Barrel Checks with Hawkeye

[ColColt]

I just recently bought a Hawkeye bore scope with the 45 degree attachment and wish I had bought one years ago. Concerned about the barrel on my M70 270 was the primary reason for getting it and after I got the barrel as clean as it was going to be I ran the probe down the barrel. Now, I'm a novice and knowing what I'm looking at but, I could tell all didn't look as expected.

It wasn't as smooth as I thought and the lands looked a little rounded rather than sharp and they looked like they had tool marks. We're talking about a $2500 JOC Tribute rifle. Wondering what my great shooting Sako Vixen heavy barrel .222 looked like I was more shocked. It looked like it just left the assembly line at Lilja. Sharp lands and smooth throughout from the leade to the muzzle and crown. Day and night difference. I wish I had one of the cameras for capturing what it looked like but alas, that's another $1000 or so. There was no copper in either barrel but the looks of the M70 barrel was enough to keep you up at night. If I had that camera I'd send some jpegs to Winchester and see what their assessment would be.

[lefty o]

through a borescope, most factory rifle barrels are gonna look bad. its just a fact of life.

[ColColt]

That seems to be true in most cases but this video shows what the bore in the Sako I mentioned looked like. Fast forward to about 1:20.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9zZqn00CA

[country gent]

Keep in mind the hawkeye is also 4x magnification meaning everything your seeing thru it is 4x bigger in view. I have had a hawkeye since just after they came available. Looked all my barrels and many others for guys at the club. It tells you alot if you know what to look for. Experience is the key to knowing what your seeing. I have looked in alot of barrels, can I say for sure it will or wont shoot No. I can see issues with the leade throat and rifling that wont show up looking with the naked eye. I can judge how "used a barrel is by the throat and such. Slugging the barrel and chamber casts tell alot as to dimensions and consistency, The bore scope shows you finish, wear patterns and errosion. All are usefull tools. Seeing that buned throat up close and personal thru the bore scope is eye opening/

[ColColt]

You could definitely see tool marks in the M70 but I detected none in the Sako. Those two barrels were vastly different. The leade in both looked good, as I expected but the barrel was a 'horse of a different color". I've cleaned and Dyna Coated the M70 so, we'll see how it shoots and if it holds copper like it did next range visit. That Hawkeye is a remarkable tool.

[country gent]

Some of that could be diffrences in the manufacter of the barrels. button rifled tend to show tool marks in a "burnished" fasion. broach cut show a passed over type look. The hammer rifled barrels ( not sure the correct term) give a peened look to existing tool marks I believe winchester is using hammer forged barrels still. A cut rifled hand lapped barrel is normally a thing of beauty ( sako barrels were made like this as were older barrels) . What is interesting to see is the tooling marks from the reamer and or pilot that are left. Actual barrel looks good but throat lead have slight rings or grooves showing accross bore. The ones you see in the rifling are reamer marks that werent removed by the rifling process. Hand lapped barrels the lapping removes alot of these tool marks as it finishes the complete bore and sets the paterns flow to the muzzle. Thats why blanks are marked as to muzzle and breech ends to keep the flow going in the right direction. Hand lapped barrels also tend to have some "choke" to them larger at the breech end tapering smaller to muzzle by a thousandth or so. While the Hawkeye donst give dimensions a slug in and out at breech and muzzle each will show this. Looking in factory barrels with the Hawkeye is a scarry thing to do, Most you want to change before shooting them.

[ColColt]

Of course, you can remove debris, copper or crud from whatever the source from the bore if the Hawkeye picks it up but, there's little you can do to soften the effects of tool marks. You can scrub the bore with JB till the cows come home but they will still be there. That's ok if they don't have a tendency to scrape jacket material from the bullet as that leaves copper streaks throughout

[country gent]

Depending on the tooling marks and the barrel a light hand lapping can make a big diffrence. Fire lapping amy also help to "ease" them or soften the edges some.

[ColColt]

I ran a series of Tubb's bullets through it about six months ago...not all of the five, just the last three as I didn't feel the bore was that bad to warrant all five of them. The first one is the most abrasive and the last one the mildest. I haven't had a great deal of time to try all this out yet due to my summer being screwed up with my leg surgery but I want to see if what all I've done, including taking the barrel/action apart and tweaking a heavy 5# trigger back to a shade under 3# and if that will also make a difference.

[dubber123]

Comparing a Sako to a Winchester? I can't say I'm surprised at the difference.. :) If you want to make yourself feel better about the Winchester, look at a Marlin. (I'm a Marlin fan). Want to feel better about the Marlin? Look at a Taurus. ;)

[detox]

I just converted the standard bulb in my older 1995 Hawkeye to LED bulb. The brighter and whiter light helps see better. You can buy the LED conversion at Home Depot in the flash light department.

[ColColt]

The light is plenty bright for me if you're using the 90 degree rod, for lack of the proper word. Where I see the need in more light is when you're looking straight ahead. That's where more light would be needed for sure.

What am I looking for, just a Mini Mag light with an LED rather than the bulb? Maybe this is what you're taking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-LUC2-07-Incandescent-Technology/dp/B000MD9UJC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1416624071&sr=8-12&keywords=mini+maglite+led+flashlight

[detox]

That's it, but maybe your new version has LED bulb installed already.

[ColColt]

I'll have to check. It's plenty bright if you use the 90degree tube but when you go for just looking straight ahead it's not near bright enough and could stand a light boost.

OK-I just checked and it does have the LED bulb.