Bore cleaning question
 

Hello - I have read a lot of the posts on Luger cleaning, but I also recently read a post mentioning that the metal in Lugers is softer than today's gun metals. (That particular post was in reference to a bolt that chipped upon firing.) This got me to wondering if it's OK to use a standard bronze bore brush in a Luger barrel. Is there any danger of harming the barrel with these brushes (assuming of course they are used with a solvent, such as Hoppes.) I wouldn't think so, but thought I would ask before I do it. Also -- does cleaning the bore on an "original" (vs. reblued) gun devalue it in any way? Thanks

I am a big fan of Bore Snakes. My lazy old self finds them quick and easy and foolproof. Best invention since the bread slicer.

Glen,

I bought a boresnake a few weeks ago and used it on my shooter. After looking the snake over and reading the instructions, I ran it through the bore four or five times. The bore looked clean when I held it up to the light, but when I put a patch soaked with Breakfree oil through with a rod, it came out filthy. Two or three patches later, the bore was clean to my satisfaction.

I wonder if the boresnake is really cleaning all the residue out, or just the visible "soot."

The idea behind the boresnake sounds good, but I'm not throwing away my cleaning rod yet. Next time I'll try soaking a portion of the snake with Hoppe's #9 and see if that helps.

Dave in TN.

also, breakfree is designed to soak the lead out. You leave it over night and i is guaranteed to have dirty patches...


Ed

I have a Hawkeye borescope, and recently tested a boresnake on a .22 rimfire rifle. While not a Luger, this might help you with your understanding of how they work. The rifle had uniform, grey fouling in the barrel from 300 rounds of target ammo. There was a little bit of leading and copper fouling present also. I used a brand-new Boresnake with Hoppes 9 solvent and in 1 pass it got rid of most of the visible powder fouling. Nine more passes with the Boresnake made no significant difference to the visible cleanliness of the barrel. The origin of the lands at the throat was sharply defined, and for shooting purposes (not preservation purposes) I could have gone back to shooting the rifle, although not with best accuracy. It did not do anything to remove the leading and very little to remove the copper fouling.

I then cleaned with a bronze brush, solvent and patches as usual, and got a good bit more fouling out of the barrel. Result: I consider the Boresnake a very useful tool for a quick/rough cleaning (especially in the field or on the range, say to get sand out of a rifle, etc.) when it is more convenient than a rod, patches and brushes. But it will never replace them in my cleaning kit.

Hope this helps,
John

OK, so you guys are tellling me it's ok to use a bronze brush on a Luger barrel :) BTW, those Boresnakes work great on shotguns.

Yes, it is fine to use a bronze bore brush on your Luger. If shooting jacketed bullets use a solvent that will dissolve copper like Shooter's Choice or Hoppes #9. If shooting lead bullets and want to clean the action of the gun with little or no re-oiling, I high recommend Ed's Red that you can mix up yourself. Do a google search and you will get the whole story and how to make and use it. I find it works great in Lugers.

Ed, I have not heard this before...

My 1900 AE has a frosty/vague looking bore...I keep cleaning it (solvent + brass brushes; patches + oil) and it keeps coming out dirty...I think it has been fired with lead bullets and the lead has built up in the grooves...And keeps coming out no matter how much I scrub it...

So you're saying that BreakFree will dissolve lead deposits???

I can try that tonight...

(As an aside, years/decades ago I used to own a stainless 45 Colt Gold Cup, and fired several hundred lead SWC bullets through it...I could see the lead deposits in the barrel, but they refused to scrub out...Another shooter said to just fire a couple FMJ rounds through it, it would clean the lead out...I was skeptical, but since barrels were [fairly] cheap back then, I tried it...It worked, but I'm still skeptical...)

I use a product also made by break free It is a bore cleaning foam. Its really easy just spray it in let it sit for 15 minutes. You can see the buildup coming out with the foam.

After the foam has had time to settle I use a boresnake and repaeat until its the way I want it.

Just my two cents

People tend to clean their bores too much IMO.

Jerry, I read that the most common damage to most guns is the result of cleaning then too often. Not sure if this wears out the internals, if they are constantly fiddled with, or the bore. I remember that use of a bore guide was recommended on an old thread here, to help prevent premature wear of the end(s) of the bore. And on the rim-fire forum, some say that a .22 shoots better with a little lead built up. These observations would definitely support your caveat...

I wouldn't recommend using the bore snake; I tried this a few times and it just doesn't give the tension between the snake and the bore that you want. Another issue with the snake is this: running a dry bore snake on a dry bore will do nothing. If you put solvent in the bore then run a snake through, the first few inches or so are going to pick up the dirty in the boar while the rest of the snake will be dry and wont' do a darn thing for cleaning. What you could do, however, is soak parts of the snake with solvent and run the entire thing through. Another problem that arises with this (or with any boresnake use) is that a once-through won't clean it all out, and if you use it again in the bore that same day without washing it, it's like running a dirty patch through your bore a few times.

Just my opinion. I found the snakes to be useless on my Mauser rifle

I read somewhere where a guy put the wrong size thru his rifle and it got stuck and he couldn't get it out.

As much as he tried to poke it thru it just kept getting more jammed up.

Good idea is to clean from the chamber towards the muzzle.
This helps eliminate wear by the rod at the crown where accuracy is effected.
Aluminum or brass rod even better.

Bronze, aluminum and brass are all softer than the metal in the pistol.

I've heard of that happening multiple times.. more times than anybody wants to hear, honestly haha. I've also heard of the spring breaking from washing too much or just being old and that also causing the bronze brush on boresnakes to get stuck. All I hear is how much of a nightmare it is to get it out