Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Query for bore scope owners.

All the Hawkeyes are rigid--but provide far more detail than digital scopes like the Teslong. Depends on what you want/need.

But Gradient also offers flexible bore-scopes--for far more $$ than the rigid models.

I started using Sweets decades ago and have been satisfied, killing critters, so continue to use it.

It had a tendency to eat barrels, if neglected.

John,
I'm a Wipe-Out fan, but always wanting to learn. What are the ones that are quicker, and are any of them as "gentle" as wipe-out, or are there any extra precautions that need to be taken with the faster products?

Thanks in advance,
Rex

A couple of rifles purchased used were particularly stubborn and fouled severely. An undersized bronze brush, 243 in a 6.5 mm, or 6.5 in a 7 mm, wrapped with 0000 steel wool and imbedded with JB will speeds things along. About 50 strokes, adding bore paste at intervals.

Then back to Sweets with a SS jag and patch, and dry the bore. And sometimes a dose of Hoppes 9, then a dry patch.

If the scope still says dirty, or the patches are still blue, depending on severity, I might go back to the steel wool, or repeat the sweets.

Fine Bronze wool is better than 0000 Steel wool, safer. Buy off of Ebay.

JB bore bright is more aggressive than std JB

Montana Extreme Copper killer is very effective on caked on copper, You can brush with it using their plastic brushes or saturate a wool mop.

For me, nothing cleans a badly neglected, heavily fouled barrel, better than JB.

For regular cleaning I use Forrest foam. It will end up cleaning the heaviest copper plating but it will need to leave it soaked up in the foam for two-three days and it nights.

I always thought copper fouling was worst at the muzzle end but that was just it was visible to the naked eye, while nothing could be seen when looking from the breech. Until I bought a Hawkeye which showed the worst fouling starting one or two inches in forn of the first rifling. In all of my guns.

chamois

I like Hoppes 9 foaming cleaner. For serious cleaning I use JB. But when I get a new used rifle home, I’ll use that foaming cleaner - it’s really good.
I’ve tried most of the bore cleaners on the market. I still have others on my bench - Shooters Choice, Butch’s Bore Shine, Sweets, and a couple others.

I doubt I need the best bore scope. I often go cheap and then wish I went better. The Hawkeyes good for .177 to .458?

The standard Hawkeye won't work on the .17's. If you need that capability, the Super Slim model is what you need. Mine is the Shooters Deluxe edition with the hard case, the 90 degree eye piece (I highly recommend it) and the Super Nova light source (nice but not needed). The Super Nova is often too much light in the smaller bores. By the time you adjust it down, you're right where the standard light source is without all the extra cost.

With the emergence of the Teslongs, you can often find used Hawkeyes for less than half of new price. There's one on Accurate Shooter right now. I'd not dawdle...hint, hint.
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/hawkeye-borescope.4120414/#post-38909771

When I want to capture an image, the 26" rigid Teslong does the job.

If I want to get the copper out of a typical barrel quickly I generally use Montana X-Treme Copper Killer. Like regular Montana X-Treme, it's oil-based so can be left in the bore indefinitely with any extra precautions, but works far quicker. In fact, when working on one of the 20-25 handloads for a specific cartridge articles I used to do for Handloader, I'd often swab the bore of the test rifle with Copper Killer just before putting together a batch of test-loads, which might take 45 minutes to an hour. By the time the loads were assembled the barrel was copper-free.

In general the regular Montana X-Treme works about as quickly as either the foaming or liquid Wipe-Out. Leaving any of them in overnight usually gets most "regular" copper-fouling out.

Al,

My Hawkeye is the super-slim model. One disadvantage is that it only allows a look straight down .17 bores, not a close-up of the bore's surface, as the right-angle slip-over rod does in larger bores.

It's actually my second Hawkeye. Bought the first over 20 years ago from Brownells, but a few years ago the folks at Gradient offered to trade me one of their upgraded models, which is noticeably brighter and sharper than the older one.

John

Morning, John. The angled lens was the big reason I didn't go with the Super Slim model. The Teslongs let you look. But as you know, the Hawkeyes really let you s-e-e.

18 degrees here with Northwest winds from 25-40 today. Stay warm out there. -Al

When I need a copper solvent that's aggressive but has some protection, I mix a bit of Marvel Mystery Oil in Sweets. In my early days (pre bore scope), I'd use household ammonia with a bit of Marvel in it.

Ahh, thanks, maybe I don't need to build one with my tendency to get side tracked on multiple projects.

Yep, the view through Hawkeyes is vastly better than through Teslongs. I bought my Teslong due to a long-time journalistic tendency to try stuff out. I did--but eventually decided I didn't need one, so sold it to a local guy who was always asking if he could come over and use the Hawkeye! (I also got the Super Slim Hawkeye due to the journalistic "need" to look inside .17 barrels....)

Luckily, we have been having mostly average weather for this time of year in Montana--which mean highs around 50--though of course we also get some snow. And right now we need more snow in the mountains!

I looked at that a couple of times. It’s missing the degree eyepiece and the Super Nova light source, right?

I only have one 17, a 17 Hornet. I can pass on the super slim model, I’d guess.

The standard light source is more than adequate and simple. You can buy an angled eyepiece seperately if you like.

Teslong also has a new model folding bore scope that has the focus externally rather than the adjustable mirror length style. It comes with it's own stand alone 4.5" monitor for about $180. On my rigid Teslong, the red mirror adjusted at the halfway point works 90% of the time without any fiddling.

Everyone has their own poison. I use Brasso.

kwg

Teslong also has a new model folding bore scope that has the focus externally rather than the adjustable mirror length style. It comes with it's own stand alone 4.5" monitor for about $180. On my rigid Teslong, the red mirror adjusted at the halfway point works 90% of the time without any fiddling.

What's the advantage of the rigid Teslong, I have the flex version.

But the Teslong is made by the Communist Chinese, correct?