I do a lot of match shooting--200, 300, and 600 yards--.223, 6XC, .308, and one 30-06.

As far as I'm concerned and have noticed, most cleaning "rituals" are a waste of time.

I never break in barrels, just shoot and clean when I get home. I clean with two patches of Butch's Bore Shine (there are about 20 or so concoctions probably equally as good), followed by one dry patch and one patch of Hoppe's #9 to protect the bore. I wait about five minutes between patches.

I never use a bronze brush but let the chemical action work. Exception: After several hundred shots, I use JB Bore paste on a bronze brush. Amazing what gunk comes out of a "clean" barrel.

Another old wives tale is the "need" to dry out the bore before shooting. Our 600 yard matches have 5 sighter shots preceeeding the record shots. On several occasions I have fired all five in the X ring, noticing no change of impact in the first shot with the Hoppe's in the barrel. (The first record shot is often a 9 but that's another story!)

If I see a bit of copper in the bore, so what?

Now for big bores, I generally use the same procedure. In Africa I do not clean the bore for the whole trip, but only when I get home. Sometimes I use one of the foams. It's less messy than trying to get it in the barrel of a small bore.