Notice anything odd?

[Boolit_Head]

I've been working with a high dollar stainless 5R rifling match grade barrel from a famous name maker in one of my rifles that has just not lived up to expectations. Bought one of those cheap ebay endoscopes for a couple of issues and stuck it down my barrel for kicks. Low an behold look at what I saw staring back at me!

163850

Anyone notice anything odd? I had to look two or three times to catch it myself.

The maker shall remain nameless because the first thing they said when I called them was to send it to them and they would replace it. Of course they said there was no way this could happen either.

[DerekP Houston]

I can't spot it but now I'm curious. Is this a magic eye test?

[trails4u]

Deleted that sucker quick boolit head....don't want to spoil all the fun!! :)

[trails4u]

Well darn....cat's outta the bag!

[Boolit_Head]

I got it before to long but you were right on Trails4u!

[C. Latch]

LOL. That's hilarious.

[shoot-n-lead]

You got the new 6R rifling...beta barrel.

[trails4u]

Good point shoot-n-lead....you should hang on to that. Proof barrels can be quite collectable you know!! :)

[Mica_Hiebert]

hows that 6R rifling do?

[Boolit_Head]

Trails gets the credit for spotting it first but you are right on the money Shoot-N. We played a bit deleting our posts to let it run a bit but we have some eagle eye's out there.

5R rifling is 5 lands and groves with what some call "relaxed" rifling some call it "ratchet" rifling. Seems mine grew a extra. Manufacturer says they get 4 grove and 5 grove blanks and NEVER use 6 grove. Hmmmm... for a barrel costing north of 3 bills things are smelling pretty fishy to me.

[725]

I'll bite. All I see are six lands & six groves. Either my ancient eyes or Ron-Co Popeil computer have failed to reveal the secret.

[Boolit_Head]

Funny thing is there are 2 or 3 hundred rounds down that pipe since I cleaned it last and I think I just pulled a dry bore snake through it then. I think I got a pretty clean burning load going there.

[AbitNutz]

Had a similar experience from a name brand barrel maker. Wanted a .223 5-groove barrel with a 7.7 twist. I did exactly what you did, stuck a cheap eBay borescope down the barrel to see the wonders of 5-grooves....and saw 4-grooves. I called and all they did was sputter. I sent it back and asked for a refund. They tried to say that 5-grooves was all marketing gimmick. It might be, but when I order a custom barrel I expect it to be what I ordered. At least they took it back between sputters.

They still list 223 5-groove 7.7 twist on their website. It is the only 5-groove they offer and the only fractional twist rate.

[M-Tecs]

The land groove ratio looks odd to me also. If the manufacturer is who I think it is it should be 70/30.

[MT Chambers]

They all start as 6 groove but taper down to 5R by the time you get to the end, that's why it's so important to chamber the proper end of the barrel.

[Motor]

It's getting deep now. !!!!!!

Motor

[M-Tecs]

I am hoping he missed the purple font.

[merlin101]

They all start as 6 groove but taper down to 5R by the time you get to the end, that's why it's so important to chamber the proper end of the barrel.

That's funny, but I know people that would read that, believe and spout it at the LGS. Did we just find the source of all those silly ole wives tales?

[EDG]

They are going want more money for the extra groove