BoreSnake Gun Bore Cleaner

The BoreSnake is no replacement for a cleaning rod, but it can be very handy for a quick bore cleaning job, at camp or on the range. It certainly won't knock a serious obstruction loose from your bore, and using it with solvent or oil strikes me as impractical, but used properly the BoreSnake does a fine, fast job of removing grunge from a bore.

Pros

Cons

I had viewed the BoreSnake with some suspicion up until the time when I finally bit the bullet and bought one. After all, it's so unconventional... or is it? Folks have been pulling patches through gun bores with strings for many years, after all. And what is the BoreSnake but a hefty string with a built-in bore brush?

I bought my BoreSnake in .458 caliber (no. 24019) for use with my Marlin lever-action 45-70, and I'm glad I did. I did extensive load testing at the range with that rifle, and needed to knock the crud out of the barrel from time to time. The BoreSnake made it easy for me to quickly clean the bore from the chamber end, because I didn't have to remove the lever and bolt to use it. One swipe with the BoreSnake and I was ready to go.

I suppose some folks use BoreSnakes with solvent and/or oil, but not me. I would rather use patches for those jobs, saving both the hassle of storing a damp, smelly BoreSnake and using more solvent or oil than the job requires.

The BoreSnake is also useful at hunt camp, when at day's end the ol' popper needs a quick de-skanking, or when you've been out in the rain and need to quickly dry the bore of your thunderstick. When your BoreSnake gets too nasty for your taste, just wash it up, let it dry, and you're ready to go again. All in all, it's a practical, useful product - but it doesn't replace the good, old-fashioned cleaning rod. So keep your rods when you add a BoreSnake to your cleaning kit - you will still use them, but not as often.