SmallCaliberCentral

Anyone use a boresnake for cleaning your 204? How well do they work? Just wondering because they look like they would be pretty slick. They have a brush weaved right into the fabric.

I use a snake on my 204's about every 35 shots, just pull it through a couple times. Then I give rifles a good cleaning in camp at night. This works fine for me and I don't have to mess with rods, patches, and solvent in the field. I use two rifles to fire 150-250 shots per day. All of my bullets are moly-coated. I'm also very carefull not to let barrels get too hot.

All I have used so far is a boresnake with Hoppe's #9. It appears to do very well on the carbon but probably wont get the copper out without a good copper solvent.

Sorry if im stating the obvious here,but you must allways make sure you pull the Boresnake out straight!Afterall you dont want to damage the crown.

i use one for my 204, quick and effective

A boresnake and a little Wipeout does the trick everytime!

I have heard it said and agree that the best way to use a bore snake is to stretch it out at arms length and drop it in the trash can. They are ineffective as shown by a borescope and will lead to a buildup of carbon and copper in the barrel. Several hundred rounds later the conclusion is sometimes reached that the barrel is shot out or no longer accurate. Accuracy returns after a very long and time consuming cleaning process to get through the built up layers. If you ever see one at a benchrest match then you know that they work at maintaining accuracy. If you are just trying to remove powder residue and prefer the mess to the inconvenience of a cleaning rod, then the bore shake is your answer. You can carry it in your pocket and pull it through in the field.

This is my opinion only and worth what you paid for it. I'm not trying to insult those that use them. I thought they worked better than they do until I got my bore scope.

A snake will not take the place of a clenaing rod. It does have some effective value in a quick clean situation as I described in my earlier post. To each his own. My rifle has not suffered for it's intended use by using the snake in the field and thorough cleaning by rod and brush after a day of prairie dog elimination. When I used 220 Swift and 22-250's to make pd's dance it seemed that a huge ammount of time was required to clean and cool barrels. Now I spend more time shooting. That's success in my world. I also believe that moly coated bullets contribute to easy cleaning. A bore snake is only a $15.00 gamble to see if it works for you. If not throw it in my trash and go back to the elbow grease method.

I used the snake in the field ,then did the real cleaning when I returned home. now I dont use the snake as I heard that if you use it with any cleaning solution like wipe out or hoppes or anything it can rot the snake and break off when pulling thru the barrel. there is no way to get it out of the barrel after it breaks , can you say new barrel . Agian this is something I read on another site and have no first hand knowledge of it happening, but it scared me into not using one. also on another site someone came up with the idea of using weed wacker string to make a great in the field cleaner and I will try to get some pics taken and share his idea with you when i find the time. you simply cut the weed wacker string longer than the barrel , melt the end till you have a ball slightly smaller than the bore. then cut the other end at a sharp angle and push it thru a patch, pull the patch to the ball on the other end, feed it thru your barrel and pull it out the other end. use what ever you want on the patch and repeat till the patches are clean. I think if this should ever break in the barrel I could get it out.
Sportingly
Cracker

i used bore snakes for quite a while till i ran a patch with wipeout thru my bbl after three or four passes with the bore snake with hoppes elite on it
still a lot left in the bbl so i dont use bore snakes for anything anymore

walleyeman wrote:A boresnake and a little Wipeout does the trick everytime!

Boresnake for in the field kinda quick situations and use the wipe-out at home with of course a good cleaning rod! Sorry if I mislead anyone

Use the snake and then a patch, the proof is in the patch. Bore snakes don’t work good enough to be accurate, mine is in the trash after the first time.

I use one while in the field. I only shoot 20-30 shots in an outing for Jacks and 'Yotes. I'll run the snake to get some of the residue out of my bore.

When I get home it's all about Dewey coated rod, Nylon brush and Butch's Bore Shine.

THAT leaves a clean barrel!

herb wrote:, mine is in the trash after the first time.

Wish i could afford to throw $16 in the trash!!!

heck i would have sent it to you for free. I don't have all the cash, its just that my gun shoots like crap when the hint of fouling shows and there is nothing worse than chasing rounds and then to realize the gun is dirty, and the bore snake doesn't make it for me. i can run a rod through it just as fast as dicking with trying to get that weight down the barrel and holding on to the gun, and pulling it out without getting cleaner all over the gun.