doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stainless Steel Bore Brushes

Would you use a Stainless Steel bore brush to clean your shotgun barrel? My application is a Browning 525 Sporting, and a Browning XT Combo trap gun, shooting ~5,000 rounds a year. Thanks..

Hello Mike,

I wouldn't. Too abrasive. Paper towel around a plastic brush and soaked in Ed's Red gives this result:


Good enough I would say.

Best,

JC

I use Brownell's "Double Tuff" bore brushes. Very stiff wire, with good fit to bore. They clean quickly.

Absolutely no reason to use anything but a phosphor bronze bore brush and a good solvent. Even chrome lined barrels will be damaged from continued use of a stainless steel brush. Wouldn't even use a SS brush on a bolt action Mossberg!

Brownells wad solvent and a patch will clean em. Why use something as hard or nearly as hard as your barrel? Only time I use stainless is if I've got a rusty or pitted bore I'm trying to assess. If you're lookin to backbore it can be done quicker with a reamer ;). Don't shoot as many rds as you but my bores that have been nicely polished come clean now with one G96 soaked patch a 10 min wait and then a clean patch, followed by another G96 patch, then a clean patch. I've gone through boxes of shells between cleanings and this still does it.

I don't believe occasional use of a stainless brush will hurt a modern shotgun barrel, chromed or not. I have a set of stainless brushes sold by Troy Peak, to clean my Beretta 390's gas piston and cylinder. The set includes a stainless bore brush and I bought, at extra cost, a stainless chamber brush. I have not seen any sign of problems with the set, adding that I don't clean the gun very often. The chamber brush did remove a small bit of metal from the chamber of a 100 year-old Iver Johnson.(spun with an electric drill). That being said, a stiff bronze bore brush, wrapped with 00 to 0000 steel wool and spun with an electric drill does a fine job, used with a good bore cleaner like Shooter's Choice. You will not live long enough to measure any metal removed by this method.

If you check the strength and hardness of stainless vs common barrel steel you will never buy stainless.
bill

And I'm sure you will provide us with the "strength and hardness of stainless vs. common barrel steel", won't you? Until then, my opinion is at least as valid as yours, don't you think?

FWIW, I used a stainless brush in an 1100 target barrel and a 686 Beretta for several years just to see what would happen .. nothing. This was manual use on a rod and it was not a tornado type brush though those are stainless as well. The stainless brush I used was a conventionally constructed radial wired bristle brush.

I have seen light longitudinal scoring in bbl's forward of the forcing cones, but think it was likely caused by shooting early steel loads where the shot cut through the inadequate wad material first in use, rather than any stainless brush thing. Powered stainless brushes may be a dif horse, I don't know. I do know that a lot of people use them on portable power drills for carrier bbls. and 12 ga. bbls that use tubes. I have yet to personally hear anyone complain about scoring their bbls. from such use.

I use bronze brushes and Tornado brushes at present for bore cleaning, when necessary. A 'Tico tool' usually is sufficient when preceeded by a piece of paper towel wet w/Ed's Red or a good solvent. For chambers I use appropriate ga. sized [edit: bronze] chamber brushes except in the 12 where I use either a 10 ga. bronze brush on a rod or a 25mm cannon bronze brush mounted on a wooden handle.

edit: I would be hesitant to go sticking a stainless steel brush in a highly polished mirror bore, expensive double or any FN super or other older gun that had a mirror bore, why risk it?

I have only one experience with a stainless brush. It was 30+ years ago, used on a rifle. The rifle was a M700 Remington .30-06. The brush was brand new, and of a prominent brand, I don't remember which.

I had pushed the brush through the bore a few times from the breech when I noticed tiny slivers of what appeared to be steel accumulating on the clean newspaper I used to protect my table. Closer examination revealed similar slivers on the bristles of the brush. The slivers looked like remnants of fine steel wool.

I immediately suspected the stainless steel bristles were gouging my barrel. To my dismay my suspicion was confirmed when I found that the slivers were attracted to a magnet.

I have never used a stainless steel brush on any firearm since, nor will I do so. I strongly recommend against them.

Curl