Re: Bore solvent, best one out there?
I like the Foams, and have found that Outer's works well and has been available locally where others are harder to find.
After getting to briefly borrow and apply a borescope to the process; I have no doubts that the stuff is effective; and that where effort is involved, the foams make cleaning too easy to avoid on the excuse of it being a chore. All I use is the foam and patches; no brushes, no abrasives. A rod guide is necessary, period.
I view cleaning as a necessary evil.
The fouling shots it requires afterward impose extra bore wear, which has to be balanced out against the concerns about long term pitting.
I prefer to clean and refoul, but the important thing is that my rifles tend to get laid up for weeks on end between fullbore shooting sessions; so the steps that count are related to removing pitting agents and sealing the bore surface against moisture and oxygen over those lay-ups.
If I were fortunate enough to have time and ammo sufficient to shoot every several days, my concerns would be far less urgent. My concerns are for what those fouling products are doing in the longer term, in combination with atmospheric oxygen and moisture.
Greg