I've been looking at the Otis. Any suggestions?
Would like something for the unthinkable ie. mud in the muzzle.

Unless I'm going in to a very wet area or for a long time while carrying a blued rifle, I make do with a home-made pullthrough, some patches and the smallest bottle of oil I can find. To stop mud getting in we use electricians' tape over the muzzle.

quote:

Originally posted by Rae59:
I've been looking at the Otis. Any suggestions?

good kit
its what I take in the field. Thus far, fortunately, I have not needed to use it.

you do need something for the unthinkable .

I perfer a light weight alum rod, pull throughs don' work very well if you get unlucky and fill your barrel full of snow.

Or get some dirt shoved into it.

The thing with the Otis pull thru is that its a nylon coated multi-strand wire . not a twine.
it has sufficient rigidity once its in the bore to push out mud,snow etc that you might have inadvertently jammed your muzzle into, then clean the bore as a pull-thru.

whilst I have not needed to use it in the field I had an old 22LR that had reached its 'use-by' date after thousands of rounds dispatching large tuna commercially , which I jammed solidly in some mud to try the Otis kit & make sure it worked before putting it in the backpack kit with the other bits & pieces.
It did the job for me using the patch attachment

Thanks Dennis. I'll give Otis a try.

I recommend the Otis kit as well. You won't regret it.

Ray:
On backpacking trips, we don't take a cleaning kit but...
We put electrical tape over the muzzle for mud/snow protection. Then, roll several layers around your barrel for use as a replacement should you fire a shot. This method saved me on a sheep hunt once when I slipped coming up out of a river bank and my packboard went off to one side. On backpack trips we tie our rifles across the uprights, thus leaving our hands free.
IF you still feel the need to carry some type of cleaning tool, take a bore snake with some pre oiled patches in a zip lockbag. We've never needed to though.
Good luck.
Bear in Fairbanks

I too use electrical tape over the muzzle, but I always keep small Otis kit handy. If not in my pack, then back at camp.

I carry a Rapid Rod. It works well for its intended purpose.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx...73/Product/RAPID-ROD

I've done the tape thing also but had it raked off on brush before. Probably didn't have it on as good as I could have. Started using rubber cups for furniture. Don't know where I got them but have some that fit really snug. Won't rake off. Would still like a cleaning kit for some of the unexpected.
Definitely will look at the Otis.
Thanks all.

I have used the ProShot take down rod, the Rapid Rod, and I have a kit with a rollup brass coil. I have not tried the Otis, but I am going to get one and do a test.

I am going to jam a 223, and a 308 bbl hard into the mud and see if they will knock it out.
[Relax,these are shot out barrels

The main thing you should have, in your pack, is the ability to punch out snow, or mud that gets jammed into the barrel.

And yes I always tape up the muzzle of my barrels, but what if you stumble and fall just after making a shot???

I know the ProShot take down rod will always work.

The one thing about pull through kits is, what if something breaks and you then have a patch or brush stuck in the bore ???

What if the cable on the rapid rod breaks???

The ProShot Take Down rod is a quality kit, and cannot fail. It is slightly heavier, but Drama free.

Also if you are in a heavy rain you need to remove the tape off of the muzzle.

Here is why.

No matter what kind of rifle I have hunted in the rain with, semi auto, single shot, double, bolt rifle, even with a loaded chamber, in a heavy rain water will always get into the barrel through the chamber, always.
If you leave the muzzle tapped, water will build up in the barrel and when fired act as a bore obstruction.

Every so often I remove the cartridge from the chamber and check on how much water is in the barrel.

I always dry out the barrel when back in camp for the night.

I have actually been on a hunt where my rifle was totally under water, for several minutes.

Lucklly I was not under water with it.

I've always used the GI maint. kit type rods. I prefer the old M-14 kit rods (if you can find them) but the M-16 type also work ok.

The old M-14 kits are preferable because the rod sections are shorter and they use a standard 8-32 thread.

The GI M-16 kits have a different thread than most commercial cleaning rods (8-36 vs. 8-32) so you'll need an adapter if you want to use standard commecial brushes/jags.

The Rapid Rod also looks like a pretty good idea.

I'm not a fan of the "pull throughs".

For the last few years I have been also carrying one of the Bore Snakes with me.
I put them in the Nalgene HDPE "plastic" bottles, the soft flexible ones.
The rifle bore snakes will fit in the 4 oz bottles, the shotgun ones fit in the 8 oz bottles.

They do not take the place of a real rod for knocking our bore obstructions, but thay are really quick when you have fired a few shots and want to get out any remaining powder granuals that might attract moisture when hunting in humid/wet conditions.

I rarely carry a cleaning kit.
The one time I managed to shove my barrel down into the mud/snow was a creek crossing gone wrong. I used a small branch off a bush by stripping it down clean with my knife, knocked the big stuff out, then used a boot lace to drag a bit of t-shirt through.

Of all the hunting I've done this was the only occasion I was wishing I'd had an actual kit along. Nate

I really can't imagine not having my Otis along.

They work, are light weight, and come in a neat carrying case with all the stuff.

Rich

How about a 40" length of .065 weed eater line. Put a small loop at each end and you are good to go. Also carry a couple of the long pipe cleaners. The ones that they use to clean M-16 gas tubes. A packet of Birthwood Casey Sheath and a couple of pre lubed patches and you have a light weight kit that fits in a zip lock bag, is cheap and will take care of 99% of the problems in the field. If you can not clear a bore obstruction with these tools you need a rigid rod.

That's the way I look at it, Jim. When you're cutting the handles off toothbrushes, everything has to be considered for a haircut.

Midway has the Otis kit on sale this month for $24.99.
Got one coming.

I use a bore snake and rem-oil wipes and I tape the muzzle.I also bring lens cleaning spray and wipes.

I'd be careful with lens sprays. I suspect one of eating the seals out of my Khales scope, though it may have been deer-blood enzymes.

get 4 ft of heavy duty plastic weed eater line and carry it in a zip lock bag with a few patches soaked in oil. lighter than a rod and can be pushed through to clear a barrel [if you forget to tape up]
boresnakes scare me. if it breaks you are in bad trouble to get it out. ray

quote:

If you leave the muzzle tapped, water will build up in the barrel and when fired act as a bore obstruction.

An interesting thought - maybe we could tape the muzzle but leave a small hole on one side for water to drain out. Unfortunately, where I come from we are not allowed silencers/suppressors, so I don't tap or thread my muzzles

quote:

Originally posted by DaMan:
I've always used the GI maint. kit type rods. I prefer the old M-14 kit rods (if you can find them) but the M-16 type also work ok.

The old M-14 kits are preferable because the rod sections are shorter and they use a standard 8-32 thread.

The GI M-16 kits have a different thread than most commercial cleaning rods (8-36 vs. 8-32) so you'll need an adapter if you want to use standard commecial brushes/jags.

The Rapid Rod also looks like a pretty good idea.

I'm not a fan of the "pull throughs".

I actually have to agree, my rifles go nowhere without my M-14 cleaning kit.

Though when I got it I got two complete kits and one partial, that was sold at a discount because some pieces were missing... this allowed me to put two extra sections of rod into each complete kit.


Necissary for cleaning a magnum long action with a 26-28" barrel from the breech