A friend called the other day and said he just got a new Lyman bore scope. It was on sale at Midway, and he had some coupon code plus Midway offered free shipping for orders over???. He got the scope for a pittance. He called today and said I should bring my lever gun and some other rifles down and let him check them out. The Mossberg gave me fits and I did not know if I had a bad rifle, bad mounts, scope or what the heck was the matter but I could not keep bullets on the paper at 50 yards. Someone told me about J-B bore compound from Brownell's so I ordered some via Amazon. Even the price was a few dollars more than anywhere else I still paid less because I am a Prime member. Believe me, if you order as many times a year as I do it pays to have Prime. I scrubbed the bore with Hoppe's, Ballistol and Sweets and still, when I used a Kleen Bore patch the patch still came out tarry black. (Then I found out it would always come out black because of the polish. DUH!) But the rifle shot many times better than before. It was loaded with factory grease and I did not get it all when I cleaned it the first, second or third time. I did not know factory grease turned to something similar to epoxy that is about 5 minutes from being totally cured. It had to be pried out with q tips and a lot of oil soaking. I had to disassemble the rifle to get it all but the extra effort was worth it. I then Kroiled the bore, smeared some J-B on a patch, many patches, and ran them in and out 10 times each. The patches also turned black. J-B patches also always turn black and about 10 ups and 10 strokes down the bore will blacken the paste so I surmised it was time to change patches. I used brushes when the patch holder tips failed to hold the patches and it worked great.Eventually I got the 50 ins and outs finished and ran in some more wet Kroil patches to flush out the J-B, dried with some clean patches and then used Hoppe's to see if there was anything left to scrub out. Patches came out a bit grayed but no marks specific to dirty rifling. Just a soiled gray patch. Job done. My friend scoped the 464 and also my Savage .308 that I spent a few extra minutes on with the J-B and he said both bores were absolutely, perfectly clean. There were some marks in the rifling in both bores and there were scratches in the chamber of the 464. But, I know how well the .308 shot last time, and I also saw a huge improvement when I shot the 464 the other day. It responded very well after a good cleaning but I am sure it will be even better now after getting all the fouling and factory glop out of the bore. I have now J-B'd my MVP 5.56, Savage 11 V/T .308, Mossberg 464 30-30 and Savage MKII FV.22. Next in line...Marlin Model 60, 3 BP rifles, a Silent Cat .177 Spring Air rifle, and whatever else I feel like pumping a bronze brush and patches through. I am sold on J-B and now I know how to clean a rifle barrel. I have always been (I thought) thorough but the Mossberg 30-30 showed me differently. I won't be lax again. I was getting first shot fliers. I swabbed the bore every 5th shot and allowed the barrel to cool. All the targets show 1 shot severely low and left. After the first shot the next 4 or 9 were better. But, I did not swab between shot 5 and shot 6-10 (target 3) To me this illustrated cold bore first shot flyers. These 3 targets are the last 3 after sighting in. I hope to have even better targets to post after a trip to the range. If I already posted these targets OOPS! Sorry. Targets were at 50 yards. All rounds were home growns. I have not tested any of these rounds and the ammo was loaded 2 1/2 years ago when I had my 336. Load data: OAL 2.550"; Sierra FNSP 150 gr; Fed LR Primer; R-P cases; Powder: 37.5 gr Hodgdon Leverevolution. I used the back of my hand between thumb and forefinger, set on a Gorilla Bag. The bench was set up kind of weird and it was all tore up by a-holes who love to destroy. But it was available and I wanted to shoot. I tried a rear rest but there was just no room on the bench. I shot 10 sight in shots and 3, 5 shot groups for "score". This is the most consistent I shot since getting the rifle. I am posting the targets to show my progress. I expect even more improvement after polishing the bore and getting ALL the factory grease and preservative out of the action and bore. Target 1 is a 3” orange stick on spot. Target 2 is a black 2” spot. Target 3 is a 7” target with a ¾” red spot. The 10 ring is 2 ½”
I was going to order a name brand bore scope until I saw the price tags on them. I went on Ebay and found one made in China for $14 that plugs into my laptop. It uses the USB port, and is 5.5mm diameter, with a 15' cord, so goes down the bores of .22LR and larger. It does everything the big name bore scopes do, for a huge discount! After I showed my friends, they all ordered one too, and are having a lot of fun looking at all their bores.
