On Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:44:13 -0600, Don Foreman
wrote:

On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:11:57 -0500, Pete Keillor
wrote:

I broke the cheesy nylon .44-.45 cleaning jag I'd been using for too
long. Anybody got favorite dimensions for jags, like diameter and
land width? Measuring mine shows about .035" under bore diameter,
more or less. I already made one, pretty easy out of 1/2" brass. I
just drilled and tapped for a #8-32 machine screw, loctited in place,
then I'll cut off the head once it sets. That ought to be stronger
than the turned brass ones, let alone nylon.

Tipton jags are reduced diameter in steps after the first land,
presumably to provide more clearance for the additional material in
the outer diameter of the patch. They also make nickel plated ones
for use with copper solvent. I'm toying with that idea. Maybe
electroless nickel from Brownell's or Caswell. Anybody tried the
plated ones? Presumably nickel is soft enough to not damage the bore.

You can tell you're retired when you make something you could buy for
$4.

Pete Keillor

Nickel is not soft. I plate my jags with tin, also from Caswell.

Good point, Don. Turns out, electroless nickel can be damned hard.
I'll check Caswell's for the tin. Thanks.

Pete Keillor