Preferred Cleaning Patches?

[Ohio Rusty]

I have a half a bag left of 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 military cotton small arms cleaning patches I have been using for quite a few years. They have worked well.
Ohio Rusty ><>

 

[springfield art]

When I am shooting, I use doubled up paper towels to swab between each shot. They are compressible and readily absorb any water moisture formed in the barrel. Flannel patches will work also but they have to be washed a couple of times to allow them to absorb cleaners readily.

When I clean up at the end of a shoot, I use flannel patches as they hold up better for scrubbing.

The toughest paper towels for staining wood, polishing, using moist, etc., are the Bounty. They just hold up almost like real cloth.

 

[Crooked Creek]

I'm pretty much the same as what most everyone has already posted.
I pick up any most any pre-cut patches I see on sale or clearance.
I have also purchased white flannel on sale from JoAnns and Hobby Lobby which I cut up with a rotary cutter.

 

[david w]

I cut up old T-shirts for cleaning.

 

[Notchy Bob]

I use the GI cleaning patches from Brownell’s. These also make good char-cloth for starting fires with flint and steel.

Notchy Bob

 

[LME]

I have tried store bought patches when they were on sale, old sheets and pillow ticking too, however I seem to have and endless supply of old free T shirts. Old T shirts work fine for me.

I've never used anything but old tee shirts?

 

[1BadDart]

I bought a yard of white flannel material, cut it up in 1 1/2" squares to clean with.

 

[Tacitus]

Flannel baby blankets I get for a dollar each at a charity resell shop. The cleaning patches I cut from them have little pink balloons, little blue ponies, yellow stars, etc printed on them.
Not period correct but so far no one has called me out on it, or cast aspersions concerning my masculinity. I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[Omega Vision]

Some of the comments & suggestions I've read today obviously don't involve the use of a bore cleaning wire brush. Since 1992 (when I started ML'ing), I have never cleaned my bores using a cleaning jag. Never cleaned my bores using soap & water in a bucket.

Always used a brass brush, store-bought ML or centerfire cleaners and 2-1/2 or 3" bulk cotton patches (round or square) from a retailer.

I understand financial restraints are important to many here.
I get it. But I'm not shooting any more than about 150 rounds per year from all-3 MLs combined. That's why I choose to spend a little more - versus making my own patches and cleaning solution.

Besides, try getting flannel wrapped around a wire brush and try to get it down the barrel to clean it...... it's impossible. The patches I use have to be thin and somewhat strong, to work with a wire brush, which I prefer to clean the lands & grooves much more easily than a cleaning jag.

Jags are not a good cleaning friend of copper & lead residue. So many people sell their MLs eventually because they loose accuracy. Then a guy like me comes along and buys that used ML - only to find out the lands & grooves are loaded with copper & lead, which ultimately turned that grooved bore into a smoothbore.

I've bought several that way over the years. Prior owners used jags to clean it 24/7. Soap & water-only too.
Yikes!