Ok so the story goes after the PRS match I did over the weekend I went to go and clean my barrel and after cleaning I wanted to check how things look with my new bore scope. I through on the 6mm mirror (shooting 6GT) and it started to get stuck in the barrel a short way in. I pull it out as soon as I felt it start to bind and when it came out the mirror had crack. I DIDN'T TRY TO FORCE IT THROUGH. I swapped to the .223 diameter mirror and took a look and found what you see in the pictures. This is about an inch into the bore. I’m going to take it out and shoot it to see if the barrel is done for but what your predictions on how it will go. This will suck if the barrels screwed cause it has a lot of life left in it.
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Is my barrel f@&ked?!!!
- Thread starter 186thFCo
- Start date
I have a Hawk Hill .223 Wylde and a teslong borescope whose mirror is .2" or .22".
Needless to say it was tight.
I also cracked the mirror on the muzzle end and had some scratches that I wasn't sure if I caused or were already there. (People like to say it's impossible for a softer metal to scratch or gouge barrel steel)
Not sure what type of borescope you have, but a smaller mirror is MUCH better. Teslong only has 1 size as far as I know, and my 30cal barrels were easy with the .22 mirror.
Anyhow, my barrel is ok, and my possible damage is damn near the crown.
Only way to know is shoot some groups and see if things changed. (My barrel was only shot and cleaned twice so I didn't have a good baseline)
Is that damage near the chamber or muzzle?
These look terrible, but are essentially gone 700rds later lol
(I dont know if I caused these or not honestly. I haven't caused any new ones with the borescope, so part of me thinks they were there, but I just dont know. But they are all but gone now at 1,100rds on the barrel)
I may be totally wrong, but the way I see it, it would have to be a protrusion to effect the projectile. Or damage to the crown. The bullet will just ride over an indentation or scratch. Any small burr will be knocked down in a few rounds.... Maybe?
Needless to say it was tight.
I also cracked the mirror on the muzzle end and had some scratches that I wasn't sure if I caused or were already there. (People like to say it's impossible for a softer metal to scratch or gouge barrel steel)
Not sure what type of borescope you have, but a smaller mirror is MUCH better. Teslong only has 1 size as far as I know, and my 30cal barrels were easy with the .22 mirror.
Anyhow, my barrel is ok, and my possible damage is damn near the crown.
Only way to know is shoot some groups and see if things changed. (My barrel was only shot and cleaned twice so I didn't have a good baseline)
Is that damage near the chamber or muzzle?
These look terrible, but are essentially gone 700rds later lol
(I dont know if I caused these or not honestly. I haven't caused any new ones with the borescope, so part of me thinks they were there, but I just dont know. But they are all but gone now at 1,100rds on the barrel)
I may be totally wrong, but the way I see it, it would have to be a protrusion to effect the projectile. Or damage to the crown. The bullet will just ride over an indentation or scratch. Any small burr will be knocked down in a few rounds.... Maybe?
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After a few shots I doubt it will do anything. Have to check ar distance to see if it messes up your bullet jacket and causes odd flight but I doubt anything will be detected at all
It'll be fine, wait till you see what it looks like after 800-1000rds 
Borescopes are like boats, the very best day is the day you buy one or get rid of one.
A tool can be detrimental in the hands of an idiot. Good to know your limitations. Used intelligently, they can convey useful information.
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A gouge like that will usually fill in with a couple of fouling shots. I've had barrels that were fire cracked to shit above the chamber (worse than little gouges) and still shot lights out. I've had barrels that were evenly worn at 1,800 shots that still looked great, but paper proved they had let go completely (one in the middle of the match (before switch barrels)).
I'd be less concerned with that one little gouge than with the deep striations in the bore. What are you cleaning that thing with? Are you using abrasives like JB Bore Paste, Iosso, Thouroclean...etc? How many rounds on the barrel? Load and Velocity?
I don't think you'd see that from polishes. If you over-polish a barrel (like the BR guys do) it looks crazy smooth and starts to coper plate every shot. I've seen a dead nuts BR barrel that looked like a shiny penny.
Who is the mfg? Hard to tell from straight on, but as long as the edges of the lands are sharp...
Bottom line is that you can tell if there's fouling in the barrel with a bore scope (yours looks clean as a whistle), but whatever you see isn't indicative of how it will shoot. Just look at the tool chatter in a Savage barrel, and then marvel at how straight it shoots...
It don't be like what you think it should, but it do.
Who is the mfg? Hard to tell from straight on, but as long as the edges of the lands are sharp...
Bottom line is that you can tell if there's fouling in the barrel with a bore scope (yours looks clean as a whistle), but whatever you see isn't indicative of how it will shoot. Just look at the tool chatter in a Savage barrel, and then marvel at how straight it shoots...
It don't be like what you think it should, but it do.
I can agree with that, my post was mostly an attempt at humor and also the fact the inside of barrels can be a bit scary but still shoot great as others have posted already.
A guy at the range (A trustworthy one) showed me a picture of his Bartlein barrel that looked like that. (The parallel streaks) It appeared it missed the lapping process. He shot it and couldn't see any difference between his other Bartleins so he just kept it. 
This is a Bartlein barrel as well.A guy at the range (A trustworthy one) showed me a picture of his Bartlein barrel that looked like that. (The parallel streaks) It appeared it missed the lapping process. He shot it and couldn't see any difference between his other Bartleins so he just kept it.
Quick update.
I was able to go and shoot it at 100 yards and at 336 yards (max distance at the location). It appears to shoot just fine, all of my groups according to SubMOA app shot sub 1/2 MOA, with the last group at 336 yards being a .32 MOA group. Feels like a dodged a bullet with this.
I was able to go and shoot it at 100 yards and at 336 yards (max distance at the location). It appears to shoot just fine, all of my groups according to SubMOA app shot sub 1/2 MOA, with the last group at 336 yards being a .32 MOA group. Feels like a dodged a bullet with this.
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That is interesting.
I would probably email them, even though it's shooting good.
1- To let them know
2- Maybe they'll say that's going to fill with copper horribly.
I seriously doubt you caused that damage with the bore scope. It was already there or from something else. Barrels don’t damage that easy.
