RE: what brush to use?
 

RA Browns on Old Windsor Pike. He is not a big fan of Sweets or CR-10 however due to several customers misusing the stuff. He likes wipe out. And has turned me on to it.

Just talked to him. And he was telling me that he always uses " brake clean" after using products with alot of ammonia in it like Sweets to get all the ammonia out of it. I may think he is taking it too far however.

RE: what brush to use?
 

bigcounty makes a pretty good point. You can take this cleaning thing a little too far. However, if done right, you won' t do any harm to your barrel.

For a while your barrel will probably copper foul quite badly, so after each range session (20 rounds or so) you' ll need to clean it out. After a few range sessions your barrel will become broken in and then copper fouling will be less of a problem. When that happens you won' t have to get the copper out as often, maybe after every 50 or 75 shots or so. It' ll just depend on your particular barrel as to how long it takes to get broken in. Some take significantly longer than others.

I first use Shooters Choice to get the powder fouling out. I run two or three wet patches down the bore then let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Then I wet a bronze brush and scrub the bore back and forth about 15 times. Then I run another wet patch or two down the bore followed by 3 or 4 dry patches. This takes care of the powder. If I don' t need to clean the copper out I then apply some Butches oil to a patch and run that down the bore a couple of times and put the rifle back in the rack.

If you' re not sure you have excess copper in your barrel then, do this: After letting the barrel sit with Shooters Choice in it for 30 minutes or so, run a patch (wet or dry) through it BEFORE you use the bronze brush. If that patch comes out with a significant amount of blue coloration on it, then the bore has a good amount of copper in it. Shooters Choice has a mild copper cleaner in it, so if you get blue patches with it, you got copper. If you only have a very, very slight tinge of blue, then you may not need to worry about the copper at that time.

If copper is a problem I use the Barnes CR-10 after getting all the Shooters Choice out of the bore. DO NOT use these two cleaners in your bore at the same time. I apply the CR-10 with a wool bore mop. I swab the bore back and forth several times. Then I apply the CR-10 to a nylon brush and run it back and forth a few times and then I wait about 10 or 15 minutes. Next I run a clean cotton patch down the bore and check to see how much blue coloration is on it. I continue with the CR-10 routine until the patch comes out clean or with only a very slight tinge of blue on it. Then I run two or three more dry patches down the bore to get the CR-10 out and I' ll follow up with Butch' s oil.

After every 150 to 200 rounds I' ll give the barrel a good going over with JB paste. This does a good job on the really caked on fouling that my normal cleaning routine doesn' t get.

Here' s a few places where you may be able to find what you need:

www.sinclairintl.com
www.grafs.com
www.lockstock.com
www.midwayusa.com

Good luck.