Hawkeye borescope

[stagpanther]

It makes it a lot easier to appreciate why some more aggressive treatments like firelapping have evolved.

I've read mixed opinions about that, some think the increased wear isn't worth the smoothing. Makes me appreciate cut rifling and careful polishing more, though something like the Tubbs kit looks useful--with my borescope the difference I see is night and day with mass-production barrels. Some of my bores look terrible, even on new rifles.

[Unclenick]

Unless you are in the habit of shooting gritty bullets through your guns, firelapping results won't resemble your normal barrel wear. It does reconfigure the throat and bore diameter a little.

A truly worn throat has a lot of stress cracks on its surface due to the surface heating faster than the substrate metal. This cracking makes the alligator skin pattern you see on old throats and up the first inch or so of the bore. The cracks define little squares of surface that eventually start to chip off, leaving the throat asymmetrical, and that is what causes accuracy to fall apart.

Firelapping doesn't do any that because it isn't particularly hot (the loads are very light) and its action is symmetrical. It will cause the point at which a bullet touches the throat to move forward. I measured about 0.001" forward throat move using a military throat wear gauge when I firelapped my old DCM Garand. The bore widened about 0.0005" at the breech end, which was good, because that was the amount by which the original bore was constricted at the breech end. It was not enough to bother jacketed bullets much other than to make copper build-up faster, but lead bullets didn't like it at all. The muzzle opened up about 0.0001" in the process. I can't say the gun shot any better than it did originally and without copper build-up. But it did stop the copper building up significantly during a match, which had been causing groups to open up starting at about round 40. So it made the accuracy last a lot longer between cleanings. It also made cleaning dramatically easier. It originally took me about four hours of constant reapplications of Sweets 7.62 (this was the early '90s and before the Bore Tech products I use now came out) to get patches to stop comming out blue. After firelapping I could get a 50-round match cleaned out of the bore and the gun lubed and ready to put away in about fifteen minutes.

Tubb's kits are just a form of firelapping. He likes his abrasive selection better than some commercial kits and he is lapping with jacketed bullets, which tend to straighten the bore some, too, where BHN 12 cast bullet lapping tend to taper the bore wider at the breech and narrower at the muzzle. But I have used both and feel I can get a good job either way with a NECO kit (it can be used with either cast or jacketed bullets).

Tubb also has his TMS kits. These seem to be the finer Final Finish bullets for throat "touch up". He says he can double barrel life by using this approach. I haven't put enough rounds through any barrel I've used his kit with to see if that matches my experience, though I have one getting close.

[stagpanther]

Thanks for the wealth of your expertise unclenick, as always. I've already ordered several Tubbs TMS kits and am anxious to start learning about their use. I was already pretty OCD about cleaning my barrels compared to most people--but once I looked the bores through the Hawkeye I felt like a "bore slob", the amount of fouling was amazing in most of my barrels--except for my SS barrels with polished bores; they typically looked pristine.

[stagpanther]

Nathan--I just bought that Teslong kit for $39 off of amazon--I would say it's about 80% of the quality of a Hawkeye but has the huge advantage of built-in device interface, plus it's nice they give you spare mirrors. I'd say it's a great value for what you get, I probably could get by with it without the Hawkeye, the advantages of the Hawkeye being a sharper "over-all" view and better detail, but the teslong is still very useful.

[Nathan]

Make sure you try adjusting mirrors in and out for different calibers to improve focus.

[stagpanther]

The mirrors are adjustable?

[Nathan]

Yea....the distance you thread them on adjusts fine focus. There is a smooth lock nut already on the borescope to lock them in once adjusted to bore diameter....aka focal length.

[stagpanther]

After just over a year's use (1 year warranty expired)--my Hawkeye went belly-up and died on me, it shows nothing but a blurry white smudge, even after I clean everything with their cleaner. Interestingly--the model I have; "Shooting Edition" doesn't even appear on the Gradient Lens website.

[LeverGunFan]

It's probably worth a call to their service department to see what it would take to repair it; it may not be super expensive....

[stagpanther]

It's probably worth a call to their service department to see what it would take to repair it; it may not be super expensive....

Definitely going to give it a try--kinda surprised it went down the tubes for such an expensive instrument after just over a year's use. The only thing I can think of that might have hosed it was maybe some solvent got into it.

[wachtelhund1]

I also use a Teslong bore scope. Can't beat them for the price! I connect mine to my PC and phone.

[stagpanther]

I also use a Teslong bore scope. Can't beat them for the price! I connect mine to my PC and phone.

That's true--I have a Teslong as well that I bought for back-up, about 85% as clear as the Hawkeye at about 1/20th the cost--a great value for sure.

[hounddawg]

I have had the Teslong for a couple of years now but I only use it to check my cleaning process. I can't tell you how many times I thought a barrel was clean then saw that it wasn't.

I have a .223 rem barrel with a throat that looks like a abandoned shopping malls parking lot that can still put 10 rounds .5 MOA at 300. It is about as ugly as a barrel can get, pitting, firecracks, worn lands. I just have to let the target tell me when to replace. I have no idea how to tell by the borescope

[stagpanther]

Update: Gradient Lens fixed it--they said the screws holding the ocular focus had let go and they readjusted and locktited them. I asked if there was any preventive measures I could take and they said no. I wasn't charged for the repair, though I did have to pay for shipping there and insurance. First thing I did was look at two new barrels I got--and was severely disappointed, one had a chunk out of the muzzle crown and the other had messed up rifling and polishing at the leade to the bore.

[LeverGunFan]

Good news! Apparently it was a straightforward (low cost?) repair. Good to know that they will repair legacy products. Considering the unit was out of warranty, paying for the shipping and insurance was probably about as good as we can expect.

[stagpanther]

Considering the unit was out of warranty, paying for the shipping and insurance was probably about as good as we can expect.

True--but I would have been kinda upset otherwise, it was out of warranty only by a few weeks--it would have worked out to a high per month cost vs life expectancy. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have it back so I can look into barrel's horror shows and realize just how far quality can slide. It's no wonder you almost never see anyone showing pictures of their bores as selling points.