Barrel Wizard: Best-Ever Shotgun Cleaning Tool? SHOT Show 2016

I happened across something wonderful at the 2016 SHOT Show.

I was passing by the Shooter’s Choice display when the Barrel Wizard caught my eye. I did a double-take. I liked it, Then I got a demo from Stu and liked it even more.

Barrel Wizard is a shotgun cleaning rod and a whole lot more.

At a glance, you see a large-diameter cleaning rod with a 12-gauge snap cap on the end. But look closer.

The snap cap doubles as the rod handle, and it even contains an oil reservoir so you can keep a little lube in there.

The end is threaded to accept standard shotgun brushes, bore mops, etc, with 5/16″-27 threads.

The rod telescopes from 27 to 40 inches.

Attached to the end of the rod is a unique “paper towel grip,” which allows you to use one small “select-a-size” paper towel as a bore scrubber/swab.

I think this is what I love the most. I use paper towels a lot in my gun cleaning–wherever I can, in fact. I have been known to wrap a paper towel around a worn-out or undersized bore brush in order to scrub the barrel with one. Now I don’t have to mess with that, nor do I have to waste money buying or cutting large patches and looking for a good way to make them fit my shotgun’s bore.

Running a close second is the fact that you can remove the paper towel grip from the rod, attach it to the handle, and use it for cleaning the chamber and/or choke tubes. It’s important to keep your shotgun’s chamber(s) clean, and a 10-gauge brush in this thing should work well for cleaning a 12-gauge chamber.

The Barrel Wizard is made using nickel-plated brass, Delrin, and hard-anodized aircraft-grade aluminum.

Naturally, the snap cap won’t fit in smaller shotguns, but they say you can use the Barrel Wizard to clean 16- and 20-gauge shotgun barrels. No mention of 410, but when I get one I’ll certainly give that a try; the rod may be too large.

To top it off, you can store the Barrel Wizard right in your shotgun’s barrel. When you get to your destination, remove it and set it aside, do your shooting, and then it’s right there handy–with oil in the reservoir if you’ve added some–so you can clean up that scattergun.

At press time, you could order a Barrel Wizard from Shooter’s Choice for $39.10 (brush not included). Extra snap caps/handles can be purchased separately, but only in 12 gauge at present time.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.