I'm looking to get a .223 boresnake for my AR (chrome lined if it matters), should I pay bottom dollar for an ebay snake ($2) or spend the $15 on a Hopper brand one?

Personally I wouldn't go the cheaper route on the bore snake, who knows how good or tough the material really is. Ebay one may not even have the bristles and swabbing spacers. Last thing you want is for is to snap off mid way through the barrel(from experience). Buy Hoppe's one IMHO.

I took a chance on the eBay boresnakes. I am happy. They seem well made and I have had the .22 caliber ones for a year now.

I bought the other calibers to toss in my kit.

I got the ones on Amazon.  I got the .223, AK, 12GA & 9mm...They look feel & function exactly the same as the name brand. For the price of that I got 2 each.

There's a couple problems going against you with a .223 bore:

1) It's very tight so if the snake is cheap and somehow breaks in between the barrel then you're screwed.

2) Boresnakes usually comes with a brass brush embedded in the fiber. Being that it is cheap and probably made in China, you really don't know what material it is made of and as such can scratch your barrel.

However, that's not to say something like Hoppes is good either. I find their .223 boresnake is a hit or miss. Their viper brand, for example, snapped on me. I find this is common since the barrel is so tight and the material so small it can snap off the base.

Their best line up is the standard Hoppes boresnake. That has yet to break on me and I had it for about 3 years now.

Just as a alternate option. I have many hoppes boresnakes that I have liked but I have been really impressed with the Otis ripcord which you can get on eBay for $10. Very tight fit and allows you to thread whatever attachment you want onto the back (brush, patch, whatever).

the chinese make them to the same specs, copied almost exactly.  That said, their qc is shit and most chinese things are garbage.  If you are going to buy, buy 2 or 3 and test them all out.  you really should have no problem

I do not buy chinese when i can avoid it, I will support a country like that and prefer not to give them my money ....period

Get a Otis Ripcord.

Far superior to boresnakes in every way.

Hoppes changed their design about 2 years ago.  Instead of a thick, woven cord, it's now a thin shitty line that break.

We bought a bunch for cleaning and there's a little white plastic guide that separated from the actual coaching portion.  Helps get it to feed into the barrel.  Once that white cap gets loose, the snake teens to kink and then rips off.