TFB again welcomes another article from Dr. Jim and Mary Clary!

The “pencil-style” angle brush was pioneered and introduced to several gunsmiths across the country in 2005 by Shane Smith of Rigel. Shane recognized that none of the conventional bore brushes on the market did an adequate job of cleaning the chambers of bolt action, falling block or inline muzzleloader rifles. As for ARs, if you couldn’t strip down the entire weapon, the chamber would eventually become so gunked up that the gun would jam. The Boresmith angle brush, with its angled head and pencil handle solved that problem for AR rifles.

As one might expect with such a new and innovative tool, it was not long before a lot of competing designs came on the market. Most of them have dropped by the wayside as being clearly inferior. A modified brush made specifically for AR platform rifles has survived. Although it must be attached to a cleaning rod or cable system to function properly.

The beneficial aspect of these angle brushes is that you can precisely get to every part of the chamber, inspecting the results as you go. Obviously, you do not need a conventional cleaning rod or cable system to use the Boresmith angle brush.

Readers will note that we included muzzleloader rifles in our first paragraph. That is because when the breech plugs are removed, the blow-back from the powder and primers creates a real mess that always required a lot of tedious work to remove. No longer with these little gems. Now, we remove the breech plug to soak in a cleaning solution we are able to clean the “chamber” area, before the plug is finished soaking.. Given that black powder substitutes are corrosive, it is imperative that you keep your muzzleloader clean to prevent pitting. When properly used, these brushes will eliminate the problem of pitted breech plug areas.
Briefly, the angled brushes allow you to get into all of the channels, crevices and edges of the chamber. They come in three bristle types:

• Stainless-steel bristles are used on stainless steel and hard metals
• Phosphor-bronze bristles are used on hard/soft/blued metals
• Nylon bristles are used on metals or plastic polymers

And, if you select the proper bristle type, these Angle BrushesTM will help you remove stubborn rust, carbon deposits, oxide layers, other chemical corrosion, and embedded dirt or grime from other parts of your firearm.

A three-pack of these brushes, your choice of bristles, has an MSRP of only $8.49. You can obtain more information on all of the Rigel Products at their online store or you can call their customer service line.