Borescope Q?

alinwa, they are both fiberoptic, just that one is flexible, the other rigid. Personally, I like the rigid (Hawkeye) for gun work.

I guess that's true, duhh.... and I can see the argument for rigid...... but under 300.00 for the flexi-pipe???? It has a certain appeal!

al
 
Heck al, try them both and report back what you find, I'm to old to jump in on something new when I already got the Hawkeye. I know one thing for sure this flex thing will eat the lunch of the Hawkeye if it's
half as good. It's the American way!
 
hi guys , just want to thank those who replied to my question on how you tell a good bore from a bad bore . i will check out those sights . I have to agree with some on this topic sure lets you know if your cleaning right . as far as the barrel being good or bad if it has scratches or nicks tooling marks i am not sold yet . T.R.
 
Bore Scopes

The Gradient Lens company maker of the Hawkeye Borescope this morning (2/18/10) had 3 gunsmith kits with (1) 22" straight. (1) 22" 90 degree, bore scope, (1) 7" 90 degree bore scope, and a 90 degree eye piece and two lights for $2010.00 These were some scratch and dent models they had from the Shot Show.

They had some shorter models also.

Nat Lambeth
 
Borescope 90 degree mirror

Fred,
I talked to the Visual Optics Company this morning and the lady said you could get a 90 degree mirror for the borescope. I asked her if the flexible part rotated in the scope body and she said "no, it doesn't". I have a Hawkeye and one thing I like about it is that it rotates in the bore and you can get a complete view. I think not being able to rotate a full 360 degrees would be a problem when looking down a rifle barrel. Just a few random thoughts from the ozone. :)

Best,
Dan Batko

"Where are we going and why am I in this basket?"
 
To answer what I remember of the Q directed at me:

Yes it has a 90 degree mirror and the model I bought at toolscource came with the mirror and --- a magnet--it was not marketed as a gunsmithing tool.

Which would I buy? Well I bought the VO scope flex model. I had looked through a Hawkeye and did not see any real difference. If I win the Lottery, maybe I will buy a Hawkeye, but I only have a disability check each month and for now the VO is what I can afford. But---thinking about it further, I think I prefer the flexible probe-- I have lever guns and such and I can insert the probe (18") from both ends which I could not do with a 17" Hawkeye rigid probe. Besides, if I go around spending 800.00 for something like a borescope that I can get for under 300.00, how will I ever save up my pennies for a March rifle scope?

I think the lady at VO must have misunderstood the rotation Q. I can see 360degrees of my barrel. All I have to do is rotate the scope when using the mirror and I get maybe a little bit better 360 degree view of the bore with the VO in straight ahead mode than I remember getting with the Hawkeye....

Anyway-- the VO works quite well for what I wanted to do with it, which was mainly to see how clean my match barrels were- and to look at some "match" barrels to get an idea why they shot so lousy. I can't say that it's really saved me any money; in fact, maybe the opposite. I gave up on an existing Oly Arms "match" barrel in favor of buying a Shilen select match for a prospective OA AR BR rifle I presently own.
 
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How is the focus on it....I see the site says 3/8" to infinity, seems like it would be a little confined in a .22 cal bore?
 
One of the biggest complaints about the Gradient Lens borescope is the poor durability quality of its 90 degree mirror, it will be interesting to see how the fiber optic 90 degree mirror stacks up.............Don
 
I too have read of problems with the Hawkeye 90 degree mirror many times, but mine is 10 years old & still bright & clear. I have to wonder what chemicals some of the complainers may have gotten on their mirrors. You know, you should never insert that borescope into the barrel untill you have the bore & chamber thoroughly dried.
 
I think Joe has it here, Mirrors and chemicals don't go good together.
besides that if the barrel is wet, everything is blurry as hell. I have
never had to clean my mirror. Every barrel I look in is different in some
way. If I had it to do over again, The borescope would have been my second purchase after a gun. Yesterday, I looked in a winchester barrel.
The bore was uncleaned and dry, showing light powder fouling and some
spots of copper. The neck in the chamber however was caked with
fouling. Keeps you guessing.
 
Joe, you're right!

I too have read of problems with the Hawkeye 90 degree mirror many times, but mine is 10 years old & still bright & clear. I have to wonder what chemicals some of the complainers may have gotten on their mirrors. You know, you should never insert that borescope into the barrel untill you have the bore & chamber thoroughly dried.


I use the Hawkeye ONLY after running a couple of patches through with Isopropyl alcohol to be sure to neutralize any previous chemicals and to help flash dry the bore.
 
Clean, dry bore

I use the Hawkeye ONLY after running a couple of patches through with Isopropyl alcohol to be sure to neutralize any previous chemicals and to help flash dry the bore.

Yes to all the above followed by compressed air to dry the bore.

Chino69
 
Yes to all the above followed by compressed air to dry the bore.

Chino69
Ditto's on the air and alcohol.

Peering through my Hawkeye, I found it interesting just how much solvent remains in the bore after "drying the bore" with 2-3 dry patches.

Justin
 
Solvent remaining in bore

Ditto's on the air and alcohol.

Peering through my Hawkeye, I found it interesting just how much solvent remains in the bore after "drying the bore" with 2-3 dry patches.

Justin

Yep!
That's why I use the alcohol followed by several long blasts of compressed air and about five minutes of drying time. Never had a problem with my mirror or anything else. I've heard of people having trouble with their mirror and suspect it to be the result of solvent left in the bore.

Lou Baccino
 
alinwa, they are both fiberoptic, just that one is flexible, the other rigid. Personally, I like the rigid (Hawkeye) for gun work.

I read years ago that the Hawkeye used a single piece glass element with the fiber optic lighting passed around the outside of the inner glass optical element.
You know how “years ago” memory goes, but it’s a very strong old memory.

amamnn

The add has me wondering.
Is this an optical bore scope. Or a micro camera using fiber optic lighting displayed on a 7,400 “Pixel” LCD view screen?
I guess I’ve never heard of an optical device having a pixel count?
 
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