TargetTalk

Is it advisable to use a brass bristles cleaning rod for every-day regular leaning of a free pistol barrel?

Or should I use the nylon one and use the brass only when lead build-up is greater?

Thank You.

This is my opinion and others may disagree.

If you use quality ammo that is lubed well and velocities kept sub sonic you will not have any appreciable lead build up in your barrel.

I only use a stiff nylon brush for all of my .22's and that is enough to keep them spotless and running good.

I brush my free pistol after every match, so 60 shots plus sighters.

Clarence

I pretty much never use a bronze brush on any of my bores. With good ammo, I've never found it necessary. I do use a 25 caliber bronze brush on the chamber, but not deep enough to get into the bore.

With some pistols (the Benelli MP90 for one), I've found that after about 20,000 rounds, I can begin to get keyholed shots. At that point, I use a couple "Lead Away" patches, and then I'm good for another 20,000 rounds.

If you insist on using a bronze brush, make sure it passes ALL the way through the bore before reversing direction. That way the bristles can bend easily and you will minimize any risk of bore damage.

By the way, will a nylon brush be as effective on the chamber?
And why 25 caliber and not 22? Is it because the chamber is slightly larger than the bore?

A .25 brush will be tighter in the chamber because you are correct that the chamber is a bit larger than the bore.

All you want to do in the chamber is remove the crud ring that forms just in front of the case mouth.

Do not go into the rifling.
Be extra carefull.

I used to do it on my S&W model 41 when I was having extraction problems.
Have yet to have to do it on my Marvel or free pistol(Hammerli FP60).

Clarence

tqb wrote:By the way, will a nylon brush be as effective on the chamber?
And why 25 caliber and not 22? Is it because the chamber is slightly larger than the bore?

Yes. The chamber is slightly larger than the bore, and the bristles get bent over a bit pretty quickly. A .22 caliber bore brush doesn't do a very good job, and will be useless if it's ever been pushed down the bore. I don't use them on a rod. See this thread for a photo and explanation (about halfway down the first page):

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... sc&start=0

When they rotate too freely, I make a new one. Using this approach, with a "patch worm", I haven't run a rod down my free pistol in years.