Thoughts on TORNADO brushes for cleaning?

[Pnut]

What are your guys thoughts on these? I recently tried cleaning my smooth bore shotgun with a bore snake, bronze bristle brush, patches, etc, but when I was done, the bore surface still looked like a pebble walkway! A friend suggested a tornado brush, so I gave it a shot.

It worked like MAGIC! On my first pass, I could feel the roughness of the debris as the brush passed through and I could hear debris hitting the wall behind my muzzle. 2-3 passes later and and the bore looked like a mirror. 1 pass with oil and another with a dry patch and I was done.

My only concern is that the brush is made from stainless steel. My barrel is rated for steel shot so I don’t think it should be a problem, but what do you guys think?

[willie]

The tornado brush was on the market when I was a kid. I'm 74 now. I use them occasionally but not every time I clean the bore. Before shot cup wads, lead shot contacted the bore, and leading was a bigger issue then than now. Plastic build up from wads occurs, and tornado brushes remove this also. A copper pot scrubber pad cut up and wrapped around bristle brushes do a good job. Test the "copper" brush with a magnet to verify that it's not iron. There's a stainless pot scrubber type brush on the market. This item is designed for gun cleaning and not dish washing. It's made from a softer stainless and is safe. Only a few strands wrapped around a bristle are required. I always babied shotguns, even Mossbergs. If I owned a high dollar shotgun, I would verify what I ran through the barrel.

[Irelander]

I have used fine steel wool wrapped around a dowl rod and chucked up in a drill. Run it in and out of the barrel while running the drill. It removes all the junk and leaves a nice shiny bore. The guy at AI&P Tactical recommended this cleaning process.

[41magfan]

I've been using them since they were first introduced and as you have discovered, they are the bomb for heavily fouled barrels. Can they cause damage if used improperly? Yep - especially in barrels that are rifled. I'm also pleased with how durable they are as I've only replaced mine once in all these years.

[OlongJohnson]

There's a stainless pot scrubber type brush on the market. This item is designed for gun cleaning and not dish washing. It's made from a softer stainless and is safe. Only a few strands wrapped around a bristle are required.

I think this is the stuff. I use it for many things, not just guns.

https://www.big45metalcleaner.com/

[Pnut]

Thanks for all the reply’s. I’m going to run a few strokes of JB Bore Paste down the clean barrel to hopefully prevent leading, or at least minimize it for my next range session. I’ve been shooting a lot of slugs which seeps to leave a lot of lead in the barrel.

[Chuck Whitlock]

When I attended Greg Sullivan's shotgun armorer's course, he opined that tornado brushes weren't all that good for rifled barrels, but worked very well in smoothbores.

I haven't done a ton of shotgun shooting since then, but they've cleaned up my 12 guage barrels in a jiffy.

[Brian T]

I have used fine steel wool wrapped around a dowl rod and chucked up in a drill. Run it in and out of the barrel while running the drill. It removes all the junk and leaves a nice shiny bore. The guy at AI&P Tactical recommended this cleaning process.

Used this technique for decades. 0000 steel wool should be in every gunpersons's kit. Dry-Wet-Dry.

[DDTSGM]

Sorry for the late response:

One of these Chamber brushes: https://www.proshotproducts.com/12-G...dle_p_622.html as well as a tornado brush (and cleaning rod) and either a bore mop or a bore snack to lightly lube/oil and you should be good to go.

I cannot emphasize the need for a good chamber cleaning brush if you are shooting assorted brass lengths, or that value pack junk in your shotguns.