AR noob here. I bought the Gun Boss cleaning kit from Amazon. The rod itself fits into the bore fine. When I put a cleaning pad on the rod, it will not go in at all. I used a little force to no avail.  Not sure what's going on there. I'm going from chamber ---> muzzle direction.

On to my question: I attempted to use one of the phosphor bronze bristle brushes my cleaning kit came with, but it got stuck and I had to yank it out. Could this have caused damage?

It's doubtful you could have applied more force or friction than a bullet.

could be one of two things 1) the patch is too big for the bore  2) the bore patch holder is larger then the bore diameter. I have bought cleaning kits where the plastic patch holder is larger then a .223/5.56 bore.



no

Bronze, soft.

Steel, hard.

This.  

Boresnake is your friend... much easier and does a good job.

I like the otis Ripcord more than boresnake.... that said they are BOGO Free right now. Just got the email yesterday

Edit to correct Otis promo offer

Same old discussion.
Why you need to brush the bore?
Use a snake cleaner.

... so... you think that a bronze brush might damage your bore?
Steel and copper clad bullets ram their way out of the same bore under thousands of PSI. This happens every time you pull the trigger. Any amount of scrubbing/bore snaking/bore brushing is meaningless compared to said bullet ripping it's way out of the barrel. Hell, you could ram a squib out of a barrel with a steel rod and still not see ANY noticeable difference in the barrel.
I get so tired of these questions (no offense OP, it's just common). The simple answer is NO, there is (practically) NOTHING you could/would do that will affect the barrel any more than firing the rifle would do.

I've seen armorers ram out bent brass stuck in the chamber with old pieces of thick wire from HESCO barriers.  Your barrel is fine bud.

OP everything above is accurate, though I'll add be careful of the crown on the muzzle.

In 10k+ rounds I've only used a brass brush on my bores maybe 10 times. All I do for my barrel is spray CLP in the barrel extension and chamber then hit it with a chamber brush, then put CLP on boresnake pull through twice.  Easy.

Your barrel is fine, it's steel is much harder than your brush.  Shoot it and enjoy it.

I use a bore snake on my AR.  Can't get a brush through on it.

Unless you're using a hammer to tap it out or a drill, chances are nothing will get damaged if you do it once. If you make it a habit to clean your guns incorrectly, then there may be damage over time especially around the crown or grooves. One of the most common reasons a fire arm gets damaged is due to incorrect cleaning. If you correctly clean your fire arm, you could clean it 100 times a day without any issues.

When it comes to barrels, it is far better to "pull" than to "push" something through. This is especially true with tighter barrels like a .223. If you're especially paranoid get a pull wire or use a guide when cleaning. If you insert the long piece of rod into the barrel first, then pull the brush, it will be very easy to clean compared to trying to push it through.