Patent ID: 8695264

Claim:
A gun barrel cleaning tool positionable inside gun barrels of different gauges to clean the gun barrels, the gun barrel cleaning tool comprising: a handle; a lock member configured to be fixed to the handle so that the handle and the lock member are fixed against rotation in opposite directions relative to one another, the lock member including a cleaning element engaging portion and a cleaning element fixing portion; a cleaning element, the cleaning element comprising a lock member engaging portion, a lock member fixing portion and a spirally-extending cleaning portion connecting the lock member fixing portion and the lock member engaging portion; the spirally-extending cleaning portion comprising adjacent windings spaced apart by respective gaps; the lock member fixing portion of the cleaning element being rotationally fixed to the cleaning element fixing portion of the lock member so that the lock member fixing portion of the cleaning element is fixed against rotation in both directions relative to the cleaning element fixing portion of the lock member; one of the cleaning element engaging portion and the lock member engaging portion including a plurality of spaced apart projections, and the other of the cleaning element engaging portion and the lock member engaging portion including a plurality of spaced apart recesses, the projections being positioned in the recesses in a rotationally locked position to rotationally fix the lock member engaging portion against rotation in both directions relative to the cleaning element engaging portion; the projections being movable out of the recesses to a rotationally unlocked position in which the lock member engaging portion is rotatable in both directions relative to the cleaning element engaging portion; the lock member engaging portion in the rotationally unlocked position being rotatable in one direction relative to the cleaning element engaging portion to reduce a size of the gaps between adjacent windings of the spirally-extending cleaning portion to thus reduce an outside diameter of the spirally-extending cleaning portion; and the lock member engaging portion in the rotationally unlocked position being rotatable in the direction opposite the one direction relative to the cleaning element engaging portion to increase a size of the gaps between adjacent windings of the spirally-extending cleaning portion to thus increase an outside diameter of the spirally-extending cleaning portion.