CLeaning Question - Snider and Martini-Henry shooters

[Ed in North Texas]

For those who shoot the .577-450 Martini-Henry, and the .577 Snider rifles, what bore brushes do you use? And if you use a patch jag, which one? I can put a substantial patch on my .45 brass jag and it will be fairly tight in the barrel of the Martini. And a .50 caliber Muzzleloader nylon brush seems to work fairly well for the M-H, though no way for the Snider. .58 Muzzleloader might even be a bit thin for the Snider, with their generous bores.

Anyway, I'm just disassembling and cleaning up my new to me Mark IV, getting ready to load for it and shoot it. No sense in thinking about cleaning supplies AFTER I start shooting, well - I'm sure more than one person in this world has done just that.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Ed

[NickSS]

I do not own either rifle but I do own a 577 Enfield ML and I use a 58 cal jag for cleaning it and a 20 ga nylon shotgun brush for it too. The 45 Martini is more nearly 46 caliber so probably a 45 jag would work and a 50 cal brush the same. I use surplus 50 cal MG brushes for my 45 call rifles as I bought several hundred of them for like a cent each years ago and am still using them up.

[Frack]

When I cleaned up my IMA snider I used a 20 gauge brass brush and a .50 cal seater/cleaning jag pushing 3 Hoppes 12 gauge patches. I havent shot it yet so I dont know what'll work best for cleaning out the BP residue, but I know it worked well for removing the yak fat Nepali armorers smeared their sniders with.

[Ed in North Texas]

Thank you both. I suspected I'd be looking for either a 20 or maybe 28 gauge brush, now I won't have to do the buy it and try it routine, just go with the 20 gauge brush. Just started working on disassembly of the Mark IV. The bore was remarkably clean (it went through another person's hands before I picked it up. I finished cleaning a "new" 1898 Krag just before this and it took me several days to get the bore clean. It didn't look bad, but my routine of JB, followed by Sweet's 7.62, swab the bore with Kroil and let sit for hours or over night, then start again. 2 or 3 iterations per day. I was tempted to think there was 100 years build up in that barrel, but I had a Remington 700 in .243 last year which was worse. When I got it, I barely could get a patch down the bore at all. Now I just have to wait for the Grandson who that rifle is for to get a little larger. He's passed his Hunter Safety course, but he's still a bit on the smaller side - even for a youth stock.

[chrispy]

I use a 20guage brush on my Snider and a 54 cal jag for patches. Used with baby wipes (yep, baby wipes) for between shots and Moose milk (water soluble machine oil/water mix) patches for a thorough clean, works wonders.

Chrispy

[Ed in North Texas]

I use a 20guage brush on my Snider and a 54 cal jag for patches. Used with baby wipes (yep, baby wipes) for between shots and Moose milk (water soluble machine oil/water mix) patches for a thorough clean, works wonders.

Chrispy

Thanks for the input. One question though: Is the use of the .54 caliber jag due to using baby wipes? For regular patches, any reason for not using a .58 caliber jag?

OK, that's two questions.

Ed

[chrispy]

The baby wipes I use are a thick cotton like wipe. They equate to a flannel patch in thickness. I never found a 58 cal jag at my gunshop. But the weekend previous, I had used a custom made rod, owned by another Snider owner, and measured it up. When in the shop, the exact match was a 54 cal. The 54 cal jag is a good fit for my rifle.

Chris

[bonza]

I use a .45 jag in my (3) Martini-Henry rifles, & a .58 in my (2) Sniders.