U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- To do a job properly you need not only the right tools but also good tools. As a kid, when we cleaned our guns, we used a 3-pc. wood rod that screwed together to clean our shotguns and a copper-coated wire rod or a screw together 3-pc. aluminum rod for our rifles. I don’t ever remember cleaning the barrels on our pistols.
Real Avid Bore Max Smart Rod
A lot has changed since then Now we know it’s best to use a bore guide and remove the bolt and clean from the back instead of running a rod down the front and damaging the crown. (The crown is the last spot the bullet touches before it leaves the barrel. You don’t want it dinged up. That’s why rifles have recessed crowns).
I just got two Real Avid Bore Max smart rods. I got one 36” rod to clean my ARs and a 44” one to clean my bigger bore hunting rifles. I love these rods. A lot of rods are stainless and coated. If you knock the coating off then you can ding up your barrels. I like that these rods are carbon fiber.
Another nice feature is that it has a pistol grip instead of an inline screwdriver type of grip like all of my other cleaning rods have. This give4s you more leverage. It has ball bearings in the handle and spins easily. To try to explain how smooth it spins. I spun it with medium effort and it did eight revolutions before it glided to a stop.
This isn’t a gun cleaning article but I do want to briefly highlight a few items/steps. If the barrel has a lot of fouling, I’ll screw a Swab-Its foam pad into the Real Avid Bore Max Smart Rod and dip the foam pad into a bottle of Barnes CR-10 fluid and run it down the barrel. I’ll let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then run a brush down the barrel and work it for a couple of minutes. Then run some patches down the barrel to remove any loose fouling. Repeat soaking with the Barnes CR-10, brush, wipe out and hopefully, it is clean by now. If not, repeat. When a rag comes out clean wipe the barrel dry with a rag and then oil with a high-grade gun oil
Some of the fouling removal solvents are very corrosive so you want to make sure you get all of the solvent removed and then oiled up.
Your rifle is now clean and should shoot better groups.
If you properly clean your rifles they should last for years. In fact, for generations. But if you don’t, you can ruin one in one season. I remember one year I ran down to Texas to take my 12-yr. old nephew deer hunting. He pulled his older brother’s deer rifle out of the plastic gun case only to discover that it was pitted and rusted up the worst I have ever seen. He’d thrown it in the back of his truck after hunting and it poured on him all the way home. When he got home, he threw it in the closet. Unbeknownst to him, the case had leaked big time. A perfect recipe to ruin a good rifle.
One last comment. The rod comes with a plastic wall hanger bracket which is nice. Screw it in the wall and then you can hang up your Smart Rod so it doesn’t get bent or broke. The MSRP on the Real Avid Bore Max Smart Rod is $24.99-39.99 and as is usual, we will close with the specs.
Features
- Ultra glide bearings
- Includes wall hanger storage bracket
- Cleans lands and groves efficiently and effectively
- Length They offer at least two that I know of.
- Threads 8-32
- Caliber Group They offer at least two that I know of.
- Rod Material Carbon Fiber
- Coated Rod No
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoor writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net, and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal, you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening #ad for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
