A borescope is one of the pieces of precision/advance equipment that I don't have. Any advice on using them, both in terms of which one to get and whether they are worth the investment.

TIA

Not a writer but a gunsmith... - I have both a Teslong & a Hawkeye.

For fine work I use the Hawkeye (over a grand), and I use the Teslong to take pictures for people more than anything else.

So if you are machining I would say you want the Hawkeye, but for general fun of he mill inspection stuff he 50 dollar Teslong is fine

I'll second the Teslong as a good general purpose scope. Whether they are worth the information they give you is sort of up to each person. I used mine to check all of my rifles and handguns but have only used it occasionally after that. They are good to check the effectiveness of your bore cleaning but can frighten you with the condition of the throat. But as MD and others have noted, the barrel condition does not always relate to the accuracy.

I had the $50 flexible model but went to the slightly more expensive 26" rigid one at $80, and prefer the rigid one. You can buy different size mirrors for the end cap to fit different bore sizes. I can see how that is useful but you can also screw the supplied .20 caliber mirror in and to get better focus on larger bores.

The Teslong plugs into the USB port of your computer or laptop and one thing I learned is to plug it in and let the computer recognize it before starting the software. You'll hear that "ba-bonk" noise when it recognizes it in the port. If you start the software first it won't find the scope and will throw an error.

Here are some pictures of a Ruger SP101 bore I took a couple of weeks ago which illustrate the view detail, this is with the .20 caliber mirror in the .357 bore. And yes, I've returned this revolver to Ruger...







They're also good for checking ear hair but don't tell the manufacturer...

Yikes !!

Lyman's model has been great for me. Was very impressed with the quality for the price. Quick and simple to use, comes with a digital viewing screen.

This^^^^


Will also note that when most shooters buy borescope, they're often disappointed with the insides of their rifle barrels--partly because of how often there's relatively little correlation between how a bore looks, and how well it shoots. But there are plenty of other uses that make them worthwhile.

I have a Hawkeye that I was able to write off as a business expense. I use it for a number of tasks and it has paid for itself. In addition, I really like the 90-degree eyepiece.

However, it is possible to know too much... I let a really nice Cooper 223 AI go as the bore looked ugly. As MD pointed out there is relatively little correlation between how it looks/shoots, and yes it shot great.

I got a Teslong last year for Christmas, I now spend at least twice as much time cleaning various barrels!

Not only a screen but you can put an SD card in it and take pic's, I've been very pleased as well

This can be quite helpful when when you need so show/share something with others. I have a new 300 WM and somewhere after 100 yds, a pit showed up in the chamber which is causing a protruding dimple on the brass. Was able to show the pics to the the gunsmith. The jury is still out as this just happened.

I'm not a gunsmith, nor a writer, just an avid shooter.

I have a Teslong, and for how I use it, I love it, checking throat wear, barrels for rust and corrosion, gas port erosion, and finish quality of barrels and the 3 bore of BCG's.

So far, few barrels have really surprised me, for the most part, I got what I paid for in terms of the quality of the internal finish qualities.

IMO for the vast majority of us, the Teslong is a good investment and all that we will need.

Those are good pics! I haven't tried to take photos with my Teslong yet. You know if you let those bodacious chatter marks fill up with copper, that bore will be plumb smooth.....

As an added note, please don't post any pics of your ear hair.

Just saying..........

As another added note, I have a 243 with about 1200 rnds down the tube. The first 3-4" of the bbl doesn't just look like alligator skin, it looks like 100 year old alligator skin. But it still shoots well. I just keep moving the bullet further out as the throat erodes........

Thanks for the advice. It saved me a bunch of time in narrowing my search, and in deciding if I want one at all.

I have the Teslong which is currently $45 on that jungle website. It is an excellent tool to have at the gun bench. It has helped me streamline my cleaning techniques. I highly recommend.

I've been borrowing a buddy's Hawkeye the last few years to check my guns, and it really is a precision instrument. It does have it limitations though, being 17" long and rigid it could only be used from the bore end on most autoloaders and lever action rifles. Last summer I noticed how stupid cheap the Teslong had gotten and ordered a semi rigid one long enough to view the whole barrel and chamber of any rifle I own from either end. Even with the wireless setup to allow me to use my I-Phone and the set of different size mirrors it wasn't much over $150. I'm very pleased with it, and agree that what a barrel looks like doesn't necessarily correspond with how it shoots.

I bought a Ruger No 1 in 22 Hornet last spring. Beautiful gun, but didn't shoot for chit which was probably why the guy sold it. Four and five inch groups at 100 yards. I got the Teslong shortly afterwards and it showed that the bore was heavily leaded. It took several days of heavy effort to get it clean, but well worth it. Out chronographing a load recently and only had a target set at 50 yards, but shot a 9/16" ten shot group.

I have the Lyman and the Tesalong, the Lyman screen doesn't show anywhere near the image quality that the Tesalong does on an iPhone/Ipad.

