If powder fouling was so abrasive I would think that shooting more than one round without cleaning the barrel would wear it out. Never had a problem with cleaning with regular rods or "boresnakes", which I usually make on my own by tightly wrapping old face cloths that my mother in law gets from her buisiness (cleaning hotel linens and towels.) around wooden dowels. I wash both them and the comercial ones out in a diluted solution of simple green when done. Swabbing a clean bore with a little 50/50 mix of gun oil and Slick 50 before putting the gun away will make cleaning it that much easier next time you shoot it too.