UPDATE: Shotgun DIY Wood Cleaning Rods Using 9mm or 45ACP Brass

[Liberty1776]

I built some various-length cleaning rods from wood dowels and 9mm brass, threaded to 8-32 to receive standard cleaning jags and brushes. To fit 5/16-27 shotgun accessories, I used an 8-32 to 5/16-27 adapter.

Then I bought a 5/16-27 tap to fit shotgun-sized accessories directly.

You can drill a pilot hole in a .45 ACP, or a 9mm shell, with a Letter I drill.

About 3/16" of brass is revealed. This can be tapped to 5/16-27 threads easily.

The .45 ACP shell can be epoxied to a 7/16" dowel with almost a perfect fit.

Then I tried tapping a 9mm shell with 5/16-27. It works also. Lots of brass to thread. This epoxies to a nominal 3/8" dowel (actually 11/32" or a metric equivalent, or sand the 3/8" dowel to fit the 9mm shell).

These cleaning rods can be made to any length --

- 1/4" dowel rods with .25ACP brass tips threaded to 8-32
- palm-sized short with 9mm tips, for cleaning larger bore revolver cylinders and barrels like .45 Colt or .45ACP;
- medium, with .45ACP tips for 20" barrel 12-ga shotguns;
- or long, for 30" .45 Colt 1873 barrels or longer 12-ga shotguns.

Shorter shotgun cleaning rods are difficult to come by. Most are 36" long -- way too long for a 20" double barrel Cowboy Action shotgun.

284922
Left: .45ACP with 5/16-27 threads
Right: 9mm with 5/16-27 threads


284923
Left: 9mm shell threaded to 8-32, epoxied to 3/8" (11/32) dowel
Right: .32ACP shell threaded to 8-32, epoxied to 11/32" dowel


Finally, you can thread to 8-36 to handle milspec accessories like a AR-15 chamber brush.

[William Yanda]

Great write up. I like the way you think.

[PhilC]

Awesome work!

[TrxR]

Great idea . I need a cleaning rod for my 12 gauge over/under so i think i will try this.

Any tips on how to hold the 9mm case when drillin and tapping? What epoxy did you use?

Thanks

[Liberty1776]

Great idea . I need a cleaning rod for my 12 gauge over/under so i think i will try this.

Any tips on how to hold the 9mm case when drillin and tapping? What epoxy did you use?

Thanks

At first I drilled and tapped after epoxying to the dowel. Held the shell in a vise and winged it with a battery drill.

For more accurate drilling and tapping, I then moved the .45ACP, 9mm, or whatever shell you want to use to my drill press vise and tightened securely.

This way I drill with appropriate pilot drill then, while with the same setup, I remove the drill bit and replace it with the tap. This allows the tap to enter the pilot hole coaxially, leading to a better tapped hole.

I epoxy with a dab of 5-min 2-part epoxy from Harbor Freight. I clean the inside of the brass and also rough up the end of the dowel by touching it against my band saw to give the epoxy some nooks and crannies to flow into, then let the epoxy set up for a half hour.

When I tried drilling and tapping after epoxying, sometimes the shell would break loose from the dowel due to serious torque from the drilling and tapping processes. That, and I didn't really give the epoxy time to set fully. They call it "5-Minute" but, really, full strength is achieved after several hours.

So it's better to drill and tap by holding the shell in a drill press vise. If you can't do that, you might be able to hold the shell in small pair of vice grips or some other clamping devise, then drill with a hand drill and do your best to center the tap.

For 12-ga, I think the 7/16 dowel with a .45 ACP shell on the end is stoutest. You can tap 8/32 threads. But a 3/8 or 11/32 dowel with a 9mm shell seems pretty strong too.

Arcane angle: I use .45 ACP shells that have the unholy SMALL PISTOL PRIMER pocket for the 8-32 threaded hole. A large pistol primer pocket is bigger than the thread, but it will also work, I'm sure.

[j4570]

Liberty,

Great write up. I think I want to get a 5/16-27 tap and make some. I like the idea and they are one piece and won't scratch the bore.

When you say clean the inside of the case, did you rough it up any with a dremel sanding sleeve or stone or anything?

I ask because I used to make pens on a lathe and you glued the wood to a brass sleeve, and lots of time if you were turning hard and heavy (going fast to make a bunch) the brass sleeve would break loose from the wood. I started using polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue but they use that name for all kinds of stuff now) and roughing up the brass sleeves real good before gluing in the wood. That solved it. Of course, if you use poly glue, you need to let it sit overnight to cure and it foams out too.

JW

[Liberty1776]

Liberty,

I think I want to get a 5/16-27 tap and make some. I like the idea and they are one piece and won't scratch the bore.

When you say clean the inside of the case, did you rough it up any with a dremel sanding sleeve or stone or anything?

I started using polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue but they use that name for all kinds of stuff now) and roughing up the brass sleeves real good before gluing in the wood. That solved it. Of course, if you use poly glue, you need to let it sit overnight to cure and it foams out too.

JW


For shotguns, the 5 /16-27 tap direct route is definitely superior. No fragile little adapters involved. I got the 5/16-27 tap on ebay, but paid too much. I forgot to look in my local nut/bolt house. Local hardware stores may (probably) not carry 5/16-27.

I wiped the shell's interior with a Q-Tip and alcohol but it would be better to rough it up. Like I mentioned, the shell broke loose (once) from the dowel due to the tapping process. Brass threads nicely, but can seize up on the tap in the process. I found a drop of Tap-Matic or other thread cutting oil smoothed the tapping process out significantly.

Polyurethane glue is terrific. Very strong and uses water to cure. I'd dip the dowel in water, then apply the adhesive. Poly is excellent, but has a shorter shelf life. I don't stock it because it hardens in the bottle eventually. I should purchase the smallest size bottle and try it.

Maybe it would last longer if stored in the fridge. I know isocyanate Super Glues last for years if kept cool and dark. As you know, don't get that Gorilla Poly Glue on your skin! (Or Super Glue, for that matter.) Epoxy cleans up with lacquer thinner.

Poly would probably be best as it fills gaps as it foams and is stronger than snot.

[bedbugbilly]

That is really slick!

[Mk42gunner]

For added security you could cross drill the case and dowel after gluing, then put in a cross pin. Wouldn't need to be very big, but it would prevent spinning or pulling off the dowel.

Robert

[MOA]

A really nice job liberty. I'll remember this trick.

[Liberty1776]

For added security you could cross drill the case and dowel after gluing, then put in a cross pin. Wouldn't need to be very big, but it would prevent spinning or pulling off the dowel.

Robert

Yes. This is good.

I also picked up the smallest tube of Gorilla Original Glue per J4570's comment above. They call it a "pen" with precision point. Only .75 ounce. About $5.

I forgot how great that glue is. I adhered some small sections of PVC pipe inside my 4" PVC wet tumbler. Excellent adhesion. I'm sure it's better than epoxy at holding the brass onto wood too. It's going to be used a lot around the shop.

But I agree that a mechanical cross pin would finish it off nicely. There's not a ton of surface area inside a 9mm case. A pin would really help.

[jetinteriorguy]

So glad I clicked on this thread, marvelous idea. Now if I could just scrounge up some .32 ACP brass I’d make some dedicated rods for my pistols so I wouldn’t have to keep changing the tips for each function. One set for 9mm/.357, and one set for .41.

[No_1]

This thread is now a sticky.

[richhodg66]

Very nice!