I have seen a bunch of cleaning techniques and advice about how to clean your bore. My question is, I have a takedown BLR (makes cleaning a breeze) and I have both a bore snake and a cleaning rod. Can I do it all with just the snake? I know copper gets pretty bad in there. Plus, if I use a rod, can I eye it in instead of using a bore guide since it's a takedown? I know I need to watch my crown and what I put into my bore so is an AK cleaning kit (with steel rods) a bad idea to use? Thanks in advance.
That is a very nice gun worthy of its own cleaning rod. I would really advise against using a steel cleaning rod on it and really suggest that you don't use a steel cleaning rod on any gun. I picked up a fiber gunslick rod from Amazon for under $35. It is well worth it. I had an aluminum one but did not want to use it on my BLR. The more I read about gun cleaning the more I figured a good cleaning rod was a good investment. I hope I have not done too much wear to my other guns
I too keep reading more and more and learn more and more. Thus far I have only used a bore snake. I think a nice fiberglass rod is in my future. How about the bore guide for a takedown? Is that redundancy or still necessary and preferable?
My rod came with one to protect the crown when pushing through the muzzle. If it can be used in the breach end I would use it there too. My concern with going in the breach end is when using a wire brush. They must be pushed all the way through out the muzzle and that, in my opinion, could damage the crown. I know I still have a lot to learn also.
I have never been a fan of Bore Snakes, for several reasons. I just use the old tried and true cleaning kit and a bore guide.
I have read that using nylon brushes eliminates the scare for using that brass brush that can hurt the crown. You just need to make sure you have a solvent that is for carbon and one for copper to ensure all fouling comes out. With good solvents, nylon brushes are more than adequate.