borescope

[Stockrex]

With all the talk about questionable barrels, I have lost a lot of sleep, I mean my regular afternoon siesta is nearly impossible now.
I haves to gets a borescope, plus I can use it during my insulation problem of the garage ceiling come spring.

I found larry wills sells one for under $300,
what are the other options?
what do you use?
what is considered the caddy?

[soutthpaw]

http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Inspection-Camera-Color-Monitor/dp/B003629WRQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1388843961&sr=8-11&keywords=whistler+inspection+camera
picked one of these up from Walmart before xmas for $60, does a decent job for the price

here is the Walmart link. not currently in stock. I think it was one of those Xmas promo items http://www.walmart.com/ip/Whistler-9mm-Inspection-Camera/29155347

[thomae]

What is the diameter of the head? I have seen inexpensive ones at Harbor Freight, but I thought the head diameter was too small for most calibers.
(Edit: I meant too big, not too small. Thanks for the catch, Stockrex.)

[Stockrex]

Thomae, I think you meant too big, yes, I saw one at Costco last year and no dice it won't fit my 9.3 mm barrels.

South, I want to buy a real borescope for gun barrels and then use that in spring for my insulation project, the rooms above the garage are pretty nasty in winter like yesterday it was -7 F.

[Stockrex]

el cheapo ebay one are 6mm OD for the camera, most are 6.5 or even 7mm OD.

there was some guy in san fran making borescopes down to .22 diameter but he is no longer in business.

the hunt continues.

[82boy]

Honestly, a bore scope can be a waste of money. To start, if you don't know what your looking at, it is just a novelty item. The cheap bore scopes are basically worth less than scrap value. If you going to get a bore scope you might as well buy what most in the industry are using. The Hawkeye is about the best unit out there. http://www.gradientlens.com/ be prepared to lay down $700- $1500 for a Hawkeye. The thing is useless unless you know what your looking at, it is like walking through an ice covered cave, Yea looks pretty, but It is easy to get lost and turned upside down as well. basically what I am saying this I not a tool for the average Joe.

Now here is the biggest problem, you spend all this money, and guess what it still don't tell you a thing. I have seen barrels that had pits, scraps, missing rifling, and you name it, you would say are junk, and they are super shooters. I have seen barrel that are the most pristine looking things on the planet, and you would say "This sucker is perfect and will be a great shooter," and be the worst shooting barrel around. One year I remember I was at the Kelbly's firearm industry super shoot and Hawkeye was set up, and they would give you a ticket for a chance for a fee Hawkeye scope if you brought your rifle in and had it inspected. I remember sitting there and seeing the guy grade barrel after barrel, with most of them he was counting as bad. What I do remember was hearing of a fellow that he graded the barrel as total junk, and he placed 3rd in the super shoot. (Out of 350 of the best shooters in the world.) With that said you cant judge a barrel by what it looks like.

With that all said, unless you have a pile of money sitting around, or your a gunsmith chambering barrels everyday, don't waste your money, there are far better things to spend it on. (Like Bullets and powder.) So now you can rest.

[Rooster 50]

A counterpoint to 82Boy's post. Not an argument just a counterpoint.

I have had a Hawkeye for years and it does in fact reveal some things that i find very valuable.
#1 is my gun clean or not
#2 is my chamber bored concentric to the bore
#3 do i really want to buy this varmint rifle that the previous owner say has a low round count and the throat is alligatored for an inch.
#4 how much pitting is in this barrel. yes it might shoot fine but if it's pitted i will spend much time trying to get it clean and i will clean it more often..
#5 are the lands gouged from someone trying to drive an oversize jag or brush thru it(you would be surprised how many i have seen)
#6 did someone wash out the lands in the middle of this barrel cleaning it(yes i have seen that too)

Some of these affect accuracy some don't but they are things that are answered easily with my borescope. Did it hurt terribly to spend the price of a new rifle on it? Yes, but after i learned what i was looking at, and for, it is a very valuable tool.

Friends and even the local gunstore ask me to evualate barrels for them. Do i make predictions as to the inherent accuracy of a barrel.NO. Do i tell them objectively what i see? Absolutely.

At the very least it is a valuable tool to use when someone is making claims as to the condition of a given firearm.

