I had used one piece steel cleaning rods for years with no apparent damage to my bores. Think its critical a bore guide is used. Now use a Tipton composite rod for most rifles over .22 cal.

 

I would NEVER put a jointed rod down any bore. One piece steel is preferable and my choice for the last 30 years has been the Bore Snake to KEEP the barrel clean, not to resurrect dirty barrels. That takes a rod.

 

The military used one piece steel rods for years, both the M1 nd M14 were cleaned from the muzzle. These two things I think are the worse way to clean a rifle. I remember walking down an aisle in the armory; you could see the barrel wear at the muzzle. A detailed analysis would probably show whether the cleaner was right handed or left handed!

I use a one piece coated nylon rod.

 

More barrels have been ruined by improper cleaning than anything else, use a 1 piece rod, wipe it clean before each use, use a bore guide from the breach and since its a .22 you don't need to clean every use-some never clean and they seem to do just fine.

 

A one piece steel cleaning rod is the best cleaning rod.. Softer metals or polymer coated rods can have metal bits imbed in them and then yu are scratching your bore with each pass.

 

A one piece steel cleaning rod is the best cleaning rod

Exactly. Hard, polished and straight. Best used with the a guide.

 

It depends

My preference would be to use coated one-piece cleaning rods and clean from the breech when possible. I have used jointed brass cleaning rods and wiped them often when in use. Would not use a steel cleaning rod, but that is just a personal preference thing. All the best...
Gil

 

Carbon Fiber such as Tipton.

 

I just bought my first firearm (a Ruger American bolt action .22) and was given a M-Pro7 cleaning kit as a gift. (M-Pro7 Tactical Universal Kit 070-1505 - MPro7)

While doing some online "research" about gun cleaning, I noted there is a conversation about whether metal cleaning rods should be used because they can apparently scratch the inside of the barrel. The kit I was given came with a collapsible steel rod, and I'm wondering if it's okay to use or if I should replace it with something else.

UPDATE: I was able to return the set I was given and instead purchased some different tools as suggested by my cousin (he used to work for Bore Tech). I now have one of their one-piece coated rods (.22 Caliber to 6.5mm Pistol Cleaning Rod | Pistol Cleaning Rods). They're also making me a "custom" bore guide since they don't carry one for the Ruger American.

The one piece coated rod is much better than joined rods, especially better than the cheap aluminum jointed rods but, I use one piece steel rods, caliber specific, for heavy carbon or EXCESSIVE copper fouling removal, and always with a bore guide. That is only employed when accuracy starts to suffer significantly.

My usual cleaning routine is 3 passes with a BoreSnake, sprayed with Rem Oil from the brush to the draw string, every 20 to 50 rounds, depending on the cartridge. I use a bore guide and pull the BoreSnake through from chamber to muzzle, being extremely careful to keep the draw string pulling center of the muzzle so that it doesn't touch the bore at the muzzle, until it gets to the larger diameter of the snake. I've been cleaning like that for many years now. It seems to be paying off. YMMV.

 

Gil +1. right on.

 

The most positive thing about one-piece coated rods is that when the coating gets embedded with grit, you can strip the coating off and put new coating on.

Not so with one-piece steel rods. Only way to get the grit off is to wipe them with a clean rag before pushing them down your bore. I use a clean paper towel.