How to Select Flex-Hone® Tools for Long Guns

Flex-Hone® for Firearms tools are used to finish and polish shotguns, rifles, revolvers, pistols, and paint ball guns. Suitable for any smooth bore, gun tools from Brush Research Manufacturing (BRM) are ideal for any type or size of barrel, cylinder, chamber, slide, or magazine tube. Trusted by gunsmiths and the firearms industry alike, BRM brush tools are also preferred by hunters and target shooters because the Flex-Hone® for Firearms is easy-to-use, as this video explains.

Tool Types, Abrasive Types, and Grits

Selecting the right Flex-Hone® for a shotgun or rifle is also an easy task when you know how BRM gun tools are specified. When you visit the Flex-Hone® Tools for Firearms page on our website, choose the image for either the Flex-Hone® for Shotguns or the Flex-Hone® for Rifles. The page that displays then shows one or more product types. There are three types of Flex-Hone® tools for Shotguns: barrel hones, chamber hones, and forcing cones. The Flex-Hone® for Rifles is designed for rifle chambers. 

On the BRM website, each gun tool has three dropdown boxes. The top one is labeled Type. Use it to specify the gauge (GA), caliber (CAL), and/or model of your weapon. Use the other dropdown boxes to select the abrasive type and grit. Choose aluminum oxide (AO) abrasive for finer finishing, polishing, and cleaning. Choose silicon carbide (SC) for removing tool marks, oxidation, and corrosion.

Grit selection is important to consider. As a rule, the lower the grit, the coarser and more aggressive the Flex-Hone® for Firearms. Use 800 grit for a final finish. If your gun’s surface is in good condition, a single grit may be all that’s necessary. For working on pitting, oxidation and corrosion, choose 180 grit. Many gunsmiths need something between 180 grit and 800 grit, however, so BRM also offers 400 grit.

BRM Gun Tools for Shotguns and Rifles

As noted above, BRM offers three types of Flex-Hone® tools for shotguns: barrel hones, chamber hones, and forcing cone hones. Flexible hones for shotgun barrels feature a protective shrink tube coating on the stem wire to protect the barrel. Shotgun chamber hones have a 3” abrasive part and 12” overall length (OAL). With forcing cone hones, the abrasive part of the gun tool is 1-5/8” and the OAL is 10”.

Shotgun barrel hones are available for 10, 12, 16, 20, and 28 GA as well as .410 bore. Medium and fine grits are offered for each gauge, and users can choose 180 SC, 400 SC, or 800 AO barrel hones. All shotgun chamber hones feature fine-grit 800 AO for an ultimate finish. Choose 10, 12, 16, 20 and 28 GA or .410 bore. For forcing cone hones, select medium, fine, or ultra-fine grits for 12, 16, 20 and 28-gauge shotguns.   

Flex-Hone® tools for rifles remove residues, surface imperfections, and machining marks while imparting a wear-resistant finish. Available in SC abrasive, these gun tools have a 1-5/8” abrasive part and come in OALs of 6”, 8”, 12”, and 14”. BRM supplies rifle chamber hones for a wide variety of guns, including .17 CAL/.22 MAG, .223 Remington, .243, .357, 25-06, 30-06, .308, .44 MAG, .44 CAL, .45 COLT, 50 BMG, 5.56 NATO, 6.88MM, 7.62x39MM SAAMI, and 7.62x51MM NATO.

Visit BRM at SHOT Show 2014 (Booth #4447)

BRM is a member of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and will attend SHOT Show 2014 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 14 to 17. Visit BRM in Booth #4447 to learn more about the Flex-Hone® for Firearms, and how to select and use gun tools from Brush Research Manufacturing.