A new review has been created: Hoppes Boresnake
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There are some times when you look at a piece of kit and wonder why it's not been done before and you can't help but think you've been wasting your time on something that's just been made so much simpler.
Enter Hoppes Boresnake Viper, a quick and very effective method of cleaning the barrel of the SA80.
"We've got something that does that already, it's called rag on a rope."
True, but how many times have you sat there, fiddled about with ripping a square off, threading it through the eye, pulling through and then doing it again, and again, and again? Can that piece of cloth really get it spotless? Yes, it can, or we wouldn't have it, but it's just a big, whopping pain in the ass.
The Boresnake Viper is an obvious answer to the problem. Instead of one piece of fabric a few millimetres squared it's a long length of material that when pulled through carries out a constant cleaning motion by the virtue of both its length, width and its design.
The Viper is essentially made in three sections: the head of the Viper which incorporates bronze threads that scrub and loosen as the pass is made, the body which catches and pulls along the now loose debris and the tail which is coloured orange and is where you apply any cleaning substance you may use and which swabs the barrel clean. The entire area of the Viper is 200x larger than the standard square of cleaning rag you'd normally use so you can see how much more effective it is compared to standard methods.
As far as using the Viper is concerned it doesn't get much easier. Simply cock the weapon and hold open, then thread the pull-through cord down the barrel (the brass weight lets it drop down easily enough), grip and pull. It's ideal for use in the field when the barrel gets contaminated with dirt and other crap that could have numerous effects on the way the weapon fires (Any SASC out there?)
Hoppes say that the Viper is not designed to get the barrel clean to an inspection level standard and when you have a peek up you may find that towards the breech end there is a few small particles still remaining. In fairness to the Viper I couldn't get rid of these with a standard pull through either and it required the use of cleaning rods. The important factor here is that it will keep the weapon combat ready without having to strip down or mess around with it.
The Viper is machine washable which means once it's become clogged and full of carbon you can simply...
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