Borescope Q?

A

amamnn

Guest
After saving up my allowance and paper route money and turning in all my beer, I mean pop, bottles for the deposit, I was able to buy a borescope. Mine came with a 90 degree mirror with which you can look straight at the wall of the bore. It appears to me that the only thing this does for me is to allow a close up view of what I have already seen with the straight ahead lens.

I've seen lots of tool marks and other craters lined with copper and horrible streaks of copper in the grooves, etc. in a "match" barrel of an AR I had suspected was cr*p from day one. It's nice to get a close up and all, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something here and the mirror can be used find other problems that cannot be seen when looking without it.
 
The Mirror is very useful

I use the 90' mirror by rotating it around a particular spot, particularly in the neck and throat area, and for inspecting crowns all around the circumference.

The 90' Eyepiece is also a "must have" in my experience. Much less strain on the old neck muscles. It does add a lot of weight, making the scope somewhat clumsy, but it makes for easier viewing.
 
I was inquiring about the mirror, not the eyepiece. I can see that the 90 degree eyepiece on a rigid scope would be a great help. Mine is a flexable fiber optic type.

I'll give the crowns and chamber end of the barrels another look with and without the mirror.

Thanks
 
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Hawkeye scope

I use the right angle mirror on the Hawkeye scope to inspect gas ports on gas guns, and when I port test barrels to confirm I am centered in the groove before drilling.
 
Bore scope

Not sure how much if any magnification you have with your bore scope.
The hawkeye gives you a great view and education. I often wonder
why I didn't buy it sooner than I did. From railroad tracks in factory
barrels to useless cleaning solvents, its no longer a guess.
 
Considering the cost of my Hawk eye I think that is where I found the greatest value is seeing what all these different miracles in a bottle bore cleaners are really worth compared to what people think they are worth. The one thing I have found with a bore scope is to not be to trusting in what people tell you about how good these bore cleaners really are.
 
I had not thought about the gas ports--I have a couple ARs I am trying to get the copper out of right now and comparing Wipe out to Bore tech Eliminator and Hoppes bore gel....very...interesting.
 
Borescope

Bob Kingsbury said:
Not sure how much if any magnification you have with your bore scope.
The hawkeye gives you a great view and education. I often wonder
why I didn't buy it sooner than I did. From railroad tracks in factory
barrels to useless cleaning solvents, its no longer a guess.
Click to expand...

I agree, it takes the guess out of the equation. I use my borescope for everything from inspecting a new barrel blank, cleaning efficiency to monitoring throat erosion.

Lou Baccino
 
All of what's been said and Lou's recap. Plus, if you buy any used rifles with CM barrels, it's the best "buyer beware" tool you'll ever see. In the past several years, I have found over 80% of the CM barrels I've checked on used rifles have at least a little pitting in them, some a lot. Sometimes they look great just looking down the bore, but the scope really tells the tale.
 
Well, I did use the mirror again and it gave me a look at the gas port in the "match" barrel that was stripping so much jacket off bullets. I don't know what I can do about it, but the port does have some nasty rough edges and so much copper in it I'd have to join the mine worker's union to even think about getting it out. I was going to rebarrel it anyway, so I'm not sure that I really did myself any good with the scope, other than to find out that this was the problem and the throat still looked good. It's a .243 WSSM and I'd heard that they were hard on throats. I guess that's an exaggeration. Mine is looking good after about 1500 rounds or so. The manufacturer is close by and said that they'd let me bring the scope to look at a few new barrels, so it may be a happy ending after all.

I don't know exactly what the magnification is, but I can look at about a quarter of the circumference of the gas port at a time. The picture is nice and sharp too. I was really surprised at how well this fiber optic scope performs compared to the Hawkeye I had looked through once before.

Thanks for the help.
 
Hawkeye "knows"

Big Al: Could not agree with you more. I've proven without a doubt, time and time again, just what a scam some of the claims made by the companies really are. Followed their directions to the letter, with before, during and after 'scoping and know which products work, and more importantly, which do not! A friend told me how well his cleaning solvents were doing the job, we borescoped 4 of his barrels, and he was shocked: they all looked like sewer pipes with carbon fouling buildup to the extreme. And this was after he used several of the solvents that claim to remove carbon. No different from the "Dr. feelgood" that was sold from a covered wagon in the 1880's. Just bought my second "Hawkeye", this one with the green head, delivered to my door for $620 after the $75 rebate, easily worth the cost.
 
amamnn said:
Well, I did use the mirror again and it gave me a look at the gas port in the.....The picture is nice and sharp too. I was really surprised at how well this fiber optic scope performs compared to the Hawkeye I had looked through once before.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Just curious about which flexible borescope you are using. Any info or links? What is the smallest bore you can inspect with it?
 
Just for general infromatin, the Hawkeye is 10X power. I don't have a clue whatthe new flex shaft is? I have spent a lot f time unlearning reading te patch signs and trust the bre scope to tell me the truth about whats happening with bore cleaners now.


By the way, it does help to lower the costs of used rifles when you show the owner how bad the bore really is.
 
hi guys, been reading about your bore scopes got one . have a question how do you know by scoping a barrel what is good and what is bad ? T.R.
 
therifler said:
hi guys, been reading about your bore scopes got one . have a question how do you know by scoping a barrel what is good and what is bad ? T.R.
Click to expand...

Gordy Gritters new video on diagnosing accuracy problems has a section where he looks in bores with a TV camera on a borescope and explains what he is seeing.

Fitch
 
So amamnn, you've looked through both scopes, I haven't.

If you had the choice, Hawkeye or fiber optics?

al
 
Borescope info.

therifler said:
hi guys, been reading about your bore scopes got one . have a question how do you know by scoping a barrel what is good and what is bad ? T.R.
Click to expand...

T.R.,
Go to Dan Lilja's site and look at the video he does using a borescope and you'll get a good idea of what to look for. Bear in mind the borescope will reveal the surface finish of the bore's interior. A brand new match grade barrel is a thing of beauty with none of the roughness of a factory 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.
 
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