I frequently take a barrel to my smith to scope and analyze its condition. Almost always, he tells me its full of powder fouling. This is after I have scrubbed the barrel extra hard. I am certain I have replaced barrels that just needed a good cleaning.
Borescope-should one use one,which,why?
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I have a hawkeye and use it often. I use it for the usual things mentioned earlier. I also look into cartridges. Incipient case separation can be seen. Ever wonder what primer was in a case? You can get close and see the color to confirm. JE Custom is correct there is no other way to truly know the condition of the crown.
Quite a few guys at the have suffered accuracy loss with their favorite hunting rifles and have asked me to take a look with the scope. Several of those rifles were terribly fouled. I can tell you small copper "speed bumps" in the bore will cause a pet rifle to shoot large groups.
Using the scope has told me what is required to clean a hand lapped custom or factory barrel.
A friend recently bought a lyman borescope. I was impressed with the quality of the pictures he e-mailed to me. He had a question about the condition of his bore, said he couldn't get it clean. The barrel had a few large low areas that looked like fouling but was not. They were old fouled areas that eroded away leaving large pot holes. I have a 308 like that yet shoots very tight groups, so the earlier poster that said let it tell you if it shoots or not is very correct.
The 90 degree view can fool you into thinking something is higher when it is actually lower than its surroundings. Sometimes I have to really look carefully at a handlapped barrel to tell the lands from the grooves.
Once you own a borescope you will not be able to do without one.
Quite a few guys at the have suffered accuracy loss with their favorite hunting rifles and have asked me to take a look with the scope. Several of those rifles were terribly fouled. I can tell you small copper "speed bumps" in the bore will cause a pet rifle to shoot large groups.
Using the scope has told me what is required to clean a hand lapped custom or factory barrel.
A friend recently bought a lyman borescope. I was impressed with the quality of the pictures he e-mailed to me. He had a question about the condition of his bore, said he couldn't get it clean. The barrel had a few large low areas that looked like fouling but was not. They were old fouled areas that eroded away leaving large pot holes. I have a 308 like that yet shoots very tight groups, so the earlier poster that said let it tell you if it shoots or not is very correct.
The 90 degree view can fool you into thinking something is higher when it is actually lower than its surroundings. Sometimes I have to really look carefully at a handlapped barrel to tell the lands from the grooves.
Once you own a borescope you will not be able to do without one.
B23
Well-Known Member
They had a sale on the Lyman borescopes a few months back so I figured it was worth taking a chance with one. I was pleasantly surprised when I started using it how well it worked. It'll only fit in .20 cal bores and bigger and the light source is maybe a little brighter than it needs to be because it sometimes causes a bit of glare but the image it presents on the little screen is plenty clear enough to see what's going on in there and for less than 200 bucks I feel it was money well spent. Also, it allows you the ability to save a picture of what you're looking at and email it to your gunsmith or whoever, if you ever thought there was a problem.
Okanogan
Well-Known Member
I bought a Teslong with 3.5" LCD screen and the optional short focus camera for a little under $150 on Amazon about a month ago. With the short focus camera it works well for me even though it is a 60 degree camera. It has adjustable light which is more than adequate and rotate view and zoom features.
I have not used it that much in reality. The intent in purchasing it was to take still shots to document throat deterioration in my precision rifles. In particular, if I start seeing rapid wear in my 338 Edge, I might consider backing down on how hot my loads are. I may or may not get that much use out of it but for less than $150, I was not too concerned and figured it might come in hand around the house if nothing else.
I have not used it that much in reality. The intent in purchasing it was to take still shots to document throat deterioration in my precision rifles. In particular, if I start seeing rapid wear in my 338 Edge, I might consider backing down on how hot my loads are. I may or may not get that much use out of it but for less than $150, I was not too concerned and figured it might come in hand around the house if nothing else.
wonderman4
Well-Known Member
I don't post often, but thought I would offer this.
I have the Lyman Bore Cam. It is a good tool.
I bought a rifle last October for the BIL's retirement gift.
It set in the safe 'til after Christmas before I started working on it.
When I got some ammo loaded for development, I figured I would scope the bore just to see.
As you can see the barrel has lots of chatter marks from breech to muzzle.
I took it out and shot 15 rounds and came home and scoped the barrel again.
There was one streak of copper 10" long on one side of the barrel. I know this because the camera rod is marked off as a ruler.
Also, part of the lands looked like a miniature mill file and it held copper quite well.
I sent the pictures to Savage, and they told me to send the rifle to them so I did. I haven't gotten it back yet, but they just received it yesterday.
Before I sent it back, I gave the barrel 2 treatments with Sharp ShootRs Wipeout with the Accelerator and all the copper was gone.
Draw your own conclusions as to the worth of a bore scope, but I am so glad I have mine.
I have the Lyman Bore Cam. It is a good tool.
I bought a rifle last October for the BIL's retirement gift.
It set in the safe 'til after Christmas before I started working on it.
When I got some ammo loaded for development, I figured I would scope the bore just to see.
As you can see the barrel has lots of chatter marks from breech to muzzle.
I took it out and shot 15 rounds and came home and scoped the barrel again.
There was one streak of copper 10" long on one side of the barrel. I know this because the camera rod is marked off as a ruler.
Also, part of the lands looked like a miniature mill file and it held copper quite well.
I sent the pictures to Savage, and they told me to send the rifle to them so I did. I haven't gotten it back yet, but they just received it yesterday.
Before I sent it back, I gave the barrel 2 treatments with Sharp ShootRs Wipeout with the Accelerator and all the copper was gone.
Draw your own conclusions as to the worth of a bore scope, but I am so glad I have mine.
Gary Morgan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 88
My feeling is that there would be a lot more used Hawkeyes for sale if the owners weren't happy with their borescopes. I use mine to assess the quality of a new chamber job, wear on a barrel, look for fire cracking and to assess how clean my barrel is after a day at the range before I put it up..
dok7mm
Well-Known Member
I agree with this. I have three different styles, but when you are checking the grooves for first sign of fire cracking, the 90* Hawkeye is the best for seeing minute scaling in the lands area. They all show the copper pretty well, but miss the fine details. Just my experience.
oldfortyfiveauto
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 405
That's pretty much a normal looking Savage barrel....lots of chatter. Doesn't seem to stop them from shooting well, but do tend to need cleaning more.
