Alternatives to Cotton Cleaning Patches for barrel cleaning?

[VariableRecall]

I'd been thinking that there's some good alternatives to your standard cotton cleaning batches for wiping out barrels and the like.

Would those Blue Shop Towels, cut into small squares, be a decent low cost alternative to cotton patches?

I've got a feeling they may be just strong enough to function properly and would be a very efficient way to get things done.

If you've got any other cleaning patch ideas, let me know as well.

[Net]

In the past I've taken my worst t-shirt and a good pair of sharp sizzors and cut up a pile of patches during commercials. I don't do that often but I regularly do that to cut hand size cloths for cleaning/ oil rag.

[reddog81]

I’m sure the blue shop towels would work. I use regular old paper towels for cleaning and oiling the exterior and many parts on guns. Old cotton bedding cut or torn into small pieces work.

Q tips work in small places and a piece of paper towel wrapped around a q-tip works to clean the bore of a .22.

[BLAHUT]

I go to Walmart and buy cotton flannel by the yard, color, print, don't matter, what ever is cheap,
then cut to what ever size I need. I WON'T USE T-SHIRT MATERIAL. HAVE GOT IT STUCK IN BARREL TO MANY TIMES, I USE A VERY TIGHT PATCH.

[Omega]

I had tons of brown cotton t-shirts when I retired, and they mysteriously shrunk on me so cut one up now and then into various sized squares so I probably have enough for my lifetime...unless the wife cleans out my dresser drawers. But the good blue shop towels would probably work, I say good because I got a two-pack from wally world and they do not do well to wipe the oil off the dipstick let alone clean a bore.

[NyFirefighter357]

Sometime after my father died my mother gave me a bunch of his clothes including a bunch of handkerchiefs, I saved them for patches.

[Winger Ed.]

50 cent flannel shirts from a garage sale, or ones from Goodwill do a good job for me
when I don't want to sacrifice a well broken in T shirt. .

[imashooter2]

Old tee shirts are an endless source of patches and rags around here. Wife has a paper cutter that makes short work of them.

[Sasquatch-1]

My wife is a quilter, so I have an unlimited amount of 100% cotton scraps. I also save old t-shirts for cleaning.

Go to Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift stores and buy anything that says 100% cotton and does not have metal threads.

[dverna]

I thought I was cheap...but I guess not.

I have bags of commercial patches from buying them when I find them on sale. I have seen some decent deals on Amazon, and I have Prime, so delivery is free.

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Shot-Gun-...s%2C530&sr=8-8

Hardly worth the hassle of cutting up old clothes in front of the TV, stuffing the patches into a bag or box, and having to vacuum up afterwards.

In a pinch, I have used Bounty paper towels. Not great, but this isn't neurosurgery.

[bedbugbilly]

I'm another one who buys cheap flannel off the bargain table by the yard. Years ago, I made cutters for cutting round patches of various sizes for different calibers. I bought hole saws, ground the teeth off and sharpened the edge. Remove the center drill from the mandrel and your in business. I mount the cutter in the drill press, use a wood backer and fold the flannel so I have about six layers and go to work. You can cut a lot of cheap patches that way. I also cut muzzleloading patches the same way out of pillow ticking and linen in the thickness I need.

[country gent]

One of the benefits of the cotton and flannel patches is the knap of the fabric. it catches and hold the fouling carrying it out with it.The better blue towels may work but others may smear. I buy disposable towels for in the shop they have a cotton fiber content are very strong and have a rough and smooth side. They carry and hold crud well very absorbent and very strong.

[Froogal]

Quick and easy---spray some ballistol down the barrel, let it set for a couple minutes, and then a couple passes with a bore snake. When the bore snake is dirty, wash it with dish soap and water and hang it up to dry.

[Freischütz]

Blue shop towels work. But even when using multiple layers they are not as strong as a cloth patch.

[parson48]

My wife is a quilter also. She uses her rotary cutter and knocks out a couple hundred patches in no time, using scrape from t-shirt quilts. I haven't bought patches in years.

[Hannibal]

I must say, the idea of precut packaged cotton patches as an area to save money in my hobby has never once crossed my mind.

[waksupi]

Paper towels.

[alamogunr]

I must say, the idea of precut packaged cotton patches as an area to save money in my hobby has never once crossed my mind.

I've thought about it but never followed up. I do use old T-shirts for oiling rags. I saturate them with food grade mineral oil(a gallon is cheap) and store them in an air tite(sort of) jar. I don't expect the oil to last forever so re-do periodically.

[JimB..]

Depends on how bad the fouling is. I’ve thought that in a pinch I could make a bore snake by braiding strips of an old sheet…I’ve never been in that bad a pinch.

I thought the OP was at school in the pacific NW? If so, and now in AZ, then he probably has an ample supply of excess hipster flannel for a decade of gun cleaning.

[porthos]

when i was in the business i used nothing but paper towels wrapped around a brush. i think that they are a little more abrasive for cleaning than cotton.