Help with Bore Brushes

My GF has finally allowed me to keep guns in the house, and I went a little crazy this Christmas. :yikes:

I bought a Mosin Nagant, Type 99, Carcano, 98k Mauser, and a BRITISH ENFIELD No.4 MK.2. :)

Several of these are still on the way to me. I never owned a rifle, much less a surplus rifle before last month. I am trying to figure out which bore brushes I should be using for cleaning these rifles.

The Mosin, I use a 30 cal brush
The Mauser I use an 8mm brush

I honestly don't know if the Carcano is 6.5 or 7.35, but all I have seen is a 7mm and an 8mm brush. If it is 6.5 I use a 7mm, and 7.35 uses an 8mm? Or do I have to get something weird?

The type 99 is 7.7, so again I assume you use an 8mm brush. Is that correct?

The Enfield is British 303 is also 7.7, so I assume again, the 8mm. Is that correct?

I guess I don't know how precise a bore brush needs to be to the bore of the rifle to get a good clean going on.

Any advise would be awesome.

BTW, the GF loves the cosmoline oven that I made to sweat the grease from the stocks. She particularly thinks that the smell is a nice addition to the house. :ugh:

Your concept of bore brushes is correct. Just remember to keep them clean, cloth free and they go down the barrel by themselves. Then they won't get stuck. They don't last forever, you will eventually feel them going through easier so they have worn down. Don't be cheap, just get another. Use a good grade of cloth for the bore, not the cheap non cloth patches. Use oil to clean with the bore patches every time except when proving the bore dry before firing. Use rifle oil not motor oil.

Awesome, thank you so much for that. I didn't want to screw up my new toys

Yeah, I tend to buy them in groups of 10, so I don't have to go back to the store for them for a long long time. I have so many 9mm brushes it is embarrassing. The GF knew I kept quite a few, but thought they were only used once, since they were so cheap. She stuffed my stocking last year, and now I have more than I could ever use.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Use rifle oil not motor oil.

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Thank-you for pointing that out!! It is an important point I stress to all my customers. Too many folks use "3-in-1" oil because it mentions firearms on the label. It is nothing but motor oil in a squirt can and turns to brown varnish in about a year. Looks like dried mollasses. Customers wonder why their gun doesn't work and I tell them is just needed a good cleaning. "But I keep it cleaned and oiled!".

There are 7,65mm/.303" brushes as well that will do .30 cal (0.308") and 7,7mm (0.312") (the same as .303" which is also 0.312") as well, plus the 7,35mm (actually a 0.300" bore dia.).

Get 6,5mm (sometimes listed as 25 caliber as well, but actual 25 brushes are a bit smallish) brushes for the 6,5mm. 7mm is too big, really, for a 6,5 bore when the brush is new.

Again, 8mm (0.323" bore) "new" brushes are too big for best use in the 30/303s. But not so much as the 7mm in a 6.5mm.

I will use worn brushes in smaller calibers when worn, but pretty soon the bristles start failing and get kind of useless. In actual fact, I don't use brushes near so much any more. (there are exceptions,it depends on the rifle). Patch and soak works well and presents less opportunity for damage VIA the cleaning process itself.

Use as close to the proper size brush as possible. A brush that is too large simple fold over and you don't get the scrubbing action of a proper fitting brush. For 6.5mm use a .25 which fits the .25 to 6.5mm bore, and in the 7.35 and 7.7 the .30 cal would work.

Just get a boresnake for each size