Actually a pretty silly discussion...improper/excessive use of any barrel cleaning device has the potential to damage a barrel. I have very nice Shultz & Larsen target barrel in .308 that has an observable 'dish' just in front of the chamber caused by a vigorous use of steel cleaning rod. I bought it that way thinking one day it might be rechambered to 30/06 and or cut and rechambered 308. If you have a pull through (as clearly the Swiss K31 was issued with)...follow their pictoral instructions to use the pullthrough properly. If you cant do that find someone who can...and let them do it for you.
Bore Snake damaging barrel?
- Thread starter AccurateJay
- Start date
Bingo! I have mentioned this before...but was an eye opener for me. I ran into a guy in the bush with a Rem788 (I'll remember the calibre eventually) that had...I noticed... a muzzle that looked like someone had driven a large lag screw into it with a ball pein hammer. I indignantly informed the silly, uninformed boob that he would only injure a deer (if he hit it all!) by spraying shots at it with his rifle. He didnt think so...but accepted my sarcastic challenge to hit a target we set up for an impromptu match.......well fxxk me if the guy didnt hammer his three rounds, out of a cold barrel, into a tight little round group! So much for my 'expert' opinion!!! The guy with the 788 didnt think it was too remarkable!
I'd be curious to see someone set one of those pneumatic pistons attached to an off-center cleaning rod and see how many strokes would be needed before any measurable damage occurred, and how much that damage would affect accuracy. I have a senaky feeling we'd all be in for one helluva surprise. I have a 45 Pennsylvania flinchlock, and a brass brush broke off inside the barrel. I tried everything to get it out, and it damaged the barrel fairly badly about halfway down. The barrel, IIRC, is 42". You can really feel the rough spot when you push the rod down, but it can still take the head off a grouse at 20 paces.
There is no way a bore snake can damage a barrel. You have copper bullets tight tolerance traveling over 3000fps or steel shot traveling 1600fps out of your gun . I don't think cloth material and brass will do any damage. The barrels are built tough able handle tens of thousand of rounds.
"I have no idea how a pull-through, at any angle could do damage to the crown."
It's called cord-wear in past days in the military, and it's for real. If the pull-through isn't centred well, the cord will be dragging to one side, and usually will be guided into one of the grooves. Once won't ruin a rifle, but the same soldier holding and cleaning the same rifle the same way over long periods and eventually even that slight abrasive action will mess with the rifling at the crown.
As a land Weapons Tech in pre-SARP days we were taught to watch for it. Not as critical with the flash-suppressors ahead of the crown on the FN C1A1 rifles I figured, but it did happen in the old No4MkI*.
Eventually, over time, the abrasive effect will tell, and once it starts it gets worse faster as the cord is guided into the same growing worn spot.
Having said all that, I use bore-snakes in some of my hunting rifles, carefully, especially if I have to pack in or fly in with limited gear.
They get fouled. So; wash them? (Same goes for trouser-snakes, gents...) Dish-soap & water work fine, though you should never ever wash them in a dishwasher... while your wife/girlfriend/whatever is home. (BTW, I meant bore-snakes in the dishwasher, not trouser-types...)
At home & on-range I prefer to use decent 1-piece rods, preferably coated, & always with a guide.
What makes me cringe? Sectioned cleaning rods. Use them if you must, but please at least check them before you use them. I've had some new ones bent, right out of the box. It's as simple as rolling each section on a flat surface a'la pool-cues. Look good? Now; screw some sections together & try again, & see how off-centre some of their joint threads can be.
I'd rather pack in a clean bore-snake on a hunting trip than a bent rod.
My 0.02$ worth...
It's called cord-wear in past days in the military, and it's for real. If the pull-through isn't centred well, the cord will be dragging to one side, and usually will be guided into one of the grooves. Once won't ruin a rifle, but the same soldier holding and cleaning the same rifle the same way over long periods and eventually even that slight abrasive action will mess with the rifling at the crown.
As a land Weapons Tech in pre-SARP days we were taught to watch for it. Not as critical with the flash-suppressors ahead of the crown on the FN C1A1 rifles I figured, but it did happen in the old No4MkI*.
Eventually, over time, the abrasive effect will tell, and once it starts it gets worse faster as the cord is guided into the same growing worn spot.
Having said all that, I use bore-snakes in some of my hunting rifles, carefully, especially if I have to pack in or fly in with limited gear.
They get fouled. So; wash them? (Same goes for trouser-snakes, gents...) Dish-soap & water work fine, though you should never ever wash them in a dishwasher... while your wife/girlfriend/whatever is home. (BTW, I meant bore-snakes in the dishwasher, not trouser-types...)
At home & on-range I prefer to use decent 1-piece rods, preferably coated, & always with a guide.
What makes me cringe? Sectioned cleaning rods. Use them if you must, but please at least check them before you use them. I've had some new ones bent, right out of the box. It's as simple as rolling each section on a flat surface a'la pool-cues. Look good? Now; screw some sections together & try again, & see how off-centre some of their joint threads can be.
I'd rather pack in a clean bore-snake on a hunting trip than a bent rod.
My 0.02$ worth...
Some of you may be old enough to remember the "burn the bra" fad that happened in the late 60's/early 70's. There were usually a few ladies in every office that came to work bra-less. Now there wasn't much point in going bra-less and wearing a heavy wool sweater over a cotton blouse. In order to create some interest and effect, the ladies needed something sheer and semi transparent. Enter nylon and other synthetics;- same materials used in the bore snake. Now consider that in wearing such to an office there is small, but continuous movement of the material across the woman's breast, concentrated at the nipple. A bit of basic math indicates this would amount to about 3600" of movement over a 10 hour period or about 200 passes of a bore snake. With such abuse by something equivalent to 200 passes of a bore snake, one would expect that this would have resulted in a condition known as NES or nipple erosion syndrome. However, NES certainly did not make the news back then and I can't find anything on Google. Had I known that erosion by synthetic material would become an issue in 2016, back in 1970 I would have conducted measured research into NES. Alas! I failed. Perhaps others out there were more diligent in their observations and can make informed comment.
Another definitive statement... What experiences do you base this on?
I have been gunsmithing for 50 years and the gunsmiths I know never use a pull through of any kind. Neither do any of the competitive Benchrest shooters I know. I was also taught at Gunsmithing school if you had to use a pull through, use it carefully and and as little as possible to prevent damage to the crown.
If you guy's are really anal about a pull through make up a delrin bushing or brass or steel or aluminum for the muzzle to prevent the pull through from any muzzle contact and clean away.Pull it "straight" through and when you have 1000 pulls from your cleaning regime phobia post a picture of the damage when pulled straight through. Next!!! 
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I don't know maybe I have read a lot of reviews and seen a lot of videos of cleaning guns by professionals. They have been selling the bore snake for years now and have sold millions of this product. It would not be around if it was damaging barrels.
Well, some users here inspired me. I just spent 15 minutes with a DIRTY(I threw it on the gravel and stepped on it) bore snake attached to my reciprocating saw and couldn't get very cheap aluminum to wear even .001 going fast enough that the bore snake was smoking! God only knows how many passes that was..
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