Can anyone recommend an affordable borescope that will do a decent job for inspecting bore after cleaning before DBC, etc?
I know the Lyman borescope is a popular one, but I don’t have enough use to spend that much $’s, so hoping there is something cheaper that will do a decent job. Thanks.

Teslong camera on amazon gets good reviews with the gun guys.

They’re raving about this Teslong Bore scope over on the Hide.

https://amzn.to/2YwxfkJ

The Lyman can be had for $270 or cheaper at many places, not as cheap as the Teslong but I prefer it. Way cheaper than $1000+ for a Hawkeye

The Teslong is an excellent buy. I have the Lyman and the Teslong, and in my opinion the Teslong is every bit as good...for one quarter of the cost of the Lyman.

Same same

I have a Teslong also. Have nothing else to compare it to but from pics I've seen taken with other borescopes, I'd say it's close if not as good.

Getting the focus right is trial and error but once done the view is very good.

Now I know how bad my "accurate" barrels look!

There you guys go again costing me money. Always wanted a bore scope and for $50 I couldn't resist that Teslong.

That's why I am afraid of getting one. Ignorance is bliss!

Both the Teslong and the Lyman will reveal all that most shooters want to know about their rifle bores--or shotgun or handgun bores, chambers, cylinders, etc. Or even the insides of cartridge cases--anything that we normally can't really see.

If they'd been around when I bought my Gradient Lens Hawkeye bore-scope, at least 15 years ago, might not have bought it. But they weren't, so I went ahead and spent the money, because at the time it was the only realistic solution. Since have upgraded to the next optical generation Hawkeye, and it does indeed show more detail than any digital scope I've ever seen--except perhaps the one in Dan Lilja's shop, which cost even more than the Hawkeye.

My Teslong is better than my buddies Lyman in resolution..to my eyes at least

I have a Teslong as well, works great. Under $50 as well. Works with a computer or smartphone. Now I know just how bad my '44 BCD Mauser's barrel really looks.

smithrjd,

So how does the Mauser shoot?

Good question.

I have barrels that don’t look so hot thru my Hawkeye, but shoot great. Range performance trumps the scope.

Now, if it quits grouping, the scope may be an assist in diagnosing why. Never let the scope dictate.

IMO

DF

Lesson #1 of bore-scopes!

Well, its has it's original stepped 8mm barrel. Only has Peep sites, never was drilled or tapped. I can hold three to four inches at 100 yards for 5 shots. Barrel pretty much looks like a sewer pipe.. Corrosive ammo I would guess. Actually it is not that hard to clean.

Thanks everyone, I will be buying a Teslong.

What's another $50?

tag

Got my Teslong yesterday. Interesting stuff in them thar bores. Most surprising was how ugly Mama's Kimber bore is. Even after Tubbs Final Finish there are a lot of pits. Best is M70 375 from the 50's. It probably has the least amount of rounds through it. Have to check out my DCM M1 to see if there is any rifling in there.
Also Wipeout works.

You people keep costing me money......gonna have to try the Teslong.

I bought the Teslong, mostly to check on my cleaning before applying DBC. Tried it today for the first time and the bore is much cleaner than I expected.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the Teslong for $50. The light control isn't great though. With a clean, shiny bore, there is a lot of reflection.

Jason

One of the most useful and enjoyable tools I have ever bought is a borescope.learned a lot about cleaning and fouling.
Also learned of all the rifles I have ever bought used none were shot out. some rifles such as 220 swift may show more throat erosion than others but can still shoot very well. Some manufacturers rifling is not very sharp and distinct brand new as others. Custom barrels tend to appear less deeply rifled as say a Remington.. none of this is very important as long as they shoot. It seems my Coopers maintain rifling better after thousands of rounds than say a Remington. Just my opinion based on my own limited experience. My borescope is from Innovative Technologies. www.larrywillis.com. It is self contained handheld including screen and much cheaper than say a Hawkeye. Takes a little while to learn to understand what you are seeing. Looks forward unlike the Hawkeye which looks perpendicular to the bore.

