How bad is this bore?

[Warpiece]

I got one of the teslong borescopes, after checking a few of my other barrels, I got to the arstoner 16" ss fluted hbar 223 wylde. I felt kinda sick at what I saw compared to the others, and i wasn't expecting a lot from a $150 barrel. I'm not knowledgeable enough to say how bad it really is. The barrel has less than 200 rounds through it, but it looks pretty trashed. I have a bear creek that cost less, has over a thousand rounds through it and looks almost pristine in comparison.

What do you more experienced folks think of these images? The barrel is dirty

 

[herrwalther]

All of my AR barrels have more rounds and less damage than that, using the same borescope. Doesn't look like that barrