I was told recently to throw away all my alumunim cleaning rods because they can carry grit and wear out my bores.

Then I was told to use stainless steel rods, because they can be cleaned.

What is the best rod?

I have to clean my 336 from the muzzle, and protecting the crown and rifling on any bore is important.

With stainless steel my concern would be slipping (I can tape the end of a .22 rod), and smacking into the crown, or the rod rubing the rifling inside the bore and doing damage.

Feedback is welcome....!


http://www.westcoastminisplitter.com/

I think you will be fine on a hunting rifle that gets shot and cleaned from time to time.
Where I see this being important is on a varmint or target rifle that gets shot allot and cleaned frequently

I personally prefer a Dewey coated rod, but they are 1 piece and hard to pack arround.
There are several companies that make bore guides that fit the muzzle end. I would recommend one of those. If you clean your rifle just a few times a year, a 3 piece rod and a bore guide are much more convenient for a hunter.
good luck
Covey16

Are you sure that you must clean from the muzzle? Can't you take the bolt out and clean it from the breech? All it takes is a proper screwdriver and take out the screw on the side and the bolt slides out. Stainless rods are much better than the aluminum ones.

I watched a guy take the bolt out on a marlin 336 lever years ago, but I forgot how he did it.

I'll have to do some more tinkering.

I was concerned about the stainless steel hardness possibly damaging the rifling?

Take the screw out of the lever. Pull lever down slightly, and it will pull out. This will then let the 'bolt' on the rifle slide out the back. One more important point. A small leaf spring fits in a hole on the left side of the receiver. When you pull out the bolt, it will be free to come out. No big deal, easy enough to slip back in place when you replace the bolt. Just know about it and don't drop it out of sight.

Actually the Marlin levers are almost as easy to clean from the rear as bolt-actions.

While, I suppose a stainless or coated rod is better, I wouldn't jump off the bridge for using an aluminum rod. I know guys I hunt with that would clean their guns with a coat hanger and they still shoot pretty good and kill deer. Heck some of 'em probably NEVER clean their guns at all.