I have recently had an occasion to briefly look through a bore scope. It is an amazing view inside what we mostly guess about.

Does anyone here have one? They are pricey and I am wondering if they would really have enough value to justify the expense?

Sure wouldn't be any question about whether I really, really got it clean!

Thoughts?

I would like to have everything and a borescope is one of those things. A friend has one and I am going to get to check it out soon.

I do have a Wally Siebert bore scope. This is a $20 item that checks out the throat. It's invaluable when looking at used guns as it gives a quick check of the throat. It's just a brass tube with a lense in one end. It magnifies the chamber and throat with a spectacular view.

I got it from Sinclair about twenty years ago. They don't have them any more. I "borrowed" mine back from the friend that has the "real" borescope.

The Wally Siebert scope is something that everyone could afford and use. But nobody knows about them. Wally Siebert is/was? a mfg of eyepieces for Fecker and other target scopes. This item only works in bolt or SS rifles. It's the size of a bolt.

I have both an old Zeiss and a new Hawkeye and wouldn't part with either one. There's no substitute for looking right at what you can otherwise observe only indirectly, by secondary indications.

When I got the Hawkeye, a friend brought over about a dozen guns to 'scope with it. One of these -- a Ruger revolver -- had a problem that would never have been detected by any other means, and my friend was able to get it solved. (The rear end of each land was like a cliff, with an abrupt vertical face at the top of each land -- the forcing cone was incompletely ramped.)

If you can manage the cost, get yourself a bore scope. I highly recommend the Hawkeye. And be sure to get also the 90� tip for it, which allows you to look perpendicularly at bore surfaces (BTW, whenever a writer recommends a Hawkeye, don't assume that he got it as a freebie -- he bought it. Gradient -- the importer -- doesn't give 'em to anybody.)

A TIP: In addition to the axial lighting that the Hawkeye normally provides, use also some arrangement that provides good cross-lighting. The Hawkeye's light strikes the viewed surface parallel with the line of sight and reflects directly back into the optical fiber that carries the image back to your eye. A bright light shone down the bore -- parallel to the bore axis, perpendicular to the angle of view through the 90� tip -- shows the surface texture that isn't as clear by the Hawkeye's built-in light.

Thank you guys.

I am in the ponder mode now. These aren't cheap items.....

Appreciate the thoughts.

Can someone provide figures and sources for the uninformed?

I agree with Ken Howell, buy the Hawkeye. It is quite a tool. I got mine from Brownells. I would rreccomend the longer thinner one and get the adjustable focus eyepeice. http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=6662

I have an Olympus scope that works very well. You will be amazed how much rifling a neglected rifle can lose to rust and still be told that it probably shot "less that a box of shells". The price of the Hawkeye seems very reasonable.

Growler