Great product for bluing...
I use these swabs for both cold bluing and rust bluing and find them an excellent product at a great price. I see others have downrated them and that's their experience which is fair...but my experience has been very positive. Admittedly I didn't have any experience with the older versions to compare them with but I like them and they're half the price of the competition.
Would you recommend this?
Yes, I would recommend to a friend
Swabs
Just what I needed, works great, will buy again. Thanks Brownells.
Would you recommend this?
Yes, I would recommend to a friend
Indispensable!
For the seal-coat of thinned Tru-Oil, I have found nothing better. I also use these as applicators for inletting black when fitting stocks. When tip is hardened by dried finish, I clip off and use the metal stems as picks, hooks and other handy uses. Great product!
I have used them about a decade and love
I am not sure what the other reviews ran into. I have used these over a decade for cleaning weapons. I LOVE THEM! The don't leave lint, they remove fouling, gunk et al. They get crevices that towels wont. I don't know what to put other than they work to clean weapons.
Great for cleaning & lubing.
I use these for cleaning inside the receiver of my rifles. The soft ball smashes down to conform to the machined cuts, and it squishes to a smaller diameter get inside a chamber. After cleaning with the swab I use compressed air to blow out the solvent - occasionally I have to repeat once on a really diry receiver. Wrap the ball lightly with 0000 steel wool and use Stoddard solvent to quickly remove rust in a receiver. Oil a swab, and then blot off the excess oil, and then use the swab to apply a light film of oil in the receiver. No downside to these that I have found.
Rust blue solution applicator
I use these exclusively to apply rust bluing solution. 8-10 drops of solution in an 'itty-bitty' cup which is tipped sideways to collect the solution in the corner and then gently absorbing the solution on the swab is about right for a double barrel set. After the solution is absorbed on one side of the swab I gently roll that swab side on the side of the cup to spread the solution out on the swab a bit. These are one-time uses for me then I discard the swab.
A Multitude of Uses
I couldn't get along in my shop if I didn't have the use of these swabs. Great for applying cold blue, helping to clean in hard to reach places. There are so many ways in which these swabs are helpful the list could go on and on. A great product.
not the same
just like the other reviews stated; these have changed over the years, they used to be great, now just meh. made from some kind of super cheap synthetic material that does not absorb oils or residue great and leaves lint behind like crazy. Just too bad they can not refine the material. only thing they are good for is the first stage of cleaning out a tight spot like the star chamber on a M-4.
Not like before
When I first bought them they were great. Now, the most recent ones, just smear the oils around without a messaging penetration. Very disappointed. Hoping Brownells go back the original material, probably cotton,.
leave lint, good for star chamber
Very good for scrubbing out star chamber of M4 and ok in cleaning out the lower half of my semi-auto hand guns. BUT, they leave lint behind, need to follow-up with patches, rag and compressed air. (Thus only good for the 1st stage or two, but not final cleaning or oiling.) I seem to remember in the past, these were made with better, more natural material.