To say nothing about colons.

Oh my god, I'm getting sick!

Tag

Well, you all talked me into this. The borescope arrived today.


For the most part, my barrels look good, but this 7mm mag might have a few issues.Throat looks like it has a groove eroded away in it.





Barrel



My 6.8 SPC has a few of these black holes, or voids, but I don't think it is something to worry about.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the rigid probe vs the flexible probe (Teslong)

None that I see, they both work well. I have a flexible Teslong, not a Hawkeye, but for my purpose it works very well at a good price point. It has saved me from buying some problem child's. IE alligator skin in the leade. Also tells me if I cleaned the bore. It will NOT tell you if a rifle is accurate, but might show why it is not.

Don’t care to further complicate my life, ignorance is bliss.

To stave off the inevitable mischievous quips I'll state up front that I have no personal experience with this but common sense would dictate avoiding the rigid probe if body cavity exploration is on the agenda.


Back to the subject at hand. The flexible one is very long and I found it a bit cumbersome at times, plus it can be damaged by folding too much. The 26" rigid one is still long enough to reach well up into a barrel from the action. In fact I was able to get within just a few inches of the muzzle of my 29" long M96 Swede, then you just come in from the muzzle to look at the last part. I don't have any problem going all the way through 24" barreled rifles.

One advantage to the flexible one I can think of is being able to insert it in closed end actions like a pump or semi-auto, you could slide it into the breech where the rigid one wouldn't go but again, you can use the rigid one from the muzzle in those instances.

Optically there is no difference so it really comes down to personal preference.

The rigid probe is a little easier to manipulate in the bore to see exactly where you want to.

I've had the Teslong NTG100 flexible for a year now and am very impressed with images and it is easy to use. On top of that it is less than 50 bucks.

Yes. That is the main reason I have never bought one. I think it would bug me out........and keep my gunsmith in business.

I have a Teslong on the way, I went with the rigid over the flex just because I thought it would be easier to use

Have the Teslong and really use it for cleaning my barrels. With the magnification it takes a little bit of use to understand what you are seeing.

Just acquired the Teslong with the rigid tube and digital display. Taking pictures is a bit tricky, but the image quality is good when the mirror tip is positioned for sharp focus. My warranty replacement .460 S&W carbine barrel looks just like Jim in Idaho's Ruger SP101 revolver barrel. Corduroy-like tool marks in the grooves at right angle to the bore axis. Perhaps worse than the one the manufacturer replaced. I wonder how old Jim's SP101 was....sure doesn't look like a hammer forged barrel.

Anyone know how this happens? Some things I thought of include oversize reaming, undersize/worn carbide rifling button, drilled but not reamed before rifling.

I asked that question on the gunsmithing forum and got some good replies.

"How come" question

I bought a Teslong this past weekend to replace my b-day gift the wife had to return. So far I really like it, and I thought my 300 WM would look a lot worst than it did. Darn thing looks new and I have shot it a lot. Now my dad's old Rem 742 .243, well it still shoots, but it has some rough pitting in it. This morning I looked at my Ruger American Rifle in .270, and the barrel of it looks just like the pictures of Jim's SP101. I think the rifle at this point the rifle is 7 years old, but it's pretty darn accurate. I told my son what it looks like and he said, it's accurate so he's keeping it as is. I can't say I'll buy another one though. Since I got the Teslong 2 days ago, I've re-cleaned 4 of my rifles already. Lol!

Found another good use for the Teslong since basically it's just an inspection camera for any kind of tight place. And no, this isn't about hairy body parts or DIY colonoscopies.

Bought a new2me Remington 788 and was cleaning it thoroughly yesterday and this morning. Barrel code indicates Sept. 1967 DOM. Anyway, took the bolt apart and it looked like I was the first person to do so in 53 years, Whatever preservative oil or grease Remington had put on the spring was just a sticky mess. Got that cleaned up and ran some solvent patches inside the bolt body to clean that and then thought what the heck and checked the inside with the Teslong without the mirror so it looked straight ahead.

Looking down into the firing pin hole showed some kind brownish film coating it - light rust maybe? - that a cleaning patch wouldn't get to but I managed to get in there with a couple of pipe cleaners twisted together and soaked in solvent. Scrubbed that a bit and rechecked and it's all gone. Without the Teslong I never would have seen that and it would have built up even more and gone unnoticed for however long I'm going to own this.


Almost forgot, I had cleaned the barrel good with Montana bore cleaner but then when I checked inside there were still some patches of metal fouling. Ran a tight patch with JB paste back and forth several times and another look inside showed bare metal from breech to muzzle, plus a pretty good looking bore finish overall.

This or some other borescope is a really useful tool and for the price I'd recommend one to anybody who's even half a loony.

When you get one, just realize that things on the screen look worse than they are! The first time I used my Teslong, it scared me to death, but then I realized everything was magnified, so every fault looked huge!