Great, Thanks for the tip. I will be ordering soon. I found the one you mentioned and one slightly bigger, on ebay. I am wondering if the larger size would work better for muzzleloaders.
Looking at the illustration on ebay the little camera looks straight out the end of the probe. Does it also have a tip that will look up (out the side of the tip so as to be able to pinpoint a spot?) If not, how wide angled is the camera?
The camera has a wide angle view, so will easily see any imperfection in a bore. One thing I've found with all bore scopes is they wash out quickly in a few inches from the camera. Usually caused by the light that all these little scopes have equipped into them. To get a really clear, and sharp picture, I push a loose white patch into the bore, and then follow that with the scope. I simply push the scope in a couple inches, and then back up a couple inches to see the bore picture. By working the white patch down the bore 2"-3" at a time this way, it gives a really good picture reflected off the white patch. I also use my scope for all sorts of other inspections. I pulled a spark plug out of one cylinder on a friend's car and did a visual of the valves, and cylinder to answer a question he had. I keep finding other uses for these bore scopes all the time.
I have one on my next order list at Amazon, or Ebay whichever one i get first. I will get a larger dia probe for the muzzleloaders and the small one for my other rifles. Just wondering...what platform do you use to view and save the info and pics? I have a Win10 computer and also a phone that should work according to the list of compatible Android systems. I will be using it on my computer most of the time but out at the range it could be of use in finding out why this or that happens or does not happen.
I use Windows on my laptop, as the portability allows me to take the laptop to my gun room. It came with a disc program to use, and since I'm not computer savvy it took a few minutes to figure out how to use it. I haven't tried saving or capturing the shots yet, as once I've looked at a bore I saw no reason to use up computer space saving it?
Thanks. I did not know if it worked with Windows. What version you using? Specs do not mention win 10, only up to win 7. OH, another question...is that disk a normal size or one of the smaller ones? I never used a small one and do not have a laptop, nor a drive that will read that little disk. (I don't think)
I believe I have Windows 7. Yes, it's the small disc I got, and I've never used one. But it fit right in my full sized disc drive and no issues. Mine has a slide out tray, if that makes a difference?
I gotta try it. It is cheap enough even if it doesn't work. I would have to pay return postage to return it so depending where it gets sent and how much postage costs but I am sure I can afford it. I use win 10 so it is iffy. I have ordered stuff that the mfgrs and users say is not win xxx compatible but I got the items to work. I will order it asap and then when it gets here...I will kow for sure. Thanks for letting me know about this. That is what we do on the forum. We pass on info. It is up to us to do the rest.
I've had about 10 friends all order them and love them. They usually are free shipping, but come from China on every one I saw inexpensively priced. Shipping to China might be expensive for the individual.
Made in China...but the same one on Amazon is also free shipping and is distributed out of Louisiana or Georgia.
Hi, Thanks for the tip. I ordered one from Amazon and the one you mentioned on ebay. The Amazon camera came in in 2 days. I got the one from ebay today...about 4 days. I gave the Amazon scope a good run down and basically it sucks as a bore scope. Lousy resolution, almost not able to see color. But it will work for some things...I will just have to look to find on what. The ebay scope has not got run through its paces yet but right off I can say it is worth the money, the other one aint. Good definition, good color separation. And it had attachments for 90* examination of the lands and grooves. I didn't even have to use the software. It took right off using what was already installed. I will get out some rifles and pistols and record bore(ing) pictures for everyone to see. You should see if you can get a commission from the sellers if anyone else buys. These are nice to have. And very affordable,
