As I am new to shotguns, I wanted every ones thoughts on proper cleaning. Would you guys recommend a bore snake or a rod/brush? If a bore snake do you have any brands that you like best?

I use a Hoppes boresnake for shotguns.

Either work fine,

I use both. Once every few months of use I completely disassemble the gun just to clean and oil

I use a rod/brush. It works just fine.

I have boresnakes for every caliber of gun I own, including long guns. They're great for when I'm feeling lazy after shooting and just want to clean the bore, especially after shooting lead. The shotgun boresnakes work better for me than patches, but a patch soaked with Hoppes is that first thing I do before anything else. I use bristle bore brushes for shotguns also. Wet patch, wet brush and boresnake followed by a few dry patches.

 

For a field strip, brass and synthetic bore brushes, picks, q-tips, patches and cotton rags. Good brushes I found are denture brushes found at the dollar store. They last longer than toothbrushes and won't fall apart getting bristles everywhere. Definitely by a box of disposable gloves also. I like Hoppes, gun oil and tetra lube as solvents.

 

To clean my stainless guns I use Blue Magic or similar non-abrasive chrome cleaner. Found out about the Blue Magic from the vintage car people. If it's good enough for the chrome on an antique vehicle, it's good enough for my 686. Flitz is basically the same stuff but just a small tube of that costs the same as a jar of Blue Magic that will last a few years.

Heres a question for all. When you clean your guns do you clean them until they are spotless in the barrel? I use the Otis cleaning system and no matter how much I use the cleaning pads, solution, and brush I can't get it all clean. I've gone at it for 15 mins and still had a little bid of dirt in the barrel. Am I doing something wrong?

Heres a question for all. When you clean your guns do you clean them until they are spotless in the barrel? I use the Otis cleaning system and no matter how much I use the cleaning pads, solution, and brush I can't get it all clean. I've gone at it for 15 mins and still had a little bid of dirt in the barrel. Am I doing something wrong?

 

 

Curios as well as I have the same issue. I use Otis but have used others. No matter what, the barrel is never 100% clean.

 

Thoughts

I use a boresnake mostly for my shotguns and they are clean when I am done.

I did some YouTube research and went out and bough a bore cleaner solvent and used that yesterday. The gun isn't 100% clean but when I run the bore snake through it only the get the ring where the plug and the barrel meet. And it's a faint black. So I think the Otis all in one cleaner isn't that good. I also let the solvent sit for a little while.