Ever since a gunsmith let me look through his Hawkeye borescope, I thought it would be fun to have one, except for the huge price. Now that digital USB borescopes are available for $50-100, I bought one. It's interesting, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at...white lines, black lines, lands that are shiny in one area and get dark elsewhere. I see a good bit of cracking in one of my favorite rifles. How much is too much? It still shoots well.

I need a little "Borescope 101." I haven't been able to find any pictures to identify common issues or what to look for. Can someone point me in the right direction?

This is some Vudoo back magic in its own right, but what you can do with the at home borescope is verify you have a clean barrel. Black streak icing with solid black rings especially in the neck/ throat area is carbon, sometimes you can see some small half moon shaped copper pieces stuck in the carbon. Fire cracking starts immediately and is noticeable mostly in the throat within the first 100-200 rounds you’ll start to see a regular pattern develop. Most folks don’t need a bore scope because they will make one paranoid and you’ll buy a new barrel!

If a barrel still makes good velocity, and is grouping well keep shooting it till it falls apart.

I use my teslong borescope to verify I have done my job cleaning especially during a deep clean where I’m trying to remove carbon.

Yes! I've already warned myself about that. Thanks for the feedback.

I don't have a bore scope, and have never used one.

If it's not far enough barrel life to be shot out, and it's not quite shooting like it should, I clean it.

Then I foul it back in, and use it. If the day comes it's shooting bad before and after cleaning, and the round count says it's on the edge of being shot out, it gets replaced.

Just gotta know how your rifle shoots.

One thing learned from the Bore scope is what works to clean a barrel and what doesn’t. Most folks including me thought that once I went from black to grey to white patches my barrel was free of carbon. Bore scope shows how wrong that assumption is. Heck I used to worry about copper but I rarely see copper in my barrels mainly because of higher quality barrels these days. Hard carbon in the throat and first few inches of the barrel is tough to get out and doesn’t show on patches at all. All these liquid cleaners do is make It shinier
Here is an ongoing thread that explores it pretty well with pictures of barrels with scopes.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/t...oat-removal.4039316/page-8#post-38125800

Here’s the link to a YouTube video that reviews what is perhaps one of the best bore scopes on the market. Lots of good info for those like me who know nothing about them. Definitely something that can take your level of knowledge to a new level, given you learn all you can about how to read and use what it tells you.

Teslong makes several, affordable bore scopes

Agree with Dstroud om Carbon. If you will just clean the carbon out at the range while its still "fresh" (warm). When it cools, its like ceramic glass VERY HARD.

This is true for you 22lr rimfire shooters. just clean immediately after shooting, focusing on the throat to prevent any carbon ring build up. you don't have to remove all the bullet lube and lead till accuracy falls off

A friend of mine is a locksmith that specializes in high security safe penetrations. Years ago he upgraded his scopes and I started using his old scopes to inspect barrels. What I found is that not a single product on the market except for something called wipe free will clean every deposit out of the barrel.

I was just looking at teslong. Is a $99 scope good enough to see what needs to be seen? If so I’m going to order one. Their pictures suggest it’s all that.

Teslong Rifle Borescope with 4.5'' Screen, 0.2inch Gun Cleaning Camera Fits .20 Caliber & Larger Hunting Shooting Firearms, Gun Barrel Scope with Ring Lights, Right Angle Mirror & 36'' Camera Probe https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BJT2Z38/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_0H766DNAMMFSE2B100RX?psc=1

Ordered this one

Teslong Rigid Rifle Borescope with 5" Monitor, Bore Inspection Camera Visual Gun Cleaning System-Fits .20 Caliber & Larger-w/26-inch Long Insertion Tube, 5-inch IPS Screen, Right Angle Mirror https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095HLSYJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1KSDZKC6GNP3YNF74M1S

I have had a Hawkeye for many years with its main purpose to look inside of engine cylinders and QA some parts we make. I got the bright idea to look at one of my barrels once, I didn't like what I saw so I put it up and haven't looked at one since. The gun shot really good, and I still go with the Firemans way of determining what shape the barrel is in.

Smart. If it ain't shooting bad, don't mess with it, that's my philosophy anyway. I've heard that more damage is done to barrels from guys cleaning than from shooting. I'm not looking to make extra mistakes.

I had a hard bolt lift and pressure signs on a few of my brass at the last match. Someone suggested it may be a carbon ring. I’m buying the scope for the reason you stated, I don’t want to over clean if it’s not necessary.

I'm sure a good bore scope can tell many stories for those who have a sincere interest in learning how to use it and interpret the images.

I have the Lyman Bore Scope and happy with it's performance. Don't use it all the time but nice to have.

I would be interested to know if anyone who has been using a bore scope for some time has seen evidence of a correlation between barrel quality and performance. Or, to out it another way, have you seen a barrel that appeared lower quality under the scope, actually shoot better than one that didn't?

I like my Teslong USB scope......

I have looked down the barrels of two Savage rifles that were tack drivers and the inside of the barrel looked like tiny beavers gnawed a hole down the barrel.....chatter marks the entire length covered with shiny copper. One was a .223 that several folks tried to buy it after shooting it. I killed a lot of coyotes with it before finally letting a friend buy it and he still has it.

Back to why fouled barrels shoot good. But you can't tell Dan that.

Correct. Any barrel that was never properly broken in should be left fouled to compensate for the imperfections that were never adequately addressed.

I've never really thought about it but I suspect a bore scope in the hands of someone well versed in it's use, could identify how a new barrel responds to the break in process. But then, that very thing has probably already having been done, pointing to why so many recommend the process.

Yes Fireman, perhaps that's at least one of the reasons why you've never considered buying a bore scope and spending time to learn how use it.

He is going to set a record for epic failure of the year with his content. Stimpy has more brain cells at this point lol.

Amazing. Holy [censored].

Are texas dan and mathgeek brothers?

I don’t have much of a pro or con opinion on an elaborate break n process. But after looking down broach cut barrels that are visually rougher than say hammer forged or button rifled ones that I have looked at when new I can see why some don’t settle down until a few rounds have been fired thru them.
My point was that unless you see some glaring issue that a Bore scope won’t tell if the barrel is a shooter or not.
I had one so far that I saw an issue that gave me insight to what my problem was. It was a CZ and it had two gouges about halfway down the barrel that literally filled up with hard carbon and looked like a drop of asphalt was in my barrel. Patches and brushes wouldn’t touch it. Had to get the JB out to remove it. It had started shooting worse and worse but once cleaned would do well for about 30 rounds then it started with fliers again.

One thing is certain, that such a valuable learning tool would be quickly viewed as useless by those who already know everything.