What are steps to go through to evaluate how good a rifle barrel is? I'm thinking specifically of milsurps.

You get a milsurp rifle and want to know how good the barrel is. I know people talk about "dark bores" but heck the milsurps I've got were mostly opaque bores because they're filled with cosmolineicon :-) I've never found a barrel that didn't clean to a shine - or at least what I would no longer describe as anything close to "dark". Some take a lot more scrubbing than others of course...

So imagine I've got a typical milsurp bolt-action. I de-cosmo and clean it up.

(1) I look down the barrel (borelight at one end). I see spirals. What else should I look for? Honestly most rifle barrels I look down show spirals - from brand-new 21st century hunting rifles to 1890s Mausers. Would better barrels show tighter, more hypnotizing spirals?

(2) I could slug the barrel - would a slug from a good barrel show more grooves than one from a bad barrel?

And of course, I could just shoot it and see how it does. It usually takes me a while to adjust to a rifle and I'm never sure how much is my ability (or lack thereof) verses a rifle's deficiencies.

It'd be nice if there was a way to evaluate before buying but (a) I tend to buy over the Internet anyway, and (b) barrels are full of cosmo.
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