Hi, I haven't done too much shotgun shooting until recently since I just got a Mossberg 590A1 for fun/home security. Anyway, up until now I left all the cleaning of our other shotguns up to my brother, but looking in the barrels of his shotgun, I'm wondering if he did such a good job...

When cleaning my 590, I need to double or triple up the patches to get a good fit like in my rifles, and actually push dirt out of the barrel. I can't seem to get it all clean though, the bore is not universally shiny like it is on my rifles when I'm done. Am I being excessively anal or is there something I am missing to get the barrel cleaner? The 12 guage cleaning kit feels like a single patch is just breezing through without picking up any of the gunk...

Any advice on what to do or any great cleaning items, or am I just caring too much? Thanks in advance.

I use Hoppes Bore Snakes.

I spray some Breakfree CLP down the barrel, run the Bore Snake through a few times.

It works great for me.

I use the .22, 9mm, .45, and 12 gauge Bore Snakes.

The bore snakes are good if you have a lot of buildup. For the final cleaning, I use Silencio's Tikko Tool. I think that's what it is called. It looks like a long, fuzzy cleaning rod. That will really make the bore shine.

Thanks,
Lee

I ususally run a bronze brush (dry) thru the barrel 5-6 times to loosen up  / kick out the big chunks before using solvent and patches...works for me.

I don't worry about getting them squeaky clean since they are only going to get dirty again the following weekend

I use bronze bore brushs followed with Brownells HD shotgun patches over a worn bore brush.  A lot of the crap is residue from the plastic wads.  Brownells wad solvent helps here.  For extreme cases like lead from shooting slugs, I make scotch-brite patchs, green.  

Thanks a lot. I'll probably get a bore snake or something to ease things out. And I suspect now that a lot of it is plastic from wads and that cheap cheap wal-mart ammo heh. I suppose a few more passes with the brush will help too, thanks a lot all!

BoreTech has some cool supplies for shotgunners.


Lightning Rod Combo Tips


Shotgun Patch Holder

www.boretech.com/product.htm

I use one of those nylon bore tech patch holders and they work great. The fingers have some spring to them and seem to fit normal and overbored barrels equally well.

Those look cool.

I use the tiko tool like Hadaway mentioned.  I have never seen anything faster or better for a quick clean.