I probably should invest in some new cleaning rods then.

I think by the time my plastic/nylon covered ball bearing rod erodes the throats, they will be long shot out. I do use a rod guide appropriate to the caliber or the tapered brass rod guide for lever guns. I wonder how many 3-piece aluminum rods Hoppe's has sold?

I use the pull through rods at the range and in the field. However, at home I use Dewey rods. And, that is a great tip on wiping down the rod on every pass.

And the one thing as "useless as the U.S. Congress" - Bore Snakes! LOL!

About 18 years ago an avid shooter and acquaintance of mine saw me at the rifle range with an Outers three-piece steel rod. He said something to the effect: "You own and shoot rifles worth thousands of dollars, yet you use a five-dollar cleaning rod." Properly "dressed down", I bought a pair of Dewey cleaning rods, and also resurrected a plastic-coated Parker-Hale rod that was missing the jag, which I replaced. I've been using all three rods very happily since that day. I still take the Outers on hunting trips as it is very handy to have in case of a stuck case, mud or rain in the barrel, or some other such malady.

yikes i need new rods mine are bent bad. I try to keep it centered but i might be messing up my barrel thanks for the tips.

I use Dewey cleaning rods and Lucas bore guides and I also wipe the rod on a towel after every pass. If using a brush I remove the brush before pulling the rod back through the bore. I also don't use the brush back and forth only pushing toward the crown.

I use a brass rod (actually it is bronze which is much harder than brass). I also use a bore guide and when I can I clean from the breech. So far after forty five some odd years, my bores are fine and my chambers still round and the rifles still shoot to my minute of vision. Cleaning the rod often helps as does technique.
I will admit however that I don't care much for aluminum cleaning rods.

Check out Bore Tech Inc.'s Bore Stix. That is a dandy rod that comes in caliber specific sizes and lengths wit ha ball bearing handle and index marks for measuring rifle twist rate. That's what I have used for several years.

Go for a quality cleaning rod and you will not regret it. For field use, the Otis kits are probably the best of the pull-thrus, but won't help with a bore obstruction. Cabelas used to sell a high quality steel jointed rod, which I bought, but they later dropped it because everyone kept buying the cheap aluminum cleaning kits.
For a lesson in improper cleaning methods, just look at the muzzles of these tired old imported M-1 rifles, with the rifling all worn down about an inch.

maybe it is because i am relatively poor, and can not afford custom rifles, with air gauged bores, that are smoother than your favorite supermodels skin. in all the years i have been shooting and cleaning, i am not really sure it makes a hill of beans difference in standard production rifles. i was actually taught to clean from the muzzle, which is a habit that after learning was terribly incorrect, i changed. my first rifle, which i still own, is a 1977 vintage Glenfield 30A, which for the first 10-12 years, was always cleaned with an aluminum, jointed, cleaning rod, from the muzzle. it is no less accurate now, than it was when it was new. after honestly, thousands of rounds. thankfully, most of those were after i started cleaning from the breech, but with that same, jointed aluminum rod. it was not until 4 or 5 years ago, that i bought a nice Dewey rod. i know that this old lever gun was never known to be an accurate 300+ yard gun. but it still turns in just under 1.5" 100 yard groups with good ammo. if all those strokes with those horrid aluminum jointed rods were really so bad, i would be lucky to turn out 12" 50 yard groups. my Remington 700, that is my pride and joy, was cleaned by that same aluminum rod for almost 20 years, and that is still a true sub moa gun. while i do believe that the new rods are far superior than the old jointed aluminum ones, i do not think they are so terrible either. at least not on production guns.

@ David Petzal,

Caught part of your show last night. I liked your "No B.S. Accuracy" segment!

You guys that clean from the muzzle with jointed rods can continue as you please. When I buy a new or used rifle the first thing that I do is order my Lucas Bore Guide and my cleaning rod in appropriate caliber (I realized that I have Tipton and Dewey rods) because I am going to clean it before I shoot it. Cleaning from the muzzle is an invitation to scratch a crown that can certainly affect accuracy. It doesn't matter to me how much a gun costs its a tool and tools should be maintained properly.

I respect Dave's opinion here, but I'll stick to my Aluminum cleaning rods. They be just fine for me and mine.

I use my Otis when I have to, my Bore Tech Bore Stix when I can. The Bore Tech is an expensive rod (at least for me), but it's extremely well made and the bearings in the handle are amazing. I like the Bore Tech Eliminator solvent, too, but if cleaning pistols or rifles and you're concerned about copper fouling, you've got to use a brush or jag other than brass or your patches will be blue every time. That solvent really hates copper.

If the bore of a $3000 firearm can be damaged by cleaning it with a cheap cleaning rod, what does that say about the quality of the firearm? To me it says it's a piece of crap. The bore of a quality firearm should be resilient and impervious to such minor threats.

Correction: Here is the direct quote: “Snipers prefer to shoot dirty guns. In other words, we will not clean our rifles for 200 to 300 rounds. Leave that rifle dirty for the whole season!” Talk about reading more into something than they intended. Still, my question remains, why clean my bore at all, unless I shoot hundreds of rounds a year?