Now I see

[Keith Glasscock]

UPS dropped off my brand new toy last night. After a short famiarization, I looked at my rifles for one I could borescope.

The dasher was all clean and ready to go out for barrel fouling the next day. The barrel had been cleaned normally and then had a run of JB bore paste mostly in the throat.

Looking at the muzzle showed a dead clean barrel for all 17" that the scope could reach. The chamber end was not bad in the freebore and first half inch of rifling, but there was shiny black glass for the next ~6".

Not having time to clean more, I ran my foulers this morning. With normal (.25 MOA and better) accuracy.

I intend to remove all of the carbon after tomorrow's match.

Does anyone intentionally not remove all of the carbon, and do you see any difference in accuracy?

 

[Lapua40X]

The throat and muzzle are the most critical areas of the rifling. I work very hard to remove as much of the "alligator" carbon deposits as I can but I've never found a method that works for removing every trace of carbon throughout the entire length of the barrel. I always have some minor carbon deposits, even though and I typically run 100 cycles with the bore brush and have tried virtually every kind of bore cleaner imaginable.
Some swear that the bore must be surgically clean. Others claim that they never ever clean their rifle and it shoots just fine.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

I used to clean back to the metal, mostly because I had one bad experience that led me to it. I put a lot of time and effort into it. JB, brushing, etc... hours and hours. Probably had the cleanest damn bore in the US. It took 8 - 12 foulers to get back to zero, but damn it was clean. But, that was before I really understood what was going on and how to manage it in the future.

Then I decided to let the rifle tell me how much cleaning it needed. I don't brush. I don't JB. I borescope when I think I might have an issue, but is certainly not after every cleaning. I'm not sure how squeaky clean my bore is. But I know the rifle will hold elevation through 300 shots.

BR guys (I suspect) clean as much as they do and as thoroughly as they do because that's what their discipline and their rifles tell them they need. They also run through barrels really fast, from what I understand. Maybe that's more short range BR than the other BR disciplines, I'm not sure.

You guys do what you want (obviously), but I think a lot of people tend to obsess over the interior of their barrels because they can, not because they have to.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A borescope is a dangerous thing. Loss of confidence in your barrels instead of seeing it on target usually results

 

[Keith Glasscock]

Thus the reason I ask. From my perspective, the barrel just shoots. It shot 20-16X and 200-17X at the last 600 yard match with that carbon there. I don't think it can shoot better than it does.

After the last match, it had ~100 through since the prior cleaning. I gave her a good scrub because it hadn't been done in a couple hundred rounds. It shot good groups from the outset of my fouling. The cold-bore was off about half a caliber and the rest into a reasonable sized hole with no paper in between.

I do know that over-cleaning this barrel is counter-productive. I've seen that on target.

I just got done with a "normal" cleaning of my 284. The barrel (with 750 rounds) shows some aligatoring - more so as a function of carbon deposits. It'll get a normal patch of kroil and put away until the next 600 yard match. I think I finally nailed down a load with naked bullets and want to see if it holds.

After a simple cleaning, I can see why 308 barrels last so long. The 1500 round F/TR barrel looks better inside than my 750 round 284 and only slightly worse than the 450 round Dasher.

I like having a borescope. I need to find a shot-out barrel or two to look at so I can see what that looks like. Perhaps, I'll finish one off next year so I can get an idea.

 

[JRS]

A borescope is a dangerous thing. Loss of confidence in your barrels instead of seeing it on target usually results

+ 1

 

[Syncrowave]

A borescope is a dangerous thing. Loss of confidence in your barrels instead of seeing it on target usually results

That's my hunch, too. Confidence is a delicate flower...and if it ain't fixed, I try not to break it!

 

[Joe R]

Busdriver said: I like having a borescope. I need to find a shot-out barrel or two to look at so I can see what that looks like. Perhaps, I'll finish one off next year so I can get an idea.

The bore scope gives me more information. It's not intended to be a call to action. I like a clean bore, but I am going to let the results on targets drive my decisions, not the bore cleanliness. I do know from experience that copper build up affects accuracy in a negative way.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I agree in part. Results on target are the best way to determine if action needs to be taken.

That said, I've changed barrels unwisely in the past when my problem was elsewhere (turned out to be the scope). Sometimes, conditions can mask deficient barrel performance. As a result, I've developed a personal maintenance plan for every barrel I have. I know how many rounds it should take before cleaning is necessary, and I clean before that point. That way, I should always have a barrel that is match worthy.

The other balancing act that I do is when to order and/or have another barrel fitted. I know the lead times and have a limited budget, so I prefer to get the replacement immediately before it is needed. If I can learn how to read a barrel by bore scope, I might be able to make better budgeting decisions.