by Steve Ware
Technology has changed our lives in many ways. For example, I can remember picking up the telephone and telling the operator “25” to call my father at his office. That changed to a rotary dial and no operator. Then, the rotary dial disappeared and was replaced by push buttons. Now, we carry our phone in our pocket, and if it is “smart” it is a computer also – as technology advances, so do our solutions.
The same thing is true in the firearms industry when it comes to cleaning them. We have seen significant advancements in the solvents and lubricants we use, and even cleaning rods and bore guides. However, we continue to rely on the same old cotton patch to get those chemicals into the bore and clean the firearm. Until now that is! Technology has finally replaced the patch.
The saga started at the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show two years ago when I came upon the Super Brush, LLC booth. They were demonstrating a replacement to the patch they called Bore-tips. My interest was piqued because I had recently started competing in air rifle benchrest and was looking for something that was quick and easy to run down the bore of my rifle during competition. A lady named Cathy showed me a product they were developing called the Bore-whip. It was a flexible plastic line with a Bore-tip attached. They were developing it for the .17 and .22 calibers. Long story short, I received one and there were issues with it. There was not enough tension to really clean the bore.
You would think this would be a simple problem, attach a cleaning head to a line that you could run through the barrel of a firearm. Yet, many issues come into play. The cleaning head has to be large enough to pick up the crud, yet small enough to be pulled through the barrel. Also, the method of attaching the cleaning head has to be sufficiently strong to hold the head in place rather than having it separate from the line. I am happy to inform you that these problems have been solved and the product was to be in distributors’ hands early this Fall.
But, that’s not the focus of this article. Super Brush, LLC also has a complete line of bore tips to clean everything from .22 caliber through .410 bore, and 20 and 12 gauge shotguns, with more on the way. Simply put, Bore-tips are a plastic foam tip over a plastic core threaded to fit on a standard 8/32 and 5/16-27 cleaning rod. They are engineered to provide a tight fit in the bore to deliver either solvent or lubricant evenly by providing 360-degree contact with the surface of the bore. Patches cannot do that. They have folds, wrinkles and other imperfections that cannot get into all the nooks and crannies of the bore.
I was particularly interested in their .22/5.56mm Bore-tip because I shoot a lot of .22LR handguns in competition. I was curious to see if a cleaning tip designed to properly clean a 5.56mm diameter bore could effectively run down the bore of a .22LR handgun. I screwed the Bore-tip onto the cleaning rod and applied some of my favorite solvent, Shooters Choice MC 7. The first advantage you will note is that a very few drops of solvent are quickly absorbed into the tip without dripping on the floor. The tip was a nice tight fit with the proper amount of tension to clean the crud out of the barrel in two passes. (I do not like to brush the bore of my .22LR guns.) I then sprayed the tip with Shooters Choice Polymer Safe Degreaser to remove all the crud. Blotting it with a paper towel dried it quickly. I was then able to run the tip through the barrel to remove any excess solvent. Another spray with Polymer Safe and blotting, and I put the tip away for use on another firearm. An inspection of the Bore-tip after using a solvent and degreaser showed that it was no worse for wear and could be used again.
Bore-tips offer significant advantages over patches. They are quicker, clean faster, can be used again and again, are lint free and are attached to your cleaning rod so you are not putting on patch after patch, While more costly than patches, they are more economical in the long run, being reusable.
But, cleaning the bore of your firearm is half the battle. Now, you have to tackle the action, trigger assembly, the nooks and crannies of the receiver and the chamber. Cotton swabs leave lint behind and are just plain messy. I have never liked them, but there was not a great alternative until now. Super Brush, LLC also has Gun-tips. They are the same plastic foam over plastic core technology turned into cleaning foam swabs of various sizes to get into large and small areas for cleaning. Again, they are reusable and easy to clean after use. So, with the advent of Bore-tips, Gun-tips, and Bore-whips, Super Brush, LLC has finally gotten shooters into the modern age and away from cotton patches and cotton tips for firearm cleaning. Check them out at your favorite sporting goods store or go online at swab-its.com to purchase them. For more information, contact: Super Brush, LLC, 800 Worcester St., Dept. TGM, Springfield, MA 01151; phone: 413-543-1442; online: superbrush.com.
For cleaning solvents, contact: Shooters Choice, 15050 Berkshire Ind. Pkwy., Dept. TGM, Middlefield, OH 44062; phone: 440- 834-8888 or at shooters-choice.com.
