Dinging lands/crown with rod when cleaning a rifle?

[tiki]

Hi guys,

I'm a bit of a noob to cleaning my rifle and wondering if this is a concern?

I have a 1 piece cleaning rod and so the "usual" process that most manufacturers seem to show.

1 - Pass through solvent patch.
2 - Pass through brass brush.
3 - Pass through clean patches.
4 - Pass through 1 oiled patch.

Seems to do the trick. Looking down the barrel ( From the action end, not the muzzle ) everything looks nice and shiny.

I notice though there is a little bit of flex in the rod so it arches a little when pushing it through and sort of springs forward a pitch when it comes out the muzzle, making it rattle a little against the lands and crown.

Anything to worry about here? Or something I could be doing better?

Cheers.

[Herdsman]

You can buy bore guides which sit in the place of your bolt and push a plastic funnel into the throat, guiding the cleaning brush in so there is no metal contacting the lands.

Personally I think it's a bit of a piece-of-mind accessories rather than a mandatory one. How much damage can gently pushing a brush over them do after you've just blown a piece of hot copper through them at a few thousand fps?

I think a bore guides about $35 or something though if you want one.

[Monty]

Here you go... Check out HSS for some more on bore guides.

[Vati]

I notice though there is a little bit of flex in the rod so it arches a little when pushing it through and sort of springs forward a pitch when it comes out the muzzle, making it rattle a little against the lands and crown.

Hmm, not sure I really see much flex when doing mine? The rod goes down without any resistance to speak of... Sure you don't have a brush size that's a pinch to big?

[Lorgar]

For the sake of $6 or whatever for a smaller brush that would be worth a try.

Short of carelessly ramming the rod up and down the barrel though there shouldn't be any issue if you take basic care when cleaning your rifle.