Borescope questions

[hoz53]

Today I was borescoping my Rem700 Varmint (223). This rifle hasn't been shot much(<100 rnds) I don't have much experience at this so I am trying to figure out what I'm looking at. I guess the bore looks good. It is smooth,and shiny. Not many tooling marks, no copper streaks or black stuff and no crackling. When I look at the chamber to bore area I can see where the shoulder starts from the body and where it goes to the neck. I can clearly see the end of the neck at the bore. When I look at the grooves as they transition to the chamber I see that two of them go all the way into the neck and the other ones end before reaching the neck leaving a little bit of freebore or leade or whatever you call it between them and the neck. So does this mean the chamber is not aligned with the bore? I imagine this wouldn't be good for accuracy? Any info anyone can provide me would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[fredhorace77]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hawkeye+borescope&oq=hawkeye+bore&gs_l=youtube-reduced.1.1.0l2.865640.872740.0.875554.37.25.0.1.1.6.149.1941.18j5.23.0...0.0...1ac.1.NnHnH3Axg2o

 

[SmokinJoe]

I have seen this several times, mostly on factory rifle barrels. I have a Mod 70 308 with a barrel like that, and after working with it for about 300 rounds, have it shooting OK for a deer rifle. IMO, this problem is caused by one of two things: 1) I suspect that a lot of factory barrels are chambered with pilotless reamers, so the reamer will not necessarily follow the bore accurately. 2) The barrel blank has a high land, which will make the reamer cut off-center, even if it has a well fitted pilot. I've seen #1 on 2 or 3 factory barrels in the past few years, and I have had top tier match barrels that suffered from #2. Sometimes they shoot just as well & sometimes not. In my limited experience shooting a rifle with this condition, it seems as though the rifles were much finicky about loads that would shoot well. If I'm off base, someone with more knowledge please correct me, just trying to help.

 

[hoz53]

Well I've found quite a few images of borescoping rifle barrels online. I think I now have a pretty good idea what I'm looking at. Also learned a lot from Gordies DVD . Joe your info was wat I was looking for as I'm wondering if its worth putting the effort into trying to find a good load for this rifle. The barrel is the original factory one. Thanks Guys

 

[jonbearman]

You want a good load,use h322 or benchmark with 53 grain match bullets with a flat base for 100-300 yds and switch to a boatail for further distance.I have what you have approximately(model700vs in .223,.308,.22-250. They are all outstanding rifle's and the .223 shoots alittle better than the .308 which shoots in the 3's pretty much all day with 168 grain match bullets. The .223 is a riot to shoot and have splattered several fly's to prove to my son in law it can be done.

PS: Joe I think you are right on with your observations.

 

[hoz53]

Thanks Jon ill try that load. Lets hope this rifle shoots as well as yours does even with its misaligned chamber. I also have a 22-250 in this model and its a shooter.

 

[vtmarmot]

Last fall I purchased an expensive rifle from a well-known maker with a great reputation for accuracy. The bore scope revealed what I consider to be a seriously misaligned chamber that is not up to their standards. The barrel itself is gorgeous. I only had time for a short test before deer season and winter intervened. The results were decidedly mixed, ranging from superb to mediocre. I called them, and they said it shouldn't have any effect on accuracy but to let them know if it did. Again, I was disappointed as I felt they should have just told me to send it back. I have stocked in a variety of Berger bullets and we'll see how it does. It better shoot or it's going back whether they want it or not.

 

[fredhorace77]

thats why i wonder sometimes if i ever want a borescope....it shows you everything in the barrel you want to know...and shows you things you dont want to know ;D

 

[hoz53]

Hi vtmarmot. Thanks for the input. Yeah I am not surprised by a crooked chamber in a Remington. I imagine its within their tolerances. But if I bought say a cooper or a Dakota I would definitely expect better. I hope you come out ok with your rifle.

Today I borescoped some more rifles to see what I could learn. I wanted to see what a really bad barrel looks like so I scoped a beatup egyptian FN-49. Some of the grooves are completely gone and there are plenty of pits, crackling, colored streaks and deposits running down the grooves that are left. I also scoped an unused shilen select stainless savage dropin to give me an idea of wat a good barrel should look like. Looks good to me but still not as good as the one in the Lilja video you can find online. My Mauser 94 6.5 swede has the original barrel and it looks kind of rough but it shot really well last time I had it out. The fn49 didn't shoot bad either. Mabie fred is onto something. Of coarse I now want a borescope that I can see all the way to the beginning of the chamber in the semi autos.