Can you evaluate this bore?

[kingmoochr]

Im considering this rifle, but am an old bore newb, can anyone see any glaring problems with this bore? I notice it is dark and maybe not as sharp as new, but I am not sure what this might mean in terms of wear/shootability. Won't get shot much but I'd like to hit the paper at 100yds at least.

[jmzhwells]

Looks a lil dirty anyhow. Run a brush/boresnake through it a few times it will look a lot better.

[ElvenSoul]

That should shoot...just needs severe cleaning

[mosinnagantm9130]

Needs a cleaning, but you shouldn't have trouble hitting paper at 100 yards.

[Vlad 11]

To me that bore looks a little rounded maybe some frost but it could be dirt. I have some similar bores that shoot just fine.

I saved this thread because its a good explanation of bore inspection, plus the one guy takes the best bore photos I've seen.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?123787-Inspecting-Rifling

[bohoki]

my general rule is if i can see through it, i can shoot through it

dont worry how it looks worry how it shoots

[Moress]

I was wondering about this myself, great thread, thanks for posting it!

[Latigo]

For a very long time I was proud of a number of Swiss rifles we have here with beautiful, sharp pristine bores. Until.........
Ta da da dahhh... We bought a Hawkeye Boresope.

Suddenly those pristine bores became rocky roads! That doesn't mean they're bad bores at all. After comparing the bores of a few brand new rifles we found that all here but one have "rocky roads" to varying degrees.
The solitary rifle we have with a dead glass smooth bore is a 17-4 Stainless Steel Walther barrel that's Electro-Polished in an AR10.

Looking down the bore with a borelight might show a shiney sharp bore, but those invisible (from that angle) little depressions in the rocky road are what collect the copper that eventually become visible and contaminate the bore.

As long as the bore is sealed in some way, the rocky road won't mean much, and all of that is exactly the reason every bore we have is sealed with hBN.
Not sure about it? Ask David Tubb. Every rifle here has had it's bore sealed and not one projectile goes downtange that isn't hBN impact coated.
Seem like a lot of work? Maybe, but I enjoy doing it, and some of these rifles have barrels we can't easily replace, and two very expensive ones can't be replaced at all. If I can double and even triple my barrel life, I'm willing to go the extra mile.

If you have valuable rifles it definitely pays to have a Borescope to monitor throat and barrel wear, hBN or not.

[Pofoo]

Some really rough bores shoot well. It's all a question of degrees and expectations. Obviously, you'd expect a better bore to shoot better, but a crappy bore can still shoot ok. 100 yds? It would have to be pretty bad to miss the whole target. So, is it a rifle you really want? Is the price good? Etc., etc. If it's a surplus rifle you're looking for, it may be very hard to find a really good barrel.

[C&Rtard]

As had been said, dirty but the rifling looks fine.

[knucklehead0202]

yep, clean, shoot, then clean again and it'll look much gooder! yes, i said gooder on purpose.