Gunsmithing Understanding barrel condition

[Tsonka]

I purchased a Lyman wireless Borecam and would like some reading material suggestions to learn about various barrel conditions, wear, abnormalities, etc. Something that goes beyond carbon and copper.

It does not have to be free material. I'll buy a Book or pdf so long as it is worth while and not out dated, but if I buy something I would prefer it to be primarily focused on barrels and not general gunsmithing.

Im always leery of Googling educational material when I wouldn’t know good from bad information.

 

[mick243]

Some barrels look perfect and shoot like crap,
some barrels look awful and shoot great,
what you see in the borescope can be an indication, but performance is the much more important measure.

 

[Maxduty]

Round count will tell you more.

 

[wadebrown]

I like to keep it simple so I can understand it, if the barrel will not shoot after a good cleaning and trying an assortment of known quaity ammo the barrel is crap. I think that borescopes should be used to evaluate how clean the barrel and not so much how the rifling or etc looks. If it is clean, and it does not shoot well the barrel is bad assuming you have fired a number of rounds to "season" barrel after cleaning.

It is amazing how some barrels are sub-MOA, when you look at them and see a surface that looks like alligator skin due to fire cracking and other barrels that look good but can't hold minute of barn.

Put the borescope down and shoot the gun, that is what guns were made for.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

The main thing a bore scope will show you is whether your cleaning regimen is effective at getting the carbon out (hint: unless you're likely to be shocked).

It's been interesting to me to see how "wear" progresses with new .223 and 6.5CM barrels (Bartlein). I can see fire cracking starting to appear in the latter after 200 rounds - the thing is just now broken in. The .223 barrel isn't showing much after about the same number of rounds. I have almost 1700 rounds on another 6.5CM Bartlein barrel; fire cracking is very evident and 0.04" of lands have eroded away (both 6.5 barrels chambered with same reamer). Barrel shoots fine.

Thousands of rounds through the Vudoo .22. Still looks new.

Go shoot. Bore scope isn't going to tell you if your barrel is about to go south.

 

[Steel head]

You’d be amazed at how terrible a barrel can look and still shoot great.

 

[DAVETOOLEY]

The target tells all. But I'll add that a bore scope, besides verifying your cleaning routine, will get you motivated to order a new barrel. At some point we all say I can't trust this barrel to last another season, match or several hundred rounds. The rifles I shoot a lot I have another barrel standing by after I've used up 2/3 of the anticipated life.

 

[Wannashootit]

You’d be amazed at how terrible a barrel can look and still shoot great.

I remind myself of that every time I scope a Savage factory barrel...

 

[1moaoff]

If you really want the TRUTH.... shoot your barrel and watch it wear. check it every few hundred rounds. Make notes. Be aware of "typical " life spans.... then as you compare more barrels you will be surprised that not everything is what it seems.

There are very few resources with "DEFINITIVE" information for your barrel. As soooooo many others have said... shoot it.

 

[Steel head]

I remind myself of that every time I scope a Savage factory barrel...

You should have seen my 7 saum barrel at 1700ish rounds.

 

[__JR__]

The target tells all. But I'll add that a bore scope, besides verifying your cleaning routine, will get you motivated to order a new barrel. At some point we all say I can't trust this barrel to last another season, match or several hundred rounds. The rifles I shoot a lot I have another barrel standing by after I've used up 2/3 of the anticipated life.

I like that, good idea. Borescope inspection in front of shop, barrel shop in back. perfect. Dave, how many times do you think I've stuck a borescope in a barrel by now? I have never seen an accurate barrel in a borescope. Seen plenty thru the dayscope. But it's definitely a tool I use, and I probably have about 10 thick notebooks full of thoughts on the borescope images seen over the years. With technology, now theres about 10 flash drives full of pics and thoughts. Best thing to do with a borescope, is start with a new barrel and just look. It's a tool. Not the genie.

Later