Brushes

Bore brushes come in bronze, nylon and stainless, and the choice is about what you are trying to remove. Bronze is the default: soft enough not to harm rifling, aggressive enough to break up carbon. Nylon is for a light pass or for use with an ammonia-based copper solvent, which dissolves bronze bristles and will give you a false blue reading on the patch.

Match the brush to the calibre exactly. Undersized does nothing; oversized wedges and makes it tempting to force the rod, which is how crowns get damaged. Chamber brushes are a separate item with a different profile and are the tool most people skip — a carbon ring at the chamber mouth causes far more feeding trouble than a dirty bore ever will.