Is This Chamber Inconsistency Bad?

Wow im curious too. I have often considered buying a bore scope. Maybe i shouldn't. I might find things that will bug me to death lol. I use a bore light currently.

peeplwtchr said:

Hi All-

I saw this with a borescope, and I am wondering if I should return the new barrel. To me it looks like a pit. It's a Wilson Combat .223 wylde barrel. Is there any potential impact from this defect?

Thanks

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For a brand new barrel, I would return it with a copy of this picture (via email). As an aside, you can still probably get pretty good shot groups with a pitted barrel. It's not the end of the rifle, but the problem is there isn't a whole lot you can do to fix it besides putting a new barrel on the rifle.

In this case I'd just send it back. This is kind of surprising Wilson Combat imo, but I guess when factories mass produce something you'll always have this.

It looks to me like a small burr.
There is a scratch leading into it and what looks like lead, but I assume to be dirt or debris, impacted into it. It could just be the piece of grit still stuck there.
It should be easily polished out by hand. It’s just the chamber not the bore. But it’s hard to judge the magnitude of it.

If the barrel is brand new, unmounted and unused, and it shakes your confidence, you might return it.

A minor blemish I might just polish out and consider a beauty mark, that which separates mine from another.
A larger one, one that may damage brass upon firing, I would replace. But that would have to be a very large blemish. A pit big enough to keyhole the brass under pressure and make it difficult the extract or shave brass off it.


I had a rifle mar brass on firing. Unable to clean it out, I took a small flat screwdriver to it.
Out popped what looked like a piece of aluminum can.
After that it polished up squeaky clean.

Everything looks huge under the magnification of a bore scope. It looks like contamination or inclusion in the metal. The only way to know if it has any negative affects is to shoot it and see.

I use my bore scope to tell me when my barrels are clean. Correlating artifacts I see in the steel to down range performance is beyond my skill level.

Don't borescope barrels that shoot good, it'll only make you question everything...

It's a new barrel, the question is is it a cosmetic flaw or a real defect. Personally, I'd check with the manufacturer and get it returned if possible. By preference I'll let the manufacturer take care of it rather than having the problem get worse down the road.

BSW

If it is a pit or gouge, I think the worst problem would be extraction of the fired case. The case - upon firing - might or might not 'fireform' into the recess and extraction would include removing the resulting bulge.

At worst, this could indicate a flaw in the metal of the chamber. Not likely, but possible.

Either way, I'd notify the maker and send the picture. A new anything should be free of defects of any sort.

Archie said:

I'd notify the maker and send the picture. A new anything should be free of defects of any sort.

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Hang on, we're talking about something that only shows up under high magnification and hasn't been determined to have any detrimental affect. Manufacturers have tolerances and it's a good chance that this barrel meets their specs.

I'm still an advocate of shoot it and see.

Nature Boy, I am not close to assuming the mantle of Omniscience. Anyone can disagree with me and I accept it if they have a rationale for another opinion. Your rationale is most acceptable to me. I'll stand pat on my opinion and rationale.

However the rifle belongs to peeplwtchr and only his decision counts in the matter.

If that's in the chamber. . . go stub your toe so you have something to complain about.

If that's in the barrel, I'll bet it doesn't matter, but see how it fouls and then you'll know more. If it fills, it's low impact; if it results in an ugly streak, it might matter.

Bore scopes are wonderful tools.A friend of mine loaned his to me a few months ago,and it proved two things to be.One thing it proved to me is that my cleaning method works very good.Barrels that I deep cleaned had nothing in them.The other thing it proved is that even very high quality barrels can look quite ugly,as did my Shilen Select Match in 280AI.My 25-06 barrel has a lot of rounds through it,and the throat is terrible to look at,even with the naked eye,but it shoots as good if not better than ever.I'd shoot that one and see what happens.

peeplwtchr said:

Hi All-

I saw this with a borescope, and I am wondering if I should return the new barrel. To me it looks like a pit. It's a Wilson Combat .223 wylde barrel. Is there any potential impact from this defect?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Where exactly is that in the barrel ?

What caliber ?

Can it be "felt" with a tight fitting jag and swab ?