This thing is SWEET!! Talk about an AWESOME Tool for Muzzleloaders, All forms of them, Especially Sidelocks that you Can’t See Through, Thing Thing allows you to get in there and Look Around, in VIVID Detail!! I am THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED to say the least!! Any of you guy’s that know me, Know i can be HARSH if I don’t like something, or I don’t Believe in it? I call it being Honest 👍 On a Scale of 1-10, This Teslong Borescope gets a SOLID 10 +++++ This thing is Awesome Guy’s!! I would expect something of this Quality to be Several Hundred Dollars? These things have come a LONG Way over the last few years, I have been wanting to get one for awhile now, But i have held out. I almost bought the Lyman, But after seeing a Gunsmith Friend of mine use his in my .300 Win Mag Chamber, I wasn’t impressed with it at all! That Lyman is NOWHERE Near the Quality of this Teslong, and The Lyman is like 200 Bucks or more.

Teslong Professional Borescope



A few pics i took with it

I got an envelope in the mail from Teslong just the other day. It contained a new 90-degree mirror and a letter of explanation, saying that the original ones seem to have fallen apart in some instances. The letter went on to express the merchant's desire to make sure buyers are satisfied, and warnings about rolling the cable up too tight, leading to breakage.

All in all, I am impressed with the quality of the device and the proactive attitude of the merchant. I'd recommend the thing to anyone wanting to see the condition of a rifle, shotgun, or handgun bore.

For 50 bucks, you cannot go wrong with it.

This thread has cost me another 50 bucks on top of 4 new scopes from Doug since July. I'm running out of forgiveness. Hope this Teslong scope is as good as people say it is.

Ditto, just ordered one from Amazon about 5 minutes ago. $49.99 is just too good to pass up.

Have been keeping the search for a bore scope in the back of my mind for a while. Lots of digital cable type inspection tools on the market these days but the ones made for rifle bores were always more than I wanted to spend. This won't get used all that much but there are a few rifles that feel like they're building up fouling too quickly right in front of the chamber and this should help tell me what's going on.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well it works. I won't speculate on how you'll feel when you see what those rifle bores actually look like.


I've found two obviously bad bores since acquiring the means to inspect them, but they were not the only rifles that challenged and frustrated me. With those two rifles, though, it was easy enough to see why I couldn't get consistently satisfactory accuracy. New barrels made things better.

I won't replace a barrel just because a rifle frustrates me, nor will I replace a barrel just because it doesn't look purty on the inside...but when it frustrates me and doesn't look purty on the inside, a tomato stake is born.

.

New technology, I don't even like to think about what I paid for my two Hawkeye's some 15+ years ago. Today you can get a whole lot more for a whole lot less.

Phil

The Teslong was delivered today, only took a few minutes to download the recommended software to my PC and get going. Scoped a few rifles, my old 3000+ round .243 AI was a good lesson in what alligator skin really looks like.

Particularly wanted to look just ahead of the throat of my Tikka .22-250 and sure enough there was some kind of buildup right in front of the chamber with a bit of copper color and what I'm guessing is heavy fouling for a few inches more - still learning what different stuff looks like through the scope. The rest of the bore was pristine, btw. So I took some Copper Killer to it but after soaking for 25 minutes another patch came out with zero blue on it. That "whatever" was still there in the barrel. Have had the bottle a while but it'll still clear your sinuses with ammonia smell so it wasn't due to lack of that.

So, I ran a couple of patches of regular Montana Bore Cleaner through it and checked again - better, but not what I wanted. Sooo - I wrapped a patch around an old worn bore brush and smeared it with JB compound and gave it 50 strokes.

That did it, nothing but bare metal now, although I can see where even a couple hundred rounds of 22-250 ammo is starting to wear the lands right at the throat.


Bottom line is this is a very good buy and a further step up in being a "student of the gun" as one of the old scribes put it.

But it's probably not the best thing to get for a real OCD type...

This is good to hear, mine is on the way.

Got mine today, colour me impressed, this thing is great, spent all day checking almost all my rifles, very nice tool.