ORIGINAL: sabotloader
cayugad
But I do use a bore brush. Normally only when I am sure there is a fouling in the bore that needs to come out or for their annual cleaning. Twice a year I clean a bore with a brush and strong solvent to make sure there is nothing lurking in there. Often times I will just JB Bore Paste and a pad if the patches coming up are that extra dirty black.
For my two cents this is the perfect answer about the use of a bore brush.
Scotch Bright pads come in different colors to reflect their grit. When I was building and applying a hot lacquer finish to cabinets I pruchased Maroon pads and White pads. The Maroon being more couse than White. I turn all of my breech plugs in a Maroon pad - this pad will remove any burs on the threads plus it will dull the threads to a certain degree. For me this is an important step to using teflon tape effectively. The tape should not be cut by threading.
I have used Maroon SB on some really bad barrels to hlep smooth,clean, and polish- but most often when I use a SB pad in the bore I use a White pad - it is less course than the Maroon pad.
I do not incurr as much nasty fouling as other as I shoot very lead conicals as compared to someone like Dave. I shoot T7 so powder fouling is really not a problem as regular windex will completely dissolve T7. Plastic fouling is a forgotten problem for me at this time, the new materials and the self lubricating process of the modern sabot have reduced that to a minimum.
The hardest material to clean from a bore (for just me) is the material that is heated and pressured into the pores of the bore or caught behind the lands in the grooves. This material can be removed but it does require more patience allowing a bore solvent to work. I continue to use the term 'leaching' (have no idea if that is the correct term) but the solvent must be given time to leach the ugly stuff out of the difficult areas in the bore.
Getting 'black' patches from a bore after running a bronze/brass brush is not always an indicator of a dirty barrel. In my experiance more often it is an indication of the cleanliness of the brush.
good info too.
when i talk its only about DIRTY flintlock using 2f/3f.
so,cleaning with brush vrs pad will be different for in-line as you said, they dont get as DIRTY as the GEOX does.
i really like daves idea on SB used pads in my bore.
but i did not know there was different grades.
most likely the WHITE one may be the grade that the GREEN one gets after you use it on dishes.
GREEN is too rough, i feel to use new in bore.