Raillex

I was wondering if it's safe to clean a revolver's barrel by inserting a bronze brush down the muzzle. I know this is a no-no with a semi-auto, but there's obviously no way to do it from the chamber end on a revolver. I have a bore snake, but would rather do the initial crud loosening with a bronze brush and lots of Hoppe's if possible, with the bore snake reserved for final cleanup work.

What are the chances I will ruin my muzzle by pushing the brush down the wrong end? If the answer is "high," how did people clean their barrels before bore snakes were invented?

Dawgface

On page #20 of the GP100 instruction manual it says to clean the barrel from the muzzle end with both a cleaning patch/rod and bronze brush.
Also on Ruger.com under GP100 there is a cleaning video that also shows cleaning from the muzzle.
HTH

Raillex

Thanks, Dawgface. If Ruger says this procedure is OK for its revolvers, I wonder why that same procedure is supposedly bad for semi-autos. Is cleaning a barrel from the chamber side an urban legend of some sort?

Dawgface

You're welcome.
I can't answer the urban legend question, I can only go by what the manual says. My SR9c and LC9 manuals do not say which end of the barrel you should clean from.

Yiogo

I strip my center fires to clean them. Mark III and 10/22 get the bore snake inserted from the chamber end. Yiogo

Mr Sasquatch

Obviously cleaning from the chamber is better as it minimizes any chances of damaging the crown. Of course not every time you stick your brush from the muzzle end you will damage the barrel, but the probability is higher. But what can you do in case of a revolver? It's not that you can unscrew the barrel for cleaning. So, the next best thing for revolvers is to clean from the muzzle, carefully, or to use a bore snake.

And frankly, when I need to quickly clean my semiauto I'd often run a plastic brush on a plastic rod from the muzzle end back and forth a couple of times. The muzzle police hasn't gotten me yet.

jaxrider14

Shooters have been cleaning guns from the muzzle end for more than a hundred years.

Only in recent years have we had bore snakes and the removable barrels from modern polymer pistols that are now commonplace. (1911 pistol barrels were the exception as they have been around for 100 years)

It's all about how you do it. A brush should be pushed into the crown of the muzzle gently and allowed to rotate freely as the rifling guides it down the bore and back up.

Nick0410

So if youre doing muzzle end does that mean youre pushing down from muzzle and then pulling back out? Youre semis you just dont want to push oil and residue back into the chamber and/or rest of the gun. You can stick the brush through the chamber end of the revolver and screw the rod together inside the barrel depending on how big your brush is but it shouldnt matter because with a revolver, its a straight tube, just tapers on both sides but no connected chamber to worry about.

Lost Sheep

I hadn't thought of inserting the rod without brush and then screwing the brush onto the end of the rod before pulling it out. Seems like it would take about 5 times as long and be terribly inconvenient.

I have seen (but don't have links to a manufacturer, sorry) cleaning rods that have a bushing on them. You insert the bore brush followed by the bushing and then run the length of the rod into the barrel and the bushing keeps the rod from contacting the bore at all. Should be easy enough to make one if you are of a mind. Wood or plastic should work, though the ones I have seen were brass.

Lost Sheep

DPris

There's no need to overthink it.
Long guns & short guns have been cleaned from the muzzle for over four hundred years.

The key is to reduce the amount of ROD rubbing against the inside of the bore up at the muzzle. Repetitive rubbing of that rod can wear down the muzzle's crown unevenly, which affects accuracy.

That takes a fair amount of rubbing/cleaning.
Try to keep your rod centered, try to do your best to limit the amount of rubbing it does.

There are rod guides that can fit on the muzzle of many guns to prevent rod contact at the crown area.
Many guns can be cleaned from the rear to avoid constant crown contact.
On those where you can't use a rod guide & can't clean from the rear, just do the best you can to reduce rod contact with the bore.

It's not push or pull that causes the problem.
Denis

Nick0410

Come to think of it I think I do just clean the 101 from the muzzle but dropping the brush down into the gun and screwing it in from there is how I clean the Mark III, have just been using boresnake in between cleanings on the .22s though if they arent dirty enough

Tater

I use a rag or piece of leather to stop the cleaning rod from smacking the firing pin.

Waveform

Listen to Tater here - watch that you don't smack into the firing pin. I always clean my revolver barrels from the muzzle end, there's no other practical way. I always strip my pistols and clean the barrels separately so there's no chance of any gunk getting into places I don't want it to go. I don't use Bore Snakes - too old school I guess - but lots of folks love 'em. I actually enjoy the cleaning process and I don't mind spending the time to carefully clean everything I can reach using little brushes, rags, Q-tips, whatever. Maybe I'm weird.........

jaxrider14

Me too. That's exactly how I clean my guns, and I can spend a lot of quality time out in my shop cleaning guns after a trip to the range.

bwinters

People have been cleaning revolvers from the muzzle since the beginning of the revolver age. I am careful not to rub the muzzle too much. You will do it on occasion. Just do this and you will be fine. Note maybe this is a reason to buy a Dan Wesson revolver.