How do I use a patch? Seems loose in the loopy thing.

O

OnlyInAmerica

Inactive
New 12ga. Dumb owner - New cleaning kit - no instructions!

I have bottles of oil and bore cleaner. I have a cleaning kit with mops, phos-bronze brushes and a "plastic loop" that presumably takes the supplied patches. They are 3"x3" and when I thread them through the loops they don't form a very effective "pad". Should I put a few of them through the loop? Sorry to be so thick!

I've searched the forum and all I ever see is "put a clean/oiled patch through"

Help!
 
I've only found those patches good enough to coat the bore with solvent or oil.

After you do that, bronze brush to really clean. Then I use any old cotton shirt(whatever), flannel is great, and cut larger squares which go into the loop and push through the bore. I haven't bought patches in 20 years.
 
exactly.

i take the bronze bore brush or one of those bore 'mops' screw it onto the cleaning rod, and soak in bore cleaner. run it down the barrel. wait a few minutes. hit it up with the bronze brush and then swab out all the gunk with pieces of cotton rags over the bore brush until they come out clean.

i also bought (prob the same kit as you did) a kit and found the patch's worthless. for the final protection oil coat i'll run a oil specific mop down the barrel or do the same thing with the bore brush with the squares of cotton rag with a bit of oil on them.
 
I've found it easier to skip the loop deal. Soak a patch in bore cleaner and ram it down the barrel with the bare end of the cleaning rod a couple if times.

Spray some more bore cleaner in, run the brush down to get the gunk out, then another patch. Then an oily patch and that parts done.

Stew
 
double up 2 patches by folding half then thread into jag.

douse or spray liberally with powder solvent and run the wet patches thru the bore and back again. out thru the muzzle and back thru the breach is 2 passes and gets the job done.

continue to run wet patches thru the bore until the patches come out clean with no more fouling on them.

run a dry patch thru

run another wet patch thru this time using gun oil.

the gun should now be clean.

note - if your gun has removable chokes it is a good idea to remove them and clean the chokes separately. pay particular attention to the choke threads in the barrel/s. this is a natural collecting place for powder residue. i like to run a wet patch into the muzzle and make sure the threads are nice and clean. put a drop of oil on the choke threads before you put them back in.
 
I skip the "factory made" patches all together. I think most of them are too small and don't run through the barrel tight unless wrapped around a brush or with a mop.

I have been using old T-shirts for years. They are 100% cotton and can be cut to any size you need...and they are dirt cheap. Every few months I will go through my old t-shirts and those of my daughter...she is hard on clothes and is growing like a weed! You can get a pile of patches out of one t-shirt, and I like to make mine big so they ram down the barrel tight.
 
I have used old T-shirts, but don't get enough to keep up. I go to the fabric store and buy a couple of yards of 100% cotton, undyed, unbleached fabric. That gives me a mountain of patches for cleaning, muzzle loading and stock finishing touch-up.

Get one of the cheap disk fabric cutters and the special board. Makes it a lot easier to cut the patches.

Pops
 
Those shotgun jags work really well. When I first found them at a show, I went back and bought them as gifts for my shotgun buddies. They really are terrific.
Mike
 
Bore Snake

I'm getting into this party a little late but am quite surprised that no one has mentioned the use of a "Bore Snake" to clean a shotgun barrel.

Several members of my club use them and claim that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I just bought one but have yet to actually use it. (It's that new to me.)

It has a couple of spongy "mops" and a bronze brush embedded in the snake. Apparently all you need do is apply some solvent to the first and follow-on "mops" before dropping a weight attached to a line through the barrel from the breach end, then pull the snake through the bore. My friends claim that if you simply do this two or three times, the bore is clean. I have looked down their cleaned bores and they do look good but I'm going to have to see for myself. If it's really as good as they say, this is the fastest I have ever seen any long gun cleaned!

BTW, they also say that if the snake is dirty, just drop it in detergent-filled warm water, swish it around, pull it out and let it dry. Voila! It is clean and ready for the next use.

I would be interested to hear from any of you that may have direct experience.
 
+1 on the BoreSnake. I recently bought a couple of used 870's at a great price (sight unseen, but from someone I trusted to make things right if I wasn't happy). When the guns arrived, the first thing I did was look down the bore and think :eek: ! Two passes with the BoreSnake, and they looked like new. :D Now, before I ever leave the range/field, the Snake comes out, and I'm done cleaning in less than 60 seconds!
 
I use the boresnake as my final pass. I've got one for every gauge that I own(20, 16,12) and also in 9mm, 30 cal. & .45 so yes, I do like them. The things get filthy if you use them as a primary cleaner and they're hard to handle without getting everything you touch dirty. Picture squeezing an oil-soaked sponge in your fist. I use the jags and patches to get rid of the real dirty stuff that I do not want to get all over me and then the boresnake to really make it shine. This way I only need to clean the boresnake once in a great while and I do not sling dirty, oily goo all over the place as I pull the boresnake through.
The boresnakes are nice to have in the field though as they are easy to pack and they do work well.
Of course none of this takes the place of a good scrub of the chamber with a one-size-larger brass brush.
YMMV.
Mike
 
9mmMike

Thanks for your post. I have been thinking along the same lines. A patch on a jag through the bore as a first step, followed with the bore snake makes a lot of sense.
I can see how trying to handle a really dirty bore snake would be extraordinarily messy, not to mention the problem of putting it away into something so it didn't spread the wealth (?) onto everything in its vicinity. I plan to keep the original plastic box the snake came in and put that into a plastic bag after all is said and done.
A roll of paper towels to clean up your hands and anything else that gets slopped on would also be smart. ;)
Ain't modern technology wonderful!
 
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