Swab Its Bore Cleaning Products ReviewI first saw the Swab Its at the 2015 SHOT Show and simply didn’t get the concept of them - hmm disposable foam bore cleaners. Yeah the concept was cool, however I wondered why anyone would buy such an expensive single use product. Like many times in life I was wrong. The reality I figured out a full year later is that Swab-Its are a well made non-damaging bore cleaner which can be cleaned and continually reused many...many times.
Despite my inability to understand the product, the Swab Its concept it pretty cool and simple and I am lucky they kept hounding me to try them. What I thought were foam tips are actually a highly durable plastic foam which can be washed and cleaned with simple soap and water or most commercially available solvents over and over again. One of the Bore-Whips I have tortured has a little over seventy or so cleans and it is still holding up fine. If I was packing out on a hunting trip, I would not worry about anything more than one of the extremely lightweight Swab Its Bore-Whips. The secret to the durable cleaning swabs is a patented lint-free plastic foam which is far more durable than “regular” foam. The appropriate bore sized tips also have a hard plastic sub-tip under the plastic foam which allow the tips to have a tight fit down the bore. Unlike linty cotton swabs the Swab Its can clean a bore in one pass in most cases due to the tight 360 degree bore cleaning coverage. Usually one pass was all I needed to get a nice clean bore down my very dirty .22LR match 10/22 rifle barrels and AR15 barrels. Cleaning various handguns and rifles with the other caliber specific Bore-Tips proved to deliver single pass cleaning with nothing more than WD40 on the Bore-Tip. I even use these on my airguns.
Swab Its was nice enough to send me a sample of their entire line of products to feature in the article. The Swab-Its line includes a number of products incorporating the bore tip technology available in various forms including screw in Bore-Tips which fit any standard 8/32 and 5/16-27 threaded cleaning rods on the market. I love my comprehensive Otis cleaning kits and they accept any 8/32 threaded cleaning tool such as the Bore-Tips. I was able to just screw in a tip matching the caliber of the gun getting cleaning and pull it through normally. Yes, now my little Otis kits have Swab-Its Bore Tips tucked in them as well. If you like the pull through Bore-Whips concept, Swab-Its even has a Bore-Whip with a threaded end to accept their Bore-Tips or any other cleaning tools that will fit the standard threading.
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| Cleaning my often dirty Aero Precision Custom AR15 pistol build. |
Another simple and easy cleaning product from Swap-Its are the caliber specific Swab Its Bore-Whips which have a long flexible nylon tail permanently attached - slip it down and pull it through the bore and your are done. This is basically an inexpensive flexible Otis style breech to muzzle cleaning device which also serves as an Empty Chamber Indicator (ECI) with its bright florescent color. Another useful set of cleaning tools are the Cleaning Tip and Foam Swabs which make detailed cleaning a breeze and allow you to get into all those nooks and crannies of a gun. Clean the and use them again and again.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Swab-Its in all their Bore-Whips, Bore-Tip, Cleaning Tips, and Foam Swabs formats are a freaking awesome idea. They hold up extremely well, deliver a pristine lint-free bore with only one or two passes, can be used with your favorite cleaning fluids, and most importantly can be used over and over again.
SPECS
Made in USA
Swab-Its Bore-Tips & Bore-Whips
Sizes: .22cal, .243cal, .30cal, .357cal, .40cal, .45cal, 12gauge, 20gauge and 410 gauge
Easier, faster and simpler than traditional patches and jags.
Replaces patches and jags in traditional firearms cleaning.
Provides superior barrel cleaning.
Provides 360 degree bore coverage.
Provides uniform application of oil for storage.
Lint free Bore-tips® are plastic foam over a plastic core.
Economical, washable and reusable.
Stands up to most commercially available solvents.
Color coded for easy caliber identification.
Threaded to fit on standard 8/32 and 5/16-27 cleaning rods
Swab-It Swabs and Tips
Sizes: 3" mini tip swab, 3" precision tip swab, 5" large surface swab, 6" extended reach swab and 9-piece kit
Workhorse Double-ended swab, Double-ended Tear Drop Chamber Swab
TESTED
.45ACP Bore Tips
.357/9mm Bore Tips
.30/7.62mm Bore Tips
.40/10mm/.410 Bore Tips
.22/5.56 Bore Tips
Detail Cleaning Tips
Multi-Surface Cleaning Foam Swabs
Bore-Whips .22/5.56mm
SOURCES
Swab-Its http://www.swab-its.com
Also Featured - Aero Precision - http://aeroprecisionusa.com