Copper brushes

[thedudeabides]

I have really no idea whether it's OK to use these to clean pistols.

Some manufacturers like Sig, essentially say to only use the nylon brush that comes with the gun, others are pretty vague about it and use "high quality" cleaning supplies.

I have an old fouled P220 barrel that I eventually gave in and scrubbed with a liberal amount of Hoppe's no 9 and a copper brush. The gun went from kinda accurate to like new after the cleaning and I can't see any marring or injury to the barrel.

I just feel like the nylon brushes don't clean all of the fouling, and it does eventually build up over time (thousands of rounds).

 

[g.willikers]

You might not want to clean your ears with them, but it would be hard to imagine that copper or bronze brushes would do any harm to a barrel.
Unless it was maybe from an airsoft.

 

[weblance]

Lots of guys use copper Chore Boy strands, wrapped around a copper bore brush, to get the really nasty lead fouling out of a barrel. It works well. Copper is much softer than steel, and wont hurt the rifling.

Chore Boy

 

[Miss Stana]

I clean with copper brushes, but there is a trick to it. Push the brush in from the breach end, then unscrew the brush and bring the rod back out. Hoppes is a good cleaner to use too. If the bore is really built up, I'll use a more aggresive copper cleaner, like JB Bore paste, but you have to be careful because it will eat your brush. A nylon brush with good cleaner and tight fitting patches works well too. Then when the bore is clean, I like to clean the cleaner out of it. Some cleaners will etch your bore if they are left to sit in the barrel. This is where I get a lot of my supplies http://www.alkalicorp.com/c-13-cleaning-supplies.aspx?pagesize=100

hope this helps

 

[Ben Dover]

I haven't seen copper brushes for a long time. All that I see today are phosphor bronze or nylon whoch will not harm your bore in any way.

 

[rc]

I've used copper and can say they are A OK! I like them better than nylon for good cleaning. I have used stainless ones to remove lead deposits but those are pretty rough and I use them as a last resort. Bronze and Copper are the best for scrubbing a barrel clean without damaging the barrel.