What are some of the best cleaners/solvents available for cleaning the bore?

After trying most all of the products out there one time or another, I've pretty much settled on Butch's Boreshine. Does a good job on both powder and copper fouling. It's what I use for barrel break-in too. Their triple-twill patches do a great job also, much better than the stuff that almost seems to be made partly out of plastic or something. I like 'em......

Please tell us what you're shooting as different leading requires different chemicals/methods of cleaning. For example shotgun-powder/plastic (wad) fouling, centerfire rifle-copper fouling, rimfire-lead/powder fouling.

Another Butch's Bore Shine fan.Their oil excellent to.If you have copper or any other stuff built up JB's polishing compound will get anything out.

Shooter's choice MC#7 for powder, lead, etc fouling. For copper I use sweets 7.62 or Barnes CR. My light gun oil of choice is BC Sheath or Barricade.

I agree with these choices. The Sheath/Barricade stuff is a wonderful corrosion prevention solution!

Remington 870 12 ga.

Shooters' Choice removes the plastic fouling and seems to work on lead as well. But Hoppe's No. 9 smells the best!

For my shotguns, I tear them down and clean/flush the action and trigger group with Rem Action Cleaner (I now see it called Shotgun Cleaner too). I then use some Rem Oil and swab the bore. I then take a Brass wire brush and cleaning rod, and stick into the end of a drill. I then clean the barrel and choke tubes with the drill/brush. This will get rid of every bit of fouling in the barrel. I then re-swab with oil until the patches are clean, and assemble. I then put final coat of Barricade/Sheath on all metal surfaces.

For rifles, I like using Gunslick Foaming bore cleaner. I like this product because it has no strong amonia odor. I foam the barrel and rest the gun upside down on a rag for half hour or so (until the foam disappears). This will eat up the copper fouling, the rag will turn blue/purple. I then run a nylon brush through the barrel, and then a jag/patch with rem oil through the barrel. This will remove a substantial amount of copper and powder fouling (the patch will be blue/black). I reswab until the patch comes out clean. I remove the stock, and then apply a coat of sheath/barricade on metal surfaces.

One word of caution, you should not use Gunslick foaming bore cleaner on gas operated semi-autos.

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