Inexpensive Bore Scope Review......Article

[rbertalotto]

Lots of discussion on n the various forums about all the under $50 Bore Scopes available on Ebay and Amazon. I decided to buy a few and test them out to see if they were viable for gunsmithing and general firearm inspection. I wrote an article with loads of actual videos and posted it on my web site. I hope you enjoy it!

www.rvbprecision.com

 

[SS427]

Excellent results for the price. The idea of using the pins was smart.

 

[jimcasey01]

I checked out review, pretty impressive how well a "cheap" bore scope can be made to work. Thanks for your work.

 

[headhunter]

Thanks for the info.
Lot of cash, time, and work eliminated for us that know enough to be dangerous.

 

[Joe R]

Roy,
That was very clever.

I have a $217 borescope (see picture) that I am quite pleased with, but your solution saves more $$$$. Good job.

Joe

 

[fultonbig9]

Enjoyed this very much,excellent post.

 

[rbertalotto]

Joe....Can you tell me more about that $217 bore scope....Make / Model/ diameter of camera. Looks like it might be a good deal.

 

[Joe R]

Hi Roy,
Looks like the prices have gone down since I bought mine. Mine came from Hong Kong and it took 3 whole days to get here (it was just before Xmas 2013). Mine has a sticker that says Blueskysea on the handle, I don't know if that is supposed to be a brand. The resolution is not up to quality of an Hawkeye, so if you're doing gunsmith work you will not be happy. But if you want to look into your bore to see if it is clean, or if there are gouges in the rifling this will work just fine. The reason I got it is because I was having copper build up issues. It does record mpg videos and jpg pictures to an SD card. I take a few pictures of the barrel when it is new for comparison purposes. The quality isn't great but I believe that has more to do with the codec that they use.

Mine came with a 45 degree mirror, that is pretty useless because the focal point of the fiber optic is a inch or more, so when you look at the sides it is hard to make out anything other than steel and grooves. I used once, put it back in the little container and I haven't used since. It uses 4AA batteries to run, and it even has a flashlight in the handle. I have no idea why it's there, but I assume in some of the application they may need a flash light. As I said if you treat it like you treat a flashlight you wont hurt it. The fiber optic cable is actually waterproof and I have used to look down a sink for my wife's earing that she dropped by accident.

Here's a link to one like mine http://guide.alibaba.com/shop/big-sale-brand-new-3-5-lcd-inspection-camera-slim-5-5-mm-borescope-endoscope-bright-torch-1m-cable-free-shipping_5837460.html The 1M stands for 1 meter. Be sure not to get the 3M (meters) its cumbersome, mine came with both because they misunderstood my instructions. You know... they're Chinese.

If I haven't answered all your questions feel free to drop me an e-mail. You'll get a response much faster that way. I spend a lot of my free time handloading or at the range ;D ;D ;D. The weather is great here most of the year, except for August when it gets really hot and we have to drink and pee a lot of water.

Kindest regards,

Joe

PS My guess is that they'll have one with 4x the resolution at half the price in five years, then we'll all be like pigs in slop.

 

[Joe R]

Oh, by the way, the 5.5mm is just perfect for a 22 caliber bore. Not tight, but not much room to spare either.