Howa 1500 borescope opinions?

W

_Will_

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Minuteman
Jan 11, 2022
31
8
WA
#1
I bought a 16.25" Howa 1500 on sale at a local Bimart store for $449.00 too good a deal to pass up, it has the Houge OD green stock and threaded bull barrel. I was curious to see how the bore looked by making a few passes with the Borescope and wanted everyone's opinion? I see what looks like small inclusions in the steel ( they look like bumps or dots) and wondered if those just smooth out or anyone noticed anything odd.



Crown below.. 9 seconds it looks like one of the lands is a bit rough?

 
Last edited:
#4
I have an AR barrel with chatter marks from the button. Looks like an alligator. My buddy looked at me and said he was glad I didn’t pay much for it. Well the damn thing barely lags behind my Criterion and with certain loads it shoots significantly better. I guess I’m saying to shoot the damn thing and find out.
 
#5
gopherslayer said:
I have an AR barrel with chatter marks from the button. Looks like an alligator. My buddy looked at me and said he was glad I didn’t pay much for it. Well the damn thing barely lags behind my Criterion and with certain loads it shoots significantly better. I guess I’m saying to shoot the damn thing and find out.
Click to expand...
you have the feed rate of the reamer before rifling. It is NOT chatter from the button. Everyone thinks this and they are wrong
 
#6
I swear every time I come close to ordering
a Teslong I read one of “these” threads.

I don’t clean my barrels nearly enough to want to know what’s happening in there. Much less spend time fretting that decent of a barrel on a $450.00 rifle.

I like looking down the end of it after I send a patch down it and telling myself how awesome it looks!🤣
 
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#7
Potsy said:
I swear every time I come close to ordering
a Teslong I read one of “these” threads.

I don’t clean my barrels nearly enough to want to know what’s happening in there. Much less spend time fretting that decent of a barrel on a $450.00 rifle.

I like looking down the end of it after I send a patch down it and telling myself how awesome it looks!🤣
Click to expand...
Guilty as charged:ROFLMAO:. I was more bored in-between work and wanted to see what a production Howa barrel looked like since leaving the factory and everyone's opinion, which I got plenty of.
 
#9
I don't see anything in that bore that's the least bit concerning. After several years and many barrels borescoped, they have to be. pretty bad for me to even raise an eyebrow. Some pretty ones are just average shooters and some fairly rough ones shoot great. Keep using your borescope. It's interesting to look and can save you from under/over cleaning.
 
#11
Potsy said:
I don’t clean my barrels nearly enough to want to know what’s happening in there.
Click to expand...
Then you don't really know that you're cleaning them.


That was my biggest lesson learned. I wasn't.

As for the rest you come to terms with it. Rifles I thought were good have all sorts of pitting I don't know about. A couple 100-130 year old rifles were actually a lot better than they look to the naked eye. And most of them shoot the same as they did before I knew what they looked like.

The exceptions are things like a barrel that I thought was toast, wasn't. It just was still really really fouled despite what I thought was MORE THAN ENOUGH to get it clean. Another one I thought was toast... and sort of is, but at least I know why. But if I clean it well, visually checking with the scope, it still shoots great for about 15 rounds. More than enough for the hunting rifle that it is. I refer to it as my smokeless muzzle loader, you have to clean between shots. ;)
 
#12
XLR308 said:
The howa 1500 barrels are cold hammer forged from what I remember.
Click to expand...
The blank still has to be drilled and reamed to a final size before a mandrel is inserted to hammer on. The only way to not have any type of these marks is a quality cut rifled barrel as the marks are cut away. With a button barrel they are usually swaged away but not always.
 
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