I borescoped my barrel - and i will never do it again .

[aerobat]

I played around and got the idea to put a my ( cheap ) borescope i have into the barrell . First i wanted to do it on my cz527 .223 but it does not fit so i did it at my remington 700cdl in .30-06 .

The gun has a very good precision , works always and ever and the barell looks shiny when you look thru against the light .

Now the borescope :



I was shocked !

The rifle has like mentioned a really great precision and zero issues but at the borescope the barrel looks ... well .

Somebody of you ever bore scoped his barrel ?

Best regards

[M1A4ME]

The best shooting CZ .40 I have looks absolutely terrible through the borescope.  Just nasty. 

It can scare you, big time.

[Whereisit]

You ever heard the term "let her eat."? In my days, way back, working on cars, racing them and driving them to the limit... We didn't go looking for problems. If she ran right.. Then we let her run. Keep her clean, maintained and "let her eat".

[aerobat]

If she ran right.. Then we let her run. Keep her clean, maintained and "let her eat".

Thats exactly what i will do . I was just surprized and wanted to share it with you , i never before hadvthe idea to borescope a barrell.

Best regards

[Joe L]

I've spent a lot of time borescoping .22 and centerfire pistol barrels.  I have a lightly pitted 9mm P-09 barrel that would be tossed by someone with higher borescoping standards than mine, but it shoots lights out at 100 and 200 yards.  It's just difficult to clean, other than that, it's still fine.

I have found that a borescope can be useful in seeing if one has successfully removed the carbon ring in .22 chambers however.  To me, that is a good application of a borescope.  I can see if I have the centerfire barrels clean but can't correlate the degree of cleanliness with the target results.  What I know is that if I put one up with some carbon buildup in it and leave it for a few months, it might develop a little pitting under the carbon.  If I get the barrel down to bare metal and put some oil on it and then put it in a heated safe, it won't corrode at all. 

It's kind of fun to compare the machine work on an aftermarket barrel to a factory barrel using a borescope, but here again, I can't correlate a perfectly smooth bore with no chatter marks or scratches to an average CZ factory barrel as far as accuracy goes.  But the finely machined barrel will be easier to clean, even if it isn't more "accurate". 

I love my borescopes because they are fun to use.  But I don't make many decisions based on what I see, mostly out of ignorance of the finer details, I suppose.  So, fun yes, necessary no.  And they can definitely drive some people crazy. 

Joe 

[bang bang]

there's a saying...

"dont ask the question if you dont want to hear the answer"

and some people cant help but go down that rabbit hole.

[newageroman]

I recently tried my borescope camera and it was too small for my 6mm and 22 bores. But it fit down the 6.5CM enough to spot the carbon ring. I regularly clean this rifle but have never used any abrasive on it until I saw the ring. I was also getting some pierced primers on ammo loaded to the same spec that previously did not get them. So I cut a cheap cleaning rod a bit short chucked it up in a drill put a patch with some JB bore past and went to town. Seemed  to work but I haven't checked it since the last range trip.

What is a good budget borescope you guys use? Mine is a long wire USB camera that I sometimes use on the D650 as a powder check.

[Joe L]

Teslong borescope, Amazon, several versions available, I have rifle and pistol length with the bore adaptors for centerfire.  They will fit .22 and larger bores.  USB or standalone.  Very inexpensive and have been reliable.

[newageroman]

Joe L - you rock! Keep on inspiring us to shoot pistols at rifle ranges!
I just ordered the 10" USB version directly from their website. I signed up for the newsletter and saved 10% - with shipping it was like $45 total.
I despise Amazon and wont use them, but I do have a Wal mart account, thus the direct website purchase.
The long rifle rod USB versions were out of stock so I just ordered the short one. I figure 10" should cover the chamber and leade in all my rifles and most of my pistols (I have a 16" Ruger Mk4 pistol Build) so that should suffice and be easier to store.
This gives me more time to procrastinate on cleaning rifles after the most recent range trip - so I can see before and after regular cleaning then get a good inspection of any carbon ring that I am pretty sure is there in my 2 main rifles.
The 6.5CM is a Ruger American Predator 1st gen and has IDK ~5 or 6k rounds through it (90%) are 143ELDX over H4350 at mild velocities. The 6ARC has ~3k through it. They both seem to still shoot lights out as far as accuracy. Last time I went to the range I was able to call and make eyeball shots on steel silhouettes from 200 to out to 600yds.
Will post a Rumble vid when it gets here - Thx again!

[Joe L]

Great!  Let me know if you have any questions when you get it. 

Joe

[newageroman]

Just arrived - worth every penny. I got bored and cleaned all my dirty guns from last range trip a couple days ago so I didn't see the dirty barrel, just normal cleaning.
I was able to see where the carbon ring is/was and a few marks where I removed it with JB Bore paste on a patch on a brass brush chucked into a hand drill.
I was surprised at how much oil I had left in the barrel after quick cleaning - need to run some more dry patches before shooting.
I was able to see the fire cracking in the throat area.
For $50 it is a winner. The quality is pretty good/better than expected. There were 3 sets of mirrors that threaded onto the end and can be adjusted with a lockring to focus correctly. the small fine threads worked great and were impressive quality. I had no issues taking pics on the desktop with the USB cable.
Will check my others next range trip. Thx for the suggestion

[Joe L]

Glad it is working out for you.  I have one on my desk, and two in the shop for the rifles. 

I used to be very careless about cleaning pistols, mainly because of the time it took and I was spending a lot of time at the range--one or two trips per week, 100-150 rounds per session.  Then I started seeing some pitting in the barrel of my P-09 and decided that I needed to get enough of the carbon out to allow some oil to reach the metal and drive off any moisture.  I cleaned the barrels at least once per week after that.  Now I have more time, shoot less, and can take 10-20 minutes after each range session to at least partially clean the barrels and add some oil to the bore, and then put the pistols in a heated safe until the next week.   

But I still peak at the barrels with the borescope periodically just for fun every few weeks, especially on bad weather days.   I just don't worry much about a very thin layer of carbon downstream of the lede area.  Carbon rings I take care of.

Joe

[AZ CZ]

That is definitely unnerving to see I'd imagine!

[tdogg]

I purchased a Teslong and have the wireless unit and app on my phone.  It's image quality is so much better than my previous scope.  It has helped me understand what I am doing right and wrong cleaning rifle bores.  I get a hard carbon ring on my 7 PRC and I've learned what works to remove it.  CLR is the most effective treatment for a carbon ring.  It takes seconds to remove with CLR that takes 10's of minutes with Iosso bore paste.  A word of caution, manufacturer's are stating it will void your warranty so use at your own risk.  I wouldn't use on any carbon barrel only stainless steel and keep it off your action, trigger, and stock.

You should look down a Savage barrel and you will be shocked how rough they are cut.  Chatter marks in the rifling/grooves and rough chambers.  They still shoot and are an incredible value for how well they shoot.  I have two 7-08's for hunting (wife and kids) and they routinely shoot sub MOA with very little effort.

Cheers,
Toby

[Bobbybobb12]

I played around and got the idea to put a my ( cheap ) borescope i have into the barrell . First i wanted to do it on my cz527 .223 but it does not fit so i did it at my remington 700cdl in .30-06 .

The gun has a very good precision , works always and ever and the barell looks shiny when you look thru against the light .

Now the borescope :



I was shocked !

The rifle has like mentioned a really great precision and zero issues but at the borescope the barrel looks ... well .

Somebody of you ever bore scoped his barrel ?

Best regards

Yes, today I used a borescope I borrowed from a friend. I have a hunting rifle that is about 50 years old that I bought second hand which seems to have some pitting in the barrel. Besides all my barrels looked ok. But then again I don´t see an issue with your barrel in the picture? It has some copper fouling in it which can be cleaned out easily and will reappear with after just a few shots fired again. I don´t think that is a cause of concern at all?