tim_s;
We are speaking from different conditions, and with different expectations..
A prone rifle is not a bench rifle, and a bench rifle is not a prone rifle.
When a benchrest rifle is considered "worn out" at 10,000 rounds, a prone guy would say his rifle is just barely "broken in".
Is a nylon brush not "agressive enough" to get down to bare steel? I dunno..
But it gets down below the crud for me, and returns me to a condition where I know I can shoot 500-600 shots in competition and not have to clean between targets (which is typically impractical in a prone match).
I think the difference is this;
A benchrest shooter will clean to get the absolute razors edge of 50 yard accuracy (most .22 bench sports being 50 yard events).
A Prone shooter doesn't need the same razors edge (our targets are a good deal more generous.. the x ring is the size of the IR50-50 7 ring as I recall..)...
What a prone shooter is looking for is STABILITY. I need to know how my rifle performs over a 1600agg match, because I most likely will not clean it during the match. My rifle will take about 30 shots to "settle" into a stable shooting condition after cleaning, after that, I know what to expect for the next several hundred rounds.
Typically, nice round groups of under 1" at 100 yards as long as I keep my head out of my posterior and pay attention to my position, hold, sight picture, trigger control, and follow-through.
As a prone shooter, I have better ways to spend my time than cleaning a bore that will shoot all-X cleans when it's dirty (well, with someone else driving it will... and HAS!).
If others want to use a bronze/brass brush.. fine.. I personally don't think it's possible to hurt a bore with a brass/bronze brush unless you hook it up to a drill and lean on it for an hour...
My patch pull through and nylon brush has served me quite well thus far. I save my brass brushes for if my rifle gets rained on and I'm doing a COMPLETE disassembly, clean, dry, and lube job on it. Then since it's out of the stock anyway, and it'll be 300 shots before it settles back in perfectly... I may give it a scrubbing.
I welcome disagreement with my methods.. but don't expect me to get too worked up defending them, 'cause there's a whole BUNCH of ways to achieve the same goal with a .22 (hitting the X-ring!). And even MORE opinions about how to do it!
Nothing I do is the "perfect" way to do anything... but it works for me.
Paul F.