers that are slightly under bore diameter and place them at the joins and help prevent the rods sections from contacting the bore.

I slip a long one piece rod into my kit for cleaning and only carry the Swiss segmented rod for in field or emergency use.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

Both Pro-shot Premium Classic Box Kits and Montana Extreme make very nice sectioned rod kits. The joints on both of mine are pretty much flawless. If your still worried about them you could easily put a slight taper on each half where they mate.

 

[dfanonymous]

I guess the title says it all... I rarely need a cleaning kit for a rifle at the field or range but when I do I really do.

It seems that we've all read how the old Hoppe's sectional aluminum cleaning rods that used to be popular will damage your bore due to particles getting embedded in the aluminum and then rubbing against the sides of your bore.

The old military sectional rods used to have sharp edges at the joints and were steel and as such I was always leery of them.

I'm not really looking for a cleaning rod only but I guess that's the most important part since the rest of the stuff you might need is easy to find in almost any store or online vendor.

By the way I hate bore snakes. I won't argue their effectiveness but I really prefer to have a rod I can push jags and brushes through the bore with that have clean patches and brushes each time I use them. I'm kind of anal about clean bores especially after a recent unpleasant surprise of rust in my favorite hunting rifle bore.

Thoughts? Ideas? It doesn't have to be an all in one kit but that might be nice. A good quality sectional rod would at least be a very nice start.

One piece rods like dewey or tipton are pretty much good to go when cleaning. I like using rods too with a pakerhale jag. However I im not opposed to boresnakes for the field or for a quick cleaning for whatever reason. I believe a field cleaning and a cleaning cleaning are two things since the line of portability vs effectiveness might require accepting the trade off. I personally never stay in the field...as a civilian...more than a day at a time..and not near the ocean, so I'm never really worried about rust. Your situation might be different...Maybe get a bigger pack or stick your rod in the case?

 

[LDHunter]

Both Pro-shot Premium Classic Box Kits and Montana Extreme make very nice sectioned rod kits. The joints on both of mine are pretty much flawless. If your still worried about them you could easily put a slight taper on each half where they mate.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner!

I ordered the following from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PL7MVG/?tag=lrhmag19-20

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PL7MNE/?tag=lrhmag19-20

I only intend to use these when a rifle really needs cleaning and not all that often and am not worried about the cleaning rods being stainless but I DID find a discussion about metal cleaning rods and their effect (or not) on rifle barrels here.

https://www.shootersforum.com/gun-cleaning/80208-damage-cleaning-rod.html

The specific post I'm referencing contained the following....
"Around 3 years ago, the Garand Collectors Assoc. had an article in their quaterly magazine about a test they made on cleaning a M1 Garand bore using a G.I. issue 3 piece steel rod. Details of this article are hazy to me, but imagine they had a garand with a muzzle that measured a 2 on an armorers muzzle guage. They wanted to see how many strokes it took with a standard issue G.I. cleaning rod to change the muzzle guage reading from a 2 to a 3. Also, they deliberately ran the rod into the muzzle to contact the muzzle bore, changing the place the rod contacted the muzzle's bore....they attempted to get an even wear from rod.

Like I wrote, details are hazy, but they discontinued the experiment after several thousand strokes with the rod. They never got to a 3 on the guage. Why did they stop? Well, let's pretend a Garand had a bore life of 4,000 rounds fired. They had a forumula for how many rounds fired before it was cleaned and how many strokes a soldier made with a cleaning rod when cleaning.

Based on this formula, they realized, LOL, a bore would be shot out well before a soldier could change the measurement one increment on an armorer's muzzle guage by improperly running a G.I. issue 3 piece steel rod down his bore."

So... For as little as I'll actually use these kits I'm not too worried about bore damage...

Bob

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I took a set of the military steel rods and coated them with shrink tube. Like what you use on communications wires and such. I cut the tubing a little long to create slop in the joint area. Good enough for field use. It worked for the purpose you mention. Not my primary rod but could be packed in and carried.
Main thing was obstruction in the bore and being able to get it out.

 

[Ua26fitter]

something I found the other day on this site for a simple way to clean a barrel when back backing.
Use a piece of heavy weed whacker line about 1foot longer than the barrel. sharpen one end and heat the other. push the soft material against something to expand it. file or sand to fit the barrel. Now you can thread cleaning patches on and use it to clean or clear a barrel.
it will roll up nice and small to fit in a pack.

Kris