Bore guide?
 

I have a marlin .17hmr and a Remington 700 308 and wondering if I really need a bore guide?and can it damage your gun if you don't have one?

Metal rubbing on your lands and groves from a cleaning rod and patch jag and patch loop can damage the lands and groves and the crown of the barrel over time. A guide prevents the rod from touching the rifling. Do you need it? That is up to you. Problem is, if it is possible, it is best to clean a barrel from the breech end and I have never sen a bore guide that will fit in the breesh end of the barrel. Not saying there aren't any, just that I have never seen any.

Your chamber throat tends to be the most vulnerable spot for cleaning rod contact.

Tipton (and other) boreguides can be had incredibly cheap, so there's no sense in NOT using one.

They're also helpful for inserting wetted patches without falling off of the jag or drooling into the action.

could I have damaged it by cleaning them the handful of times I have / I've probably cleaned about 10 times on the 308 and 5 times on .17 / is there any way to tell if I've already done damage?thank you.

Probably not.

Doubtful. Even rubbing a stainless rod against it that few of times wouldn't hurt it much if any. But like our resident "Redneck Genius" Nomercy said, it's best to use a bore guide. And yep Oldtimr there are chamber side bore guides. Here's a couple elcheapo's but they do the job well enough.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/794...ge-bolt-action

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/G...vboreguide.php

Or you could go the professional route and get this one thats matched to your bore size, http://www.accurateshooter.com/gear-...m-bore-guides/

Just get a piece of hardwood dowel and turn it on a lathe,drill it to your rod diameter and shove it in the breech and have at it.

Am I reading this correctly, you've never seen a bore-guide that inserts into the action (considering that we're talking about a Rem 700 and a Marlin rimfire bolt action) and allows cleaning from the breech end?

Tipton, Possum Hollow, Wheeler, JP, ProShot, Satern, etc etc... They all make breech end bore guides. By and large, they all look something along these lines:

LOL Mercy I drop my lever, take out the bolt and use them on my Levers too. Takes about 25 seconds if sober :s4:

Ner knew the made them.