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Several years ago I made the purchase of a "bore scope". Mainly, this purchase was due to customers telling me that their barrel was shot out and they felt that they needed a "re-barrel job".
Aftermarket barrels have gotten to be quite pricey, especially the premium brands. Then, threading, crowning and chambering come into play, and, bluing, if it's a chrome moly barrel.
I'm not one of those who always says, sure, OK, I'll get that done for you. I'll take the time to inspect the bore to actually see if the customers prognosis has any merit..........or not. No other way to do that without a bore scope. Many times I have found a carbon ring or bullet jacket material at the point where the throat transitions into the lands and grooves of the bore. Once removed, the rifle shoots once again back to where the customer previously experienced. For me, there's no other was to actually find out what's going on in the bore unless I can see what the bore looks like. If I find that the throat, leade and beginning of the lands/groove have carbon, or copper build-up, I'll remove any of that build up and then ask the customer for some of his favorite ammunition for that rifle, or I'll get factory stuff. I used to see some notorious copper fouling with Barnes X bullets until they started coating those bullets. The Barnes X bullets are solid copper and need to be made longer, because copper is much lighter than lead, to get the bullet weight to where reloading folks want it to be. A longer bullet creates a longer bearing surface that provides much more contact area engaging the lands and grooves. Once I get all fouling removed, another bore inspection is done to see if the removal of the fouling has exposed any internal rifling faults.
.22 rimfire bores are a whole world unto themselves, and a group of firearms that I really enjoy working with. But they do have circumstances involving the chambering and internal bore finish that makes those guns unique.
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