No offense 82Boy just my $.02

[Rooster 50]

One more thought. I can say unequivically that Remington and Thompson Center do not like me. I have returned a couple of firearms to them to rebarrel without factory defects or screwups.
It cuts through a lot of BS with their customer service depts when the conversation begins with I own a borescope and i know how to use it.
Most of the readers here would be amazed at how many chambers are cut at an angle. I have seen chambers where the lands start at the end of the neck on one side of the throat and 1/4 in up the barrel on the other side. That cannot possibly be good for accuracy.

FWIW that is not something i see very often on Savages.

I have also found a ridiculous amount of pitting in brand new Rifles. Turns out they were fouled terribly at the factory and then sent to a wharehouse where the humidity was extremely high. The combination of the two dissimilar metals and the humidity(electrolysis) caused them to pitt in the last 2 in of the barrel. ( this BTW was a company who likes to send out a computer generated picture of the group shot by that specific rifle.)

[82boy]

A counterpoint to 82Boy's post. Not an argument just a counterpoint.
No offense 82Boy just my $.02

No Offence take, I agree with you on all the parts. You hit the nail on the head when you said, "After i learned what i was looking at" and there is a learning curve to using such a tool, and I think that the average Joe would struggle with this.

[82boy]

Most of the readers here would be amazed at how many chambers are cut at an angle.
FWIW that is not something i see very often on Savages.


Yes many chambers are crocked, and believe it or not I have found a few Savage's this way. Believe it or not I find that they are the best shooters. When you jamb a bullet and only get marks on half the bullet it is a good indicator that the chamber is crooked. The model 12 Benchrest I did a review on had a crooked chamber, and the gun shot good. (Also verified with a bore scope.) Again it doesn't state that the barrel is shot or not, but you know what is going on.

[Stockrex]

Honestly, a bore scope can be a waste of money. To start, if you don't know what your looking at, it is just a novelty item. The cheap bore scopes are basically worth less than scrap value. If you going to get a bore scope you might as well buy what most in the industry are using. The Hawkeye is about the best unit out there. http://www.gradientlens.com/ be prepared to lay down $700- $1500 for a Hawkeye. The thing is useless unless you know what your looking at, it is like walking through an ice covered cave, Yea looks pretty, but It is easy to get lost and turned upside down as well. basically what I am saying this I not a tool for the average Joe.

Now here is the biggest problem, you spend all this money, and guess what it still don't tell you a thing. I have seen barrels that had pits, scraps, missing rifling, and you name it, you would say are junk, and they are super shooters. I have seen barrel that are the most pristine looking things on the planet, and you would say "This sucker is perfect and will be a great shooter," and be the worst shooting barrel around. One year I remember I was at the Kelbly's firearm industry super shoot and Hawkeye was set up, and they would give you a ticket for a chance for a fee Hawkeye scope if you brought your rifle in and had it inspected. I remember sitting there and seeing the guy grade barrel after barrel, with most of them he was counting as bad. What I do remember was hearing of a fellow that he graded the barrel as total junk, and he placed 3rd in the super shoot. (Out of 350 of the best shooters in the world.) With that said you cant judge a barrel by what it looks like.

With that all said, unless you have a pile of money sitting around, or your a gunsmith chambering barrels everyday, don't waste your money, there are far better things to spend it on. (Like Bullets and powder.) So now you can rest.

No Sir, I do not have any lottery winnings to burn, but I have to insulate my garage ceiling and I need to drill holes in the plaster and inject foam using the small cans.
Hence, my interest a value borescope which I can put to multi-use ;-)

Very interesting indeed, it goes to show how much we lack in understanding of "what makes a barrel accurate".

Concentricity of Chamber:
As a student of physics in college (45 credits) I spend many hour studing structures in compression and tension and harmonics. Some of the rational I read gives me

Conventional wisdom states that if a bullet is seated "crooked" in the chamber then it will travel "crooked" down the barrel and it will alter the gyroscopic stability of the bullet. But from the example that Patrick provided, we can gauge how true is that assumption.

I belong to the "Dad against cleaning Guns" club and am the founding the member of the GR, MI chapter :-).
I have never cleaned my trap gun (semi-auto) and after a thousand rounds and shooting in the rain, it was failing to cycle once in a while, I finally cleaned it. So I am not really worried about the barrel condition or cleaning unless accuracy/function is gone to poooooooooops.

[drybean]

innovative technologies , has one for $ 298.95
fits 20cal to 30cal bbls.

drybean