A GUNNIX flexible gun cleaning cable is a coated steel cable with a pull handle on one end and 8-32 threading on the other. It does the same job as a cleaning rod, but instead of pushing an accessory into the bore, it pulls it along behind through the entire bore toward the muzzle. The cable bends through the chamber, passes through a barrel of any configuration and never touches the crown on the way out, which makes it a fit for an AR-15, a lever-action carbine and a short pistol barrel alike. Lengths are available for pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns.
When Is a Flexible Cleaning Cable Useful?
A rigid rod wins on a bench with a barrel rest; a cable wins everywhere that bench is missing. Here is where it comes in handy most often:
- Cleaning without disassembly. On an AR-15 the cable goes in from the rear of the upper receiver with the upper pivoted open, on a lever gun from the muzzle end, and in both cases the bore gets cleaned in the correct direction without pulling the upper or stripping the gun.
- Working with every accessory in the kit. A brush, jag, mop or slotted tip threads onto the 8-32 end, so the cable needs no attachments of its own and uses whatever is already in your case.
- Threading through an opening. The thin cable passes through the chamber and the ejection port where a rod simply cannot turn, and after the job it coils into a flat loop and takes up no more room in your bag than a bore snake.
- Bore protection. The cable follows the shape of the barrel and applies no side pressure to the walls, so it needs neither a bore guide nor a muzzle guard.
- Range maintenance. Between strings of fire, one pass with a brush and one with a patch is enough, and you do not have to haul a case with a sectioned rod out to the range for that.
The main difference from a rod is technique: the accessory is pulled, not pushed, and each pass travels in one direction only. The whole procedure takes a minute. Feed the cable into the chamber handle-first and draw it through until the handle clears the muzzle. Thread a brush, jag or mop onto the threaded end left at the chamber, then pull the handle from the muzzle side. The accessory travels the rifling in the direction the bullet flies and carries the fouling out, and afterward the cable is coiled into a loop and dropped into a case pocket next to the patches.
How to Choose the Right Cable
There are no calibers or ranges here, only length and firearm type, so it is hard to get wrong. Three things to match up before you buy:
- Length. 8 inches for pistols, 12 inches for revolvers and long-barreled pistols, 30 inches for carbines and rifles with barrels up to 24 inches, 34 inches for rifles with barrels up to 26 inches, 36 inches for shotguns and the longest rifle barrels. The extra length is there so you can grip both ends and thread on an accessory.
- Firearm type. An AR-15 with a 16-inch barrel is covered by the 30-inch cable, a bolt gun with a 26-inch barrel needs the 34-inch, and the 36-inch is the pick for a shotgun or any barrel longer than 26 inches. When you are unsure which of two sizes to pick, take the longer one: it will do everything the shorter one does.
- Accessory compatibility. The cable is threaded 8-32, the rifled-bore standard. Shotgun brushes and mops with 5/16-27 threading will need an adapter from the GUNNIX catalog.
Every length is sold individually or in a pack of three, which is convenient if one cable lives in your bag, one in the car and one at home. Anyone with both a handgun and a rifle in the safe should keep two cables, a short one and a long one: an 8-inch pistol cable simply will not reach the muzzle of a rifle, and a 30-inch cable in a pistol will leave you fighting the excess.
Benefits of GUNNIX Products
People searching for gun cleaning memory flex cables usually have exactly this construction in mind: a coated steel cable that coils for storage and straightens out for work without deforming. The coating protects both the cable from solvents and the bore from contact with bare metal. The threading is standard, so a GUNNIX cable works with brushes, jags and mops from GUNNIX and from most other makers.
The design was developed in the US, and every batch goes through our own factory audit and inspection before it goes on sale. The lengths in the lineup are chosen so that each type of firearm has its own cable, with no surplus getting tangled in your hands. Pick the length for your barrel, thread on an accessory from your own case, and clean your gun wherever a rod would have stayed at home.