Pre-Purchase Inspection

[woodman]

I saw a nice rifle yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it, It really wants to come home with me but it's a 22-250 and I know you have to be careful when purchasing a used one because the barrel could be smoked. The closest thing I have to a bore scope is a wireless inspection camera that can slide into the chamber but it's too big to fit down the barrel plus it's hard to tell anything with it so I'm planning on taking my OAL gauge and a 50 grain Nosler BT and just make sure the bullet does not fall out of the case before touching the lands. I'm only assuming this is a good idea as I've never had a rifle that was shot out. I would appreciate any other ideas for trying to figure out if this is a low round count rifle. Thanks

 

[paulsonconstruction]

I've never had a rifle that was shot out.

Bore scopes make every bore look bad to the uninitiated. It takes a lot of abuse to "shoot out" a barrel. I've had rifles that shot better both close to & far from the lands. The only way to know for sure is to shoot it. If the general condition of the rifle shows that it has been well taken care of, I doubt the bore is bad. A visual inspection looking down the bore with a borelight on the opposite end will tell more than you think!

 

[bloorooster]

The "Affordable Bore-Scope"

Hey Guys and Gals! In my searching the web for anything that has to do with shooting, I ran across this cool little feller'. Its called the "affordable borescope" and it is just that! It has a .212" dia. tube about 12" long, the eye piece is focusable. It works! Simply insert the tube in...

sakocollectors.com

I still use it from time to time

Anything short of a competitive level shooter would be hard pressed to shoot out a barrel .

Fouled out maybe

 

[kevinlg]

The "Affordable Bore-Scope"

Hey Guys and Gals! In my searching the web for anything that has to do with shooting, I ran across this cool little feller'. Its called the "affordable borescope" and it is just that! It has a .212" dia. tube about 12" long, the eye piece is focusable. It works! Simply insert the tube in...

sakocollectors.com

I still use it from time to time

Anything short of a competitive level shooter would be hard pressed to shoot out a barrel .

Fouled out maybe

Bloo.......

You might consider an exception for prarie dog rifles.

Had this Shilen barrelled 40XBR 17 Javelina rebarrelled after about 4000 rounds(after about 10 shots, bullets would start to tumble).
The old barrel was sectioned..........and 7 inches of rifling were GONE.
The 24" 6 groove Shilen was replaced with a 27" 3 groove Pac-Nor.

 

[bloorooster]

Bloo.......

You might consider an exception for prarie dog rifles.

Had this Shilen barrelled 40XBR 17 Javelina rebarrelled after about 4000 rounds(after about 10 shots, bullets would start to tumble).
The old barrel was sectioned..........and 7 inches of rifling were GONE.
The 24" 6 groove Shilen was replaced with a 27" 3 groove Pac-Nor.

I did leave out the PD guns, my apologies.
4000 rounds is a lot of shooting. With the exception of .22lr … I have not shot any centerfire rifles that number of times. Since I began reloading ammo I probably shoot twice as much.

Actually, before I shot Sako rifles, I may only keep and shoot a “deer gun” for a couple of years or so before I was tired of it.
I never get tired of Sako’s

 

[icebear]

4000 rounds is a lot, especially if they are hot handloads. I can't think of any of my centerfire rifles that I've fired more than a few hundred rounds, even the semiautos.

Certain calibers have a reputation for being hard on barrels, notably 220 Swift. One of the reasons the .22-250 became popular is that it approached the performance of the Swift but with much less throat erosion. Also, sometimes barrels that the owner thinks are shot out, are actually heavily fouled with copper. Just some things to think about.

 

[Larsline]

I have found that there are very few people out there that actually take care of their weapons like they should be. I bought pristine looking in every way weapons only to find out the bore has rust or fouling in the barrel. I now put a bore scope through every barrel, or plan on paying for a new barrel. They may shoot if fouled or rusty but definitely are not of collector value or full retail value.
I have a Sako L461 HB in 222Rem I purchased from the original owner who had >400 rounds shot, that would have passed for new in box condition that is fouled and rusted, but will shoot, just difficult to clean well. Still sours me to this day as the owner claimed the bore was good.

 

[mattimoose]

I have put close to 1000 rounds through my .338 win. mag and keep looking for any sign of throat erosion to give me an excuse to re-chamber-it to .338-,375 Ruger. I think I am going to have to wait a long time.

 

[stonecreek]

I've mentioned it before, but I still have my first Sako, a .264 Winchester, purchased new in 1965. For two decades it was my only game rifle -- and as a kid I shot everything from targets to rattlesnakes to skunks to mule deer with it. It's probably had between two and three thousand rounds down the barrel. All but the first box were my own handloads, many of which were injudiciously "intense", shall we say.

The first inch or so of its throat is so fire cracked that it looks like alligator hide even to the naked eye, never mind a borescope. However, the first shot out of a cold barrel always lands exactly where it was sighted a year or three ago, and 3, 4, or 5 shots (as many as you wish) will never span more than 1 MOA at the standard hundred. (Deer have fallen at 400 to it.)

On the other hand I've had barrels with glassy-smooth looking bores on nearly new rifles which sometimes disappoint. It 'taint the way it LOOKS -- it's the way it SHOOTS.

 

[icebear]

It 'taint the way it LOOKS -- it's the way it SHOOTS.

Beauty is as beauty does.

 

[H L WILD]

I have posted a reply however it was posted in error.
Please review my ordinal reply. Thank you in advance H L WILD