Hello everyone. Well i am new to the AR15 world. I recently purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P15 Magpul edition. I had one issue. I cant seem to remove all of the carbon in the bore. I dip a patch in Hoppes #9 and run it through the bore and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. sometimes a few hours. Afterwards, i dip my copper bore brush into the hoppes and run it through about 5 times. I then take a dry patch to remove the carbon. I keep doing this until the patches come out pretty clean.

here is the issue. When i put a drop of Hoppes #9 Lube on another patch to protect the bore (i dont shoot that often. maybe twice a month) and i run it through, i collect a crap load of carbon again. Am i just not cleaning it right? I  would then repeat all of the steps again and STILL didnt get all of the carbon.

Also, i read on this site that A LOT of people use a bore snake. Is that your primary clean or is that a temporary cleaning at range before you get back home? I did hear that it is bad to move a dry brush down the bore. Some claim it will damage it. Is this true as well? Should i maybe put some CLP on the bore snake?

I apologize for all of the questions but i figured id ask them all instead of having multiple threads lol. Thanks guys!

I just pull a bore snake once or twice with clp on it from the bolt end.
every couple of months throw the bore snake in the wash machine.

You will be hard pressed to ever get a clean patch from a AR so long as it is wet.  

Read the sticky here on cleaning and you will be good to go.  At this point your situation sounds normal.

If your patches are coming out grey your fine, gettin to thay white glove clean is not needed

That's not the best cleaning method.
What you're doing is leaving fouling from the cleaning brush.  The brush is rubbing off in the bore, and the dry patch won't remove it.  
What you're seeing later is fouling left by the brush.

Try this:
Don't dip the brush in the solvent, that contaminates it.  Use an eye dropper or a Accu-Bore plastic pipette from Brownell's to apply solvent to brushes and patches.

Wet the brush with solvent and run it all the way through the bore.  Don't reverse the brush in the bore.
Make 10 to 15 passes through, keeping the brush wet and wiping the rod off each time it comes out.

Wet two patches with solvent and run them all the way through and out, one at a time.

Let the bore soak for at least 30 minutes.
READ THE SOLVENT LABEL, SOME CAN DAMAGE A BORE IF LEFT IN TOO LONG.

After soaking 30 minutes, wet a clean patch and run it straight through.
If you see any blue or green stains or any black stains on the patch, let the bore soak another 30 minutes.
When you run a wet patch straight through and it comes out without any stains the bore is clean.
Run a couple of dry patches to dry the bore, and then run a patch with some lube to prevent rust.
After the lube patch, run one dry patch to remove the excess lube.

If you're going to be storing the rifle for a few weeks or longer, 2 or 3 days after cleaning, come back and run one wet patch through and let it soak, then run another wet patch after 30 minutes.  If that patch has any staining, soak again.
This will remove any fouling that might be brought out of the rifling after a day to two.

If you take a dry patch and "pump" it up and down a gun barrel, the patch will have gray stains on it.  This is metal staining not fouling.  If you rub cloth on metal it'll get a gray stain from the friction on the metal.

Wow thank you all very much for the info!!!

Yep dfariswheel got it.

Remember to clean your bore brush too. Dish detergent, hot water.
I dont know what you are putting the patch on to run it through the bore.
Next time you stock up on brushes, try to get a nylon brush to wrap the patches arround. Try it out see if you like it.