Bore Pics

Since it's cold outside, I figured that I'd try out one of my Christmas presents indoors where it's warm.

This is a Teslong Rifle Borescope that I picked up from Amazon. It's only about $45.00, so it's not high-dollar piece of precision equipment by any means, but for me, I just needed something I could use to check out the bores on a few of my rifles.

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Since it's only $45.00, if it breaks after only a few uses, so be it. If it lasts for awhile, even better. This isn't something I plan on doing too often. For the price, this borescope does need to be connected to a computer by USB cable for viewing, but that's not a big deal.

I'm going to snap a couple of photos from a few different rifles and see what the group thinks.

First up is my Yugo refurbished K98 Preduceze 44. This one is actually in great condition and still even still has the original armory tag on it, so my hopes are high.

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This is my first show with this camera, so bear with me, and the hand-eye-keyboard coordination can be challenging. My computer only has one USB port, so I can't use a mouse the camera at the same time.

I'm going to snap a pic at the throat, then 1/3 down barrel, 2/3 down and a final one at the muzzle.

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Overall pretty good. Bore is shiny, with some light pitting but not too bad. I'm sure we've got something worse coming up.

Have fun! Does the flexible cable one have a side mirror? or is it "birds-eye" only?
I have the rigid teslong, double thumbs up on durability. On some of my more well worn rifles, the birds-eye makes the bore look horrid - every tiny imperfection shows as a shadow, whereas the side mirror shows a beautifully shiny surface, with some minor imprefections.
EDIT: your pics posted as I was typing, making my question irrelevant.

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

Overall pretty good. Bore is shiny, with some pitting

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The darker area in your first pic, looks like burnt oil "glazing". It takes either forever with a brush to remove, or JB paste will get it quick. I used to finish cleaning by lightly oiling, and take them right off the shelf to the range to shoot. After having a borescope, I wondered why I could never seem to "clean" it. After figuring it out, I now run a patch with denatured alcohol through before I leave the house to shoot. No more burnt oil. Bore stays shiney, and cleaning doesn't take much at all if cleaned that same evening - even with the ugliest bores.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

Have fun! Does the flexible cable one have a side mirror? or is it "birds-eye" only?
I have the rigid teslong, double thumbs up on durability. On some of my more well worn rifles, the birds-eye makes the bore look horrid - every tiny imperfection shows as a shadow, whereas the side mirror shows a beautifully shiny surface, with some minor imprefections.
EDIT: your pics posted as I was typing, making my question irrelevant.

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Mine's got a side mirror. It seems to be working pretty good, but it can be a bit of a challenge to use. I'm not sure about the long-term durability of the thing, but at least it's not $350+. I really only need it for checking out new purchases, to see how good (or bad) they are. Overall, I think I'll have to give it a thumbs up!

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Here's a post WWII Yugo M48. This was manufactured post-war at the same plant where the Preduceze 44 was refurbished (Institute 44), and its actually a very similar rifle, but about 1" shorter. I bought this from the same source as the other rifle, so my hopes are also pretty high.

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I'm going to try the same shots as before, maybe this time with a steadier hand. Throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore, muzzle.

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Sweet! This is a very nice bore. Feel free to comment everyone, but I'd almost wonder if this rifle had ever been fired before.

I was just getting started, but now my wife says I need to clean off the counter so she can make dinner.

Here's a picture of the entire borescope. I haven't measured it, but it has to be over 6' total length. It's probably a lot stronger than I realize, but it just feels so frail...

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

I used to finish cleaning by lightly oiling, and take them right off the shelf to the range to shoot. After having a borescope, I wondered why I could never seem to "clean" it

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Yes! I do exactly the same thing, and have the same issues. I'm enjoying this, and also getting a few surprises.

JB paste is awesome. I started using it with the VFG pellets and I will never clean the old way again.

Up next is an 1895 Chilean Mauser Mondelo. I really hope this one turns out OK, as it's one of my favorite rifles. Unlike the last two rifles which were 8mm mausers, this one is chambered in 7mm.

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Same series of pics - throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore, muzzle...

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That looks really good also. Considering this particular rifle is around 120 years old, I'm pretty impressed. There's some pitting, and some light copper fouling. I've never cleaned some of these rifles, so I'll have to clean this one and take another look.

I'm thinking this Chinese SKS is going to be a hot mess. It's pretty rough on the outside. I like it because it's a Vietnam era capture (supposedly), and has authentic (supposedly) trench markings. It's also numbers matching, which always makes everything better.

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Overall, I don't have much of an expectation here. A 60+ year old rifle that used corrosive ammo...? We'll see shortly.

Same series of pics again:

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Hmmm. This one has me baffled. The rifle looks like it was used as a club, but the bore is really, really good. Not sure what's up with the pitting at the throat, but overall this bore is super shiny and bright. The indications at the throat almost look like they're a material flaw?

That rack you built seems full. Maybe you should have done a double decker or twice as long? Guess I need a borescope too.

16!. Now that's 20,922,789,888,000 ways to display them. Just 7 trillion possibilities less than the national debt. Build another rack, fill it with rifles, and you can take the lead. Debt won't be likely to catch up for at least a few days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

That rack you built seems full. Maybe you should have done a double decker or twice as long? Guess I need a borescope too.

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Collecting can become a very space-intensive hobby for sure! I was actually building two racks last time, so I've got a spare one in reserve, but that won't last long. After that, I think I'm just going to stick them up on the walls all over the house lol.

Definitely get a borescope. I think 4 or 5 more rifles and I break even on the cost. It's completely changed my concept of rifle cleaning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

Just 7 trillion possibilities less than the national debt.

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I don't think I can buy guns anywhere near as fast as our government spends money. That said, a $600 Corona check could buy a pretty nice rifle. A $1200 check could be both a rifle and ammunition.

I don't know if "clean" and "Turkish" can really be used together when discussing the condition of milsurp Mausers. Maybe I'm just unlucky when it comes to these particular rifles.

This is an 1893 rechambered in 8mm, that sits in a 1903 Mauser stock. The date (1939) isn't the manufacture date, which is unknown, but rather it's the date this rifle was refurbished at Ankara.

This particular rifle concerns me. The tang of this rifle has been blown out, but equally concerning is the crazy-glued crack coming off the cross bolt at the recoil lug. Combine these two issues with the cracking at the trigger guard, and I'm going to guess that, if and when I remove the action, there's some pretty bad damage underneath.

I'm going to say this gun is unsafe to shoot at this time.

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No need for bore pics on this one - I don't think it needs them. I may actually start different thread just on this rifle, assuming that there's any point. Originally I was going to try to repair this stock, but now I think it's just a straight replace.

I do have another 1893 that's in much better condition - I may post that one here also, but not tonight. Before I'm done with trying out this borescope, I want to post the good, bad and the ugly, and haven't really hit the later ones yet. Don't worry, I've got a few bad ones lying around.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

First up is my Yugo refurbished K98 Preduceze 44.

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Editorial note: I do realize that I spelled this wrong at least a half-dozen times. "Preduzece" should be the correct spelling. Foreign languages are hard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

No need for bore pics on this one - I don't think it needs them.

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After some thought, I decided why the hell not?

I was looking for some pics of bad bores, so here's a few of the Turkish Mauser posted above. Same views as before, the first pic is at the throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore and muzzle.

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That is one ugly baby. I actually don't know if these pics are in order, as I can hardly tell what I'm looking at. I see cosmoline, fouling, rust, lint and who knows what else. There's not much rifling that I can see.

I'm going to try cleaning this, just because I'm a glutton for punishment, and see what happens...

I have to run some errands today, so I'm just going to prop the Turkish Mauser up against my work bench and shoot some foaming bore cleaning down the barrel. I will check later. This probably isn't not going to help much, but it doesn't take any time or labor to try.

The catch/drip pan that the rifle sits on is of my own design. It is a to-go container from Olive Garden with a paper towel insert. I hoard these containers, as they have a lot of other uses, besides take away.

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I will actually make an effort to properly clean later.

aha...so there is a limit to what your wife will let you do with guns on the kitchen counter!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

Here's a post WWII Yugo M48. This was manufactured post-war at the same plant where the Preduceze 44 was refurbished (Institute 44), and its actually a very similar rifle, but about 1" shorter. I bought this from the same source as the other rifle, so my hopes are also pretty high.

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I'm going to try the same shots as before, maybe this time with a steadier hand. Throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore, muzzle.

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Sweet! This is a very nice bore. Feel free to comment everyone, but I'd almost wonder if this rifle had ever been fired before.

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That is really a great bore!
I agree, looks almost Unfired.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ssgross

aha...so there is a limit to what your wife will let you do with guns on the kitchen counter!

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The Mrs. has been a saint so far, but I can see that I'm going to clean up some. The pictures don't capture the kitchen table, kitchen pantry, hall closet, bedroom closet, extra room, etc. In addition, I have a lot of reloading supplies, so there's that also. I don't think she'll let me keep the 5 gal. buckets of used brass in the house.

Back to the kitchen counter for some cleaning.

If you don't' have one, get a carbon fiber cleaning rod. I also like these disposable pipettes, as it keeps me from getting solvent everywhere. If you buy the pipettes off Amazon, they're like 1000 for $10 USD.

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I'm going to use Pro Shot Copper Solvent and JB bore cleaner. The Pro Shot works great; the JB paste is like a fine polish, but gritty enough to remove almost any type of rust, fouling. etc. I'm using VFG pellets, which is basically like a bore mop, along with the JB Paste.

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Two wipes with solvent patches, the we move on to the pellets and JB paste. I'll let the solvent sit in the barrel for about 30-45 minutes, then run the pellets back and forth repeatedly. After that, a final solvent patch and dry patches until clean.

Repeatedly is a very subjective word. In this case, i ran the pellets back and forth about 30 times.

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In all, I repeated the entire process above, with solvent wipes, pellets, solvent wipes, and clean wipes, a total of 3 times. My arms are tired.

Not really a true title.

What happened was I got bored. And tired. I was also becoming concerned at the rate I was going through cleaning supplies. Some of these supplies, particularly the VFG pellets, are in short supply at the moment.

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Let's see what it looks like now. Same shots, throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore, muzzle.

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Almost looks like a rifle barrel. Unfortunately not a useable rifle barrel. Looks more like an old musket. An old musket that someone found buried in their back yard. Still a very ugly baby.

Kudos however to the Pro Shot Copper Cleaner, JB paste, and the VFG pellets. They did a better job then I was expecting. I suspect I could clean this bore a little more, but I don't think it would ever be enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

The indications at the throat almost look like they're a material flaw?

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Bump...

Anybody have any thoughts? To me, this looks like a material defect that was inherent to the original steel bar, and then reamed and rifled over. It definitely doesn't look like it came from use, or wear, or the environment.

I'm getting tired of all this cleaning.

I have just a couple more posts, then I'm going to call it a day. If I can make it to 8 rifles total (we're at 5 already), then I've officially hit the "paid-for-itself" point with this borescope.

This one is a Carcano Calvary M91 carbine from WWII. It's a Carcano. It's a cheapo. It's got a pretty cool bayonet. Not much else to say. I didn't even bother to clean this one. It's a Carcano.

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Overall, it doesn't look too bad. it doesn't look like it's been heavily used, but it is very, very dirty. Overall, the rifling looks good throughout.

I couldn't get any responses about the discontinuities in the SKS barrel, but I am still going to post another oddity.

This is a Romanian contract VZ.24 that I won at auction (like most milsurps I have). In this case, there were several for sale, all in really rough condition; i put a low bid on each of them, figuring I'd have odds to win at least one. I ended up with them all. My VZ.24s have VZ.24s now. They've all be cleaned, repaired and are looking pretty good now.

Anyways, the bore on this one is fairly frosty. It does still have some shine however, and the rifling is decent enough.

The oddity on this one, is that it appears to have been counterbored at the muzzle by about 1". Maybe this was due to muzzle wear at some point, or another issue?

I don't know how this would shoot, but think it should be fine (mil-spec). I also think that the fouling would be unbearable, due to all the surface pitting.

Same pics as the ones before: throat, 1/3 bore, 2/3 bore, muzzle. The last picture looks a lot like the throat, but it is the muzzle end, where the counterbore ends.

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Wow, that bore is pitted...
But it might be still a shooter.
I’d just try.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ovidio

Wow, that bore is pitted...
But it might be still a shooter.
I’d just try.

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The Turkish 1893 is a total loser.

As for the VZ.24, I think that one might be OK. I don't think it will get much use, but I do want to try shooting it someday.

As my finale, here's my Arisaka Type 99, "Last Ditch Rifle". Complete with an intact mum, late model sights, hand carved wooden buttplate, and duffel cut stock (grrrr....).

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Same shots as before.

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Like new. Never been fired, only dropped once. Ba-dum-bump.

That's all I'm going to do. Between 8 rifles, with all the pics, some extras and some retakes, there was at least 100 photos taken Not all got posted here obviously.

I'd say this borescope passed the stress test with flying colors. Overall it's a pretty handy tool, and well worth the $45.00. If you get one, just be careful with it, as it will break if bent too sharply.

Now, I've just got to get some oil on all these guns. I forget about that earlier. I won't take more pics for that.

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I bought one of these Teslong borescopes.
Every time I try to down load the program to operate It. I get a virus warning from both AVG and Firefox that it contains
a Win 32 virus and stops the down load.
I also tried it on an Android phone and it still won't open the scope.
When I plug it into the computer the digital light comes on.
Any suggestions/

AZB

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ArizonaBeagle

I bought one of these Teslong borescopes.
Every time I try to down load the program to operate It. I get a virus warning from both AVG and Firefox that it contains
a Win 32 virus and stops the down load.
I also tried it on an Android phone and it still won't open the scope.
When I plug it into the computer the digital light comes on.
Any suggestions/

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Not sure, but maybe it's a different model.

Mine doesn't have any software that gets installed, it's only a camera with a light. When plugged in via USB, Windows 10 automatically recognizes it just like it was a mouse, keyboard, or flash drive. I think WIN32 is a pretty common software virus, which is easy to accidently pick up via the interweb - you may already have it on your system, and the camera just causes it to run/execute? I'm not a huge computer guy, so I'm just brainstorming...someone else may know more.

When I plug mine in, the light goes on also. It usually doesn't open the camera app automatically. I then go to "search" and type "camera", then launch the program. The camera app will usually bring up my webcam initially, but there's also a button that allows you to change to a different input source.

Hope this helps.

I can confirm there is no app required on Mac or linux either. Android requires a UVC (USB video class) app to use any usb camera. Teslong has an app for devices that support UVC. They have an app for iPhone/iPad too, but I haven't used it as I don't have either of those devices.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mrandig

When I plug mine in, the light goes on also. It usually doesn't open the camera app automatically. I then go to "search" and type "camera", then launch the program. The camera app will usually bring up my webcam initially, but there's also a button that allows you to change to a different input source.

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I feel like I needed to clarify. The "camera app" that I was referring to above is the app that comes included with Windows 10. The borescope doesn't have its own.

It's a Teslong Endoscope camera.

I got it to work on my Samsung Android phone with the Endoscope Camera app
and because my phone had USB/OTG already installed it works well.

Can't use it on my PC. Don't want to now.

Somebody, (a friend) really gouged up my Maxim 54R barrel trying to get stuck cases out.
It still has a case neck and shoulder imbedded.

Now I realize the horizontal grooves are probably from a tap that was used to
try to remove it. (I can see them quite clearly now)

AZB