Bore scope photo's

[Norm]

Can someone experienced with looking at barrels through a bore scope please give me their opinion on the condition of this .284 barrel.
It has been stating to show signs that it is past its prime but I thought I would have got more shots out of it than I have.
Thanks Norm.

[chrisw91]

Norm I take it the last 3 photos would be 6-8" forward of the chamber?

[KHGS]

Can someone experienced with looking at barrels through a bore scope please give me their opinion on the condition of this .284 barrel.
It has been stating to show signs that it is past its prime but I thought I would have got more shots out of it than I have.
Thanks Norm.

What I see in the pics you have posted is a barrel at about two thirds of it's life, I also see carbon & copper fouling. I would give this barrel a good JB pasting. After which you just might be surprised at how much better it will look & shoot. I am assuming that it has shoot well & has just "gone off"?
If it cleans up as well as I think it might, I suggest that this barrel will shoot well for some time yet, if you change your cleaning regime to a bronze brushing with a top engine cleaner followed with a light JB pasting at each shooting day's end. This cleaning is what I recommend for "elderly" barrels that have started to "roughen" up at & just in front of the throat.
Keith H.

[Norm]

Norm I take it the last 3 photos would be 6-8" forward of the chamber?

Yes it starts to deteriorate from about 10 inches forward of the chamber and gets worse as you look closer to the chamber.

[Norm]

Keith,

Thanks for your advice.

The barrel was given a quick clean with a bronze brush/oil followed by a few patches of Eliminator before I used the bore scope but was not given a "Deep Clean".

The barrel is about two years old, has shot well and still shoots 60's, but is no hummer.
Its done about 300 rounds of development. Followed by three Queens/lead ups, One State Teams, Six prize meets and about twenty club matches. So around 1600 rounds.

I will give it some treatment as you suggest and see how it goes.

Thanks Norm.

[KHGS]

Keith,

Thanks for your advice.

The barrel was given a quick clean with a bronze brush/oil followed by a few patches of Eliminator before I used the bore scope but was not given a "Deep Clean".

The barrel is about two years old, has shot well and still shoots 60's, but is no hummer.
Its done about 300 rounds of development. Followed by three Queens/lead ups, One State Teams, Six prize meets and about twenty club matches. So around 1600 rounds.

I will give it some treatment as you suggest and see how it goes.

Thanks Norm.

Your round count is indicative of the barrel condition for .284 Win at that round count & supports what I said earlier in that it appeared to me to indicate a 2/3 worn out barrel. 2000/2200 rounds is around average life for barrels in this chambering. Short fat cases with necks on the short side do not contribute to long barrel life. Good honest barrels are gems "hummers" are diamonds, gems are easier to find than diamonds. A lot of matches are won with gems, if you never have worse than a gem count yourself lucky.
Keith H.

[williada]

Agree with Keith, Norm but I take these type of barrels a step further. Personally I do not think JB like pastes used on a patch are thorough enough. On barrels in this state, a patch does not contact the steel surface close enough to the junction of the land and groove, it tends to ride over lumps and can wear centre hollows in the groove if care is not taken while trying to scrub stuff out. Don't forget the residues of carbon etc are abrasive.

What I do first is use boiling water and dash of windex and scrub with a bonze brush and rinse clean. Next I seal the bore at the breach and fill it with Hoppes and let her soak for a week as others do. We used to use Sweets do the same thing, but that will oxidize stainless and should not be used in this situation. Then tip out and give another scrub with the boiling water. The final step is to lap the barrel out as follows.

Some time ago I posted pictures which have since gone to God on casting a lap and using JB with that if you are worried about altering barrel dimensions. This method thoroughly cleans theses deposits out and evenly unlike a patch and does not alter barrel dimensions. The beauty is that you can also feel the tight and loose spots so as to bring the barrel back to smooth even dimensions and can bump the lap up as things loosen up.

If you find the barrel has uneven dimensions due to steel wear or metal swelling then you can recover some of that if you take things a further step and lap it thoroughly by bumping up the lap and using proper grit size in aluminium oxide to cut steel. Then dress the top of the lands with a copper lap you have to make to size on your lathe, give the crown a nip and she is good to go. Both the lead lap and the copper lap must have groove cut in them to hold grit about every 1/2 inch. Surprising as it seems the breach is the area that tends to swell and is tighter than the muzzle. You want it the other way round or the same diameter all the way through, so a professional lap has benefits in this situation. This heavy barrel maintenance can be avoided if start early with a lead lap and just JB if you want to extend barrel life and I tend to do a thorough clean at 700 round mark when I freshen the throat and rotate the barrel up 1 thread with a chamber nip. Another reason to buy long barrels and maintain a desirable leed angle.

You can get away with JB on a patch for every 200 rounds but there will come a time for thorough cleaning and even removal of carbon rings and copper fouling. Now might be a good time to develop you skills on an old barrel. David.

[Norm]

Thanks for the replies, it has given me something to think about.