One Piece Cleaning Rods

[alamogunr]

After breaking a sectional rod, I decided to try one piece rods. I bought the Tipton carbon fiber rod, both .22 and .30. Thinking I was saving money and being flexible, I got the 40" length because my longest barrels required it. My lever rifles don't require a long rod and these tend to flex too much. I would like to get rods about 30" to 32' long but all I can find are 36".

Does anyone have a recommendation for a rod shorter than 36"?

I really like the Tipton rods but 36" is the next shorter size and I may have to go with them to get a shorter rod.

[Chicken Thief]

Are you lathe savvy?

I make mine of carbon kite pins and a golf ball for handle.
A ferrule with some threads in and glued to the end will be a mighty fine cleaning rod.

[alamogunr]

No, I 'm not "lathe savvy". But looking at your rods, I might have to look into a small lathe. A Unimat would be ideal if it had a hole thru the headstock. One of the Chinese imports would probably work.

I'm not going to get too enthusiastic until I try any other possibilities. Wouldn't be cost effective for just cleaning rods. That is a clever solution though.

[Kull]

Check Dewey. Quick search at Midway shows they make rods in 30" length. Like this one. I've never used one of their rods, I have Tipton's, but they're up there too.

[fouronesix]

Use a bore guide for those guns cleaned from the breech and a muzzle guard for those cleaned from the muzzle. For lever guns- simply open the action, turn upside down in a gun vise or cradle and clean from the muzzle using a guard. There are 2 or 3 good brands of one piece rods out there. Invest in a multi hundred dollar gun then cheap out on a poor cleaning rod- makes no sense. Dewey makes a wide variety of rods and their bearing handles are very good. I use Deweys simply because I started with them, they work well and they haven't worn out. Forget about thin, flexible rods- that's just asking for trouble.

[phaessler]

Well I had the same concern, I took a long 40" .30cal Tipton, cut it off at the handle drilled out the remaining carbon fiber ever so gently as to not destroy the bore of the rotating handle, shortened the carbon fiber to the desired length, then reglued a shortened rod via Acraglas. I also have a bore guide permanently attached for "other" end cleaning.
I like the longer rods too for the 26"+ barrels, but Opticsplanet had the 40" cheap, and was a good project.

[Iowa Fox]

Years ago I tried a ProShot for one of my 17 cal barrels. I liked that rod so well I have switched to them 100%, including shotgun. I still have all my Deweys but like the ProShot better, plus their customer support is very good.

[Doc Highwall]

Most of the cleaning rod makers make some shorter ones for pistols. I just picked up a 17" Dewey for cleaning my 15" barrel Encores.

[Smokin7mm]

Or you could go custom all the way. I have seen these rods and do plan on getting a couple. They are really nice.

http://www.ivyrods.com/CleaningRODS.htm

Bret

[DukeInFlorida]

I'm much more liking the Bore Snakes than any rigid type cleaning rods these days.

Length isn't an issue with a Bore Snake.

I have them for all the calibers I shoot, including .22 and .30!

[.22-10-45]

I find myself liking Bore-Tech rods over Dewey these days. I do have a couple of stainless Ivy rods for my special .22's. I have used a bore snake (Otis) only once..followed directions, but managed to get patch stuck in a 6mm bore..sweated bullets trying to get it out..never again!

[uscra112]

Buy Hoppes STEEL rods, which are very cheap, cut 'em to length and epoxy on a handle of some kind. The ball-bearing handle isn't necessary IMHO, unless your patches are too tight. Some of mine don't even have a handle, just grooves for grip. If that was good enough for Harry Pope, it'll do for me.

Don't like CF for cleaning rods at all. Not stiff enough, and they eventually crack and splinter. Don't like coated rods, either. Never had one that didn't pick up grit eventually.

Use a lot of CF when building model airplanes, though. You can buy CF rod and tube in various diameters from model airplane specialist suppliers.

Make muzzle guides by drilling out the base of smaller bottleneck cases with a #3 drill. A .223 case does for 7mm and above, until you get past the .35s. From there on a .308 case does great. For my .22s I made a Delrin guide on the lathe, which works because I use a rod meant for .17 caliber cleaning on those.

[blackbike]

I have ben making my cleaning rods, punches,pins, nock out rods, ect out of brazing rods, cheep from welding supply.

[crowbuster]

Had dewey years ago, coating began to peel of on the end. Called em up for them to take care of the problem. Wanted to know if I had used cleaning solvent, uuuummmm, yeah, it is a gun cleaning rod. Well we cant help ya if you used gun cleaning solution, it makes the coating peel, I said no ****, bought tipton and never looked back. Even threw out another good dewey that had not peeled yet, done with em. Just my experience

['74 sharps]

Have had a Tipton that I use a lot on wiping between shots on two Sharps fired with black. Never had an issue, and picked up another for my 6BR bench rifle.

[alamogunr]

Lots of good ideas here. I think I'm going to order a couple of Tipton 36" rods and see how they work. If I need shorter, cutting off and regluing(per post #6) would be an option.