It sucks. The spindly-ass brass-ish rod has popped apart on me at least half a dozen times. It came in it's own little aluminum briefcase that takes up too much room in my range box. It's a puzzle to assemble the thing; it has more fittings, adapters, and parts than a respectable plumber's toolbox, and at the end of a day's shooting, it feels like junk.
I hit a local sporting goods store today and bought a good, old-fashioned aluminum pistol rod and a 3 piece take-down rifle rod, both made by Hoppe's. Dad cleaned his guns with Hoppe's products, and they worked well.
The problem is that they still have the obnoxious swivel "T" handles. These seem like a good idea on paper, but are marginally useful at best, and suck to store. I fixed that. I took my brand new cleaning rods and cut the T-handles off. I replaced them with short sections of poplar dowel rod, making straight handles like the ones on screwdrivers.
I epoxied the rods into my new handles, and then cross-drilled the handles, pinning the rods firmly into place. Since I didn't want to puzzle over which was the pistol rod and which was the first section of the rifle rod, I made the rifle rod's handle a good inch longer. I finished them by sealing them with several coats of tung oil.
They're sturdy, simple, and drop into my range box, taking up less room than a flashlight. They also look home-made. Some of my best tools, my sturdiest, best-designed, most-often-used tools are the ones Dad made when he didn't have exactly what he needed. These mean more to me than anything I could go buy. My new cleaning rods fall into that category, and I love the way they look. I feel a little manlier for owning something so low-tech.
Here is the simple replacement and the original puzzle (The T-handle pistol rod is made up of 5 pieces, and that's not counting the brush/jag/mop that screws onto the end; my new rod is one-piece.)
My new philosophy? When I can't find exactly what I want, I'll just make it.
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