My observations may not directly relate to our topic, but you may find them interesting and maybe useful.
In the past several months, from September to early December I went on a buying spree where I bought several very nice centerfire rifles, all brand new from manufacturers that most would consider high quality. In that same time frame I also bought a bore scope, which has proven itself to be a mixed blessing
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For years I had always wanted a Browning BLR in 308. I ran across one that was exactly what I wanted although it is chambered in 243, a cartridge I had really come to like shooting. Beautiful walnut stock with a pistol grip, it couldn’t have been on display for more that a day. I put it in lay-away and picked it up a couple of months later. The rifle proved to be a very nice shooter although I found that I had to scope it as the old eyes just aren’t up to open sights anymore.
I then ordered a Tikka T3x D18 Lite Cabelas special in 308 Winchester when they were on sale at Cabelas for almost $400 off with rebate. I have three other T3xs, all but one of which has a stainless barrels. As per the rule with Tikkas this rifle proved an exceptional shooter and interestingly enough the barrel proved very easy to clean. Very happy with this purchase.
While checking out the above mentioned BLR at one of my states premiere sporting goods mega store I was introduced to the beauty of Winchester Super Grade rifles, especially maple stocked versions. I was never much of a fan of modern Winchesters a bit of research educated me on that front. I found a 30.06 at a nearer gun shop for a good price, bought it, loved it and promptly turned around and bought one in 270WIN, a round I really like. I would have bought the 270 first but the ‘06 has a stunning stock.
Now, the pertinent part. I told you that story to tell you this one. The bore scope!! I bought the bore scope out of curiosity because I have several milsurps that i was curious about and because I wanted to make sure I was doing a sufficient cleaning job. I rarely shoot a ton of rounds through a rifle at a time so I wasn’t sure how much effort I should typically put into cleaning a barrel. You know the received wisdom: more barrels are ruined through improper cleaning than number of rounds sent down range. Results of scoping the bores on these brand new rifles were eye opening to say the least.
First the BLR. I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the bore in the BLR. I found noticeable pitting in several spots of my new rifle. It wasn’t terrible, but was disappointing. I also discovered that I needed to work on copper fouling on this bore. Interesting that the fouling got worse further towards the muzzle.
Both Winchesters demonstrated what I would consider an interior that appeared kind of on the rougher side. I noticed that it took more of an effort to get clean than I would have expected. There was also quite a bit of jacket fouling in both barrels, again getting worse as it neared the muzzle. Mind you I hadn’t put a bunch of rounds through these barrels, less than a box in the 270, slightly more than a box maybe in the ‘06. I put quite a bit of elbow grease into these barrels to get them what I consider ‘clean’. BTW…. Both shoot very well.
Last is the Tikka. My understanding is that Tikka states no break-in is required for their barrels and I see why. All my Tikkas have been very easy to clean. Interior finish is very smooth and demonstrated much less jacket fouling than the others. IMHO the Tikka barrels are the best finished I have run across. Tikka makes an exceptional rifle in my opinion.
All this demonstrates, I hope, the difference in barrels between different manufacturers, even well thought of ones. The Winchester barrels are manufactured by FN in South Carolina IIRC, and are very highly thought of in my research. Unfortunately I don’t have the capability do do a break-in procedure on a new rifle so maybe the results may have been different had I been able to do so, although I never really thought it was needed. Even so, that wouldn’t have had any effect on the BLR barrel which came lightly pitted out of the box. All this also tends to reinforce the notion that using a bore scope can be a mixed blessing, and that you really have to shoot the thing to get real world results. BTW for kicks I scoped my Mk4 #2 Lee Enfield that I have had for 30 years which always shot pretty well. OMG!! Craters on the moon!!
Sorry to be so long winded. I hope it was worth the read.
