US military armorers called on Tipton to provide cleaning rods that would clean service rifles in demanding conditions. Carbon fiber is well-suited to the tough tasks assigned to cleaning rods. It combines the best features of stainless steel and coated cleaning rods, then adds valuable properties of its own. Carbon fiber can't scratch your bore like stainless steel and won't embed like coated rods. Carbon fiber rods can be bent to an extreme degree and return to their original straightness.