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Glock barrel vs bronze brush

1917watercooled
I was talking this evening to a fellow gun guy. He said that his hand gun carry instructor said to never use a bronze brush to clean an orginial Glock barrel, it will ruin them. I never heard such a thing, have you?
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Laredo Lefty
    His instructor is full of it. Bronze brushes are the best for getting a good cleaning.
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  • Pistollero1050
    Yes, he is correct, Glock only recomends the plastic brush they give you with the gun. The brass brush will scratch the barrel rifling and cause debris build up. Eventually accuracy will become an issue.[:(] Larrado until you've ruined a glock barrel as I have doing just that you might want to read the owners manual.
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  • perry shooter
    I do not have a Glock and now I know I will NEVER own one . Please explain to me How a brass bristle can scratch a steel Barrel's bore. I must have failed my metallurgy class[:0]
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  • Hawk Carse
    Yes, I also wonder how a bronze brush can scratch steel, especially the super duper Tennifer treated Glock steel.
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  • charliemeyer007
    Wow how sad. I have limited experance with Glock. I doubt I'll be getting more as you can't shoot lead bullets in them and now if you clean it you need to use a short life plastic brush. I don't like aluminium on my guns and I'm sure plastic is even worse.
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  • beantownshootah
    To be clear, the Glock barrels are also carbo-nitrided (aka "Tenifer") like the frame and slide, and this finish is nearly as hard as a diamond.

    You aren't going to scratch it with hardened steel. . . I can't possibly imagine how you're going to scratch it with a soft bronze brushes designed specifically for cleaning gun barrels!

    If Glock barrels were that soft, they'd have the lousiest barrels on the planet.

    I say use all the bronze brushes you like. . .it won't hurt anything.

    By the way, the jacket on full metal jacket bullets (ie the kind you are supposed to ONLY use in Glocks) is a low grade brass typically made of 95-5% copper-nickel alloy. . .not that dissimilar to the alloy known as commercial bronze (which is 90-10% copper-nickel)!

    And to be clear, here is the relevant quote from page 8 of the manufacturer Glock manual:
    quote:
    For maintaining and cleaning the weapon, it is recommended that the cleaning equipment provided as part of the accessories be used, together with the cleaning wadding and special gun greases and oils available from specialist dealers.

    So Glock just says they recommend you use the brush they provide.

    I don't see any warning anywhere that its barrels are susceptible to damage from common non-Glock accessories. Nor do I see any suggestion whatever that a bronze brush, which is commonly used for cleaning all sort of other guns, will hurt this pistol.
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  • Laredo Lefty
    quote:Originally posted by Pistollero1050
    Yes, he is correct, Glock only recomends the plastic brush they give you with the gun. The brass brush will scratch the barrel rifling and cause debris build up. Eventually accuracy will become an issue.[:(] Larrado until you've ruined a glock barrel as I have doing just that you might want to read the owners manual.


    I dont know what you did to ruin your barrel, but I have 12 Glocks that I have fired many thousands of round from and have cleaned with "metal" brushes for years and never had any problems at all.

    As already mentioned the Glock Tenifer finish is much harder than a bronze brush so its virtually impossible to ruin a Glock barrel with one. And yes, I have read the owners manual and it does NOT caution against bronze brushes, it just says use a bore brush to clean the bore....... a no brainer.
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  • tsr1965
    I am with Lefty, and Beantown. Use bronze, or brass all you wish. The stainless steel brushes are a NO-NO. I have several Glocks, and have never ruined one barrel with a bronze brush, or bore snake.

    Perry,

    You don't have any combat tupperware in your arsenal, do you?[:D][:0][:D][:0][:D][:0]

    The thought of bronze scratching steel is preposterous.

    Best
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  • 32 Magnum
    Brass alloys (there are several dozen) are some combo of Copper and ZINC with other metals in varying proportions. Bronze alloys are some combo of Copper and Arsenic, Phosphorus or Tin, or combinations thereof. There is a difference in hardness between the two alloy families - with Bronze being generally "harder". There is at least one bronze alloy that is as "hard" as mild steel - can't remember which one - it's been 24 years since I did QC work on these alloys for Zinc Corp. of America - BUT I CAN SAY unequivocably, that Brass and Bronze bristled brushes will never approach the hardness of ordnance steels - especially the Nitrided steels.
    p.s. Alloys containing Copper, Zinc and NICKEL are known as "German silver" or Nickel "silver" and are generally used for decorative items.
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  • rufe-snow
    quote:Originally posted by tsr1965
    The stainless steel brushes are a NO-NO. I have several Glocks, and have never ruined one barrel with a bronze brush, or bore snake.


    Best


    I have used stainless steel bore brushes on Glock barrels after shooting the, verboten, lead bullet reloads, with no apparent problems, or degradation of the rifling in the bore. I could see problems with a rifle used for long range precision shooting, being affected by stainless bore brushes, not a personal protection handgun that is never going to be used at a distance greater then 25 yards.
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