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Thread: Affordable Borescope fm Clearview Engineering

  1. #1
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    Affordable Borescope fm Clearview Engineering

    Dick Trenk over on BPCR MSN went to considerable trouble to bring to market an affordable bore scope. Delivered to the door, it went for something like $46.00. I ordered one as soon as he began taking orders about a month and a half ago. It came today and after I gave it a trial, I posted the following message over on BPCR MSN: I recieved my budget bore scope today. It came nicely packaged and in good shape. It also seems to have a one year warranty on workmanship but not on lens fogging due to oil or dirt getting into the scope. That's a key point. The scope is completely open on one end and dirt and oil will get into it if you don't store it in the box and tube in which it comes. So, caveot emptor!

    The construction is pretty simple. It's a brass tube, much like a common brass drop tube. One end has a turned eye piece into which has been inserted a lense. This eyepiece cannot be dissasembled so don't get dirt or oil into the tube. You'll be sorry if you do as the tool will be rendered useless with repair being a distant probability. Operation is straight foreword. The focal point is fixed about four or five inches beyond the end of the tube. To use it, one finds a source of illumination such as a diffused light just beyond an open breech. The scope is then inserted into the muzzle and rotated/slowly withdrawn while you carefully examin the bore. On my Pedersoli Sharps the results were dissapointing. The scope cannot see much to either side so a close examination of the lands and grooves tends to be more two dimensional than three. Surface dirt and pits will show up to be sure but you are not going to see much down in the grooves in any 45 caliber gun. Funny thing, the Pedersoli bore is so highly polished that the mirror effect makes getting a good image pretty tricky. I guess that says a lot for Pedersoli.

    Now when I used it on my Lyman Great Plains ML in 50 caliber, it was a whole other ball game. I dropped a bore light down the barrel and inserted the scope. I could move it slightly side to side and wow, could I ever see those grooves and lands. I don't know who Lyman buys their barrels from but whomever it is needs to sharpen their cutters. I saw tool marks ahoy. No pits though so I do feel good about that. Next, I used it on my Zouave. Again, I could move the scope around laterally and that gave me some depth of field and a very good 3D picture of the bore. In the case of my Zouave, it was smooth as silk with clearly defined grooves and lands and a nice smooth valley with matching flats. I also used it to check out the chamber of my P17 Enfield. Again, it does this well as the tool can be rocked from side to side slightly.

    OK, so the bottom line, would I buy this tool again knowing what I know now? The answer is maybe. For 50 cal and above it is excellent. For 45 caliber it's marginal. The deal is though, there is nothing even remotely better than this tool unless one spends maybe 10 or 20 times the amount I paid for this unit. That being said, it seems to me that the scope is still over-priced for what one gets. Maybe I'm all wet here though but if it is ChiCom made, there has got to be one heck of a markup on it. Neither the scope nor the box are marked as to country of origin but the paper and ink on the box have a definate 3rd world look that just shouts Asia.

    I applaud Dick for his efforts at bringing this to fruition. There is a clearly a need for something like this and it works pretty well; the exceptions noted above not withstanding. Still, if it compells another importer to make something better at an affordable price, that will be even better. So on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being a top notch tool, I'd rate this one a 6.5-7, with it becoming an 8 or 8.5 when 50 cal and above is considered.

    R J Talley
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  2. #2
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    Here's a photo of the unit. Contact borescope@aol.com for more info.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  3. #3
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    Oops, dropped it. This should do it.
    Last edited by omgb; 05-18-2006 at 01:23 AM.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
    GregP42's Avatar
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    omgb,

    Thanks for that info, I am waiting for mine to show up. I will let you know how it fairs in my 45-70's and my 50.

    Greg
    NRA Life Member
    "Those who sacrifice essential liberty for temporary safety are not deserving of either liberty or safety." - Ben Franklin, 1776
    Vis Sis Mis!

  5. #5
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    You know, now that I think more on it, it may be that the key to using this tool on 45 cal guns is going to be adjusting the light source. I'm going to fiddle with it for the next few weeks and if I can make it work better, I'll post the results. I should have mentioned one other difficulty. The scope cannot be used from the breech of a '74 Sharps without first dismounting the tang sights. There is just no way to get it in the breech and to get one's eye parallel to the ocular. This is a real hassle sicne dismounting the sights means a rezero at the range.

    Maybe, I can just remove the Hadly cup and get the ladder to lay flat enough, I'm not sure. Oh well, another thing to play with.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy McLintock's Avatar
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    Thanks for the detailed report, I have one on the way also. Can't afford the $7-800 for the real deal, so this will have to suffice for a while. Hope I can see the chamber and throat of a 38-55 single shot, Dick said it would work with the smaller callibers but not as effectively. We'll see when it gets here.
    McLintock

  7. #7
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    MacClintok, make no mistake, I got my money's worth. The tool has limitations but over all, is well made and very serviceable. I think you will no doubt agree. Dick Trenk did us a real service by bring this to market. I give him two thumbs up.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy McLintock's Avatar
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    Got mine in today and just got through going over my Browning BPCR 45-70 and C. Sharps Hi Wall 38-55. I used a cheap common bore lighte on the 45-70 that is a plastic tube that can be inserted in either the bore or the chamber end and it picks up light with a 45 degree upright square piece. I could also insert it into the 38-55 chamber enough to get good light for viewing the muzzle end. I put the bore light under a common table lamp. Had to use light reflected off the wall for the chamber end.
    It's a might difficult to use for us with bifocal glasses and a single vision pair of reading glasses would be the best. For those that are young enough to have good eyesight or can use single vision glasses it would work good. When checking the chamber end, it's kind of hard to get your head in direct alignment with it due to stocks and sights and such, but it can be worked around to cover most of the chamber and throat. If you can get the gun in a 45 degree slant it would help also, I was just using a horizontal cradel type holder and this made it a bit more difficult. I tried combining it with a pair of 2.5X magnifier glasses and didn't seem to notice any improvement.
    Results, I found some hard fouling in the BPCR in the last 5-6" of barrel where fouling is typically the worst. Cleaned it good with a brisel brush and could tell it was gone very easily. Could see that area on the 38-55 pretty well and could detect no fouling build up at all. Was able to see the chambers and throats of both guns with a lot of finageling around. All in all, it worked fairly well and is well worth the price in my humble opinion. It was worth the price to find the fouling mentioned above; maybe that's part of the reason I couldn't hit a damn thing the last BPCR match last month.
    McLintock

  9. #9
    Boolit Master


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    Got mine a couple of days back. First rifle I checked I found a rough spot on the rifling near the muzzle. Probably a tool mark. Polished it up and rechecked it. Looks like a new barrel. Well worth the cost. Still have several others to check as I get time. Maybe this evening.
    Gus

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    I posted the following on another forum in 2009 and thought the info may be of interest to shooters here.
    ======================

    Due to a recent price reduction, I decided to purchase an Affordable Bore Scope, which is distributed by Clearview Engineering, Pinellas Park, Fl. The scope has been available for approximately 3 years. The normal price was well over $40, which had been reduced to just under $23 from an online retailer. After trying it out on several Browning and Winchester .45-70, .45-90 and .50-90 caliber rifles I have to say I was disappointed.

    The scope consists of a 0.445” OD brass tube approximately 8.25” long. One end is completely open and the plastic ocular or eyepiece lens is glued into the other end. A larger brass housing is press fitted or glued over the ocular lens end of the scope to keep the eye or face from contacting the lens. With the eyepiece housing the total length is approximately 8.44”. Following are some of the reasons I have to give it a negative evaluation.

    Based on the simple components and construction, and considering it is most likely manufactured in China or similar Asian country, even $23 retail is too much in my opinion.

    Tube diameter is 0.445” so the scope will not work in bores smaller than .45-70. If you have a .40 or .38 caliber rifle you can forget it.

    If there’s not at least 8” of clear straight line access directly in front of the chamber don’t expect to be able to insert the scope. For example it will definitely not slide into a Trapdoor chamber.

    Since one end is completely open, it’s susceptible to oil, dirt and fouling entering the tube and getting on the inside of the lens. If the inside of the lens gets dirty it will be very hard to impossible to clean. If oil or bore cleaning solutions reaches the plastic lens the scope may be rendered useless.

    There’s no way to closely inspect anything close to the end of the scope or at right angles to the end of the scope. Only a forward view is available and the focus point is 7” to 8” forward of the end with a usable range of approximately +/- 1”. Therefore, to inspect any part of the chamber or muzzle, the scope has to be backed completely out of the chamber or bore. Hence, it’s pretty much useless for checking out the details of your chamber, throat or leade of your rifle.

    Since the scope does not produce its own light, a indirect light source is required, which, if too bright glare becomes a problem, and if too dim, will not adequately illuminate the region of the bore being inspected.

    Now, the above comments notwithstanding, there are a couple of positives:

    Although I feel that $23 is still too much, one positive is the price. Since professional bore scopes from Gradient Lens Corp. or a similar company are at least $500 to $1000, nothing approaches the price of the Affordable Bore Scope. At one time Harbor Freight offered a reasonably good bore scope for under $200, which was roughly based on the Gradient Lens Hawkeye model, but I don’t believe it’s currently available as I could not find it on their web site.

    Another positive is the scope should be useful in checking out bore fouling. Although a close up view may not be possible, it will provide a better view than peering down the bore with the naked eye.

    So there you have it, one person’s evaluation of the Affordable Bore Scope from Clearview Engineering. If you own or have used one, feel free to agree, disagree or add your own comments.

    Wayne
    NRA Life (Benefactor & President's Council) Member, TSRA Life Member, NSSF member, Author/Publisher of the Browning BPCR book.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    I know I posted a favorable review in 2006 but honestly, I haven't used the scope but maybe 5 times since. That should tell you what it's worth to me now.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  12. #12
    Boolit Master at heavens range
    smokemjoe's Avatar
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    YOu can make one from a old 22 Scope for checking in about 6 in. Cut it half. just in front of the windage adjustments. Pull out the tube that has the lense in. Put in the front half that has the lense in the front of the tube, Shim up the tube to get it on center. Put on the muzzel and you can see down the barrel, If the tube is small enought it will fit in the action after you take the bolt out, The brass tube from a old Flecter ot Listerished scope will work also.Have fun.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    RJ, I bought one of the 1st ones from Dick. When I got it, the tube was too big for a 45 Colt bore. So, put it on the lathe and carefully with a file and strips of emery cloth took the tube down to 441. Told Dick about it and he said there was a screw up when they were made ... yes in China. Wanted to go for a 435 (44 caliber revolvers) but thought I'd be pushing it
    Regards
    John

  14. #14
    In Remembrance
    montana_charlie's Avatar
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    I get a much better look at a bore when using a ProVision PV2636.
    It is not a Hawkeye, and it doesn't provide a magnified image.
    But, it can accept a mirror for looking straight 'down' into the grooves, and it can be had for somewhere between one and three hundred dollars...depending on where you buy it.

    I have the Affordable Borescope, too. I use it to lightly seat veggie wads on top of uncompressed powder charges.

    CM
    Retired...TWICE. Now just raisin' cows and livin' on borrowed time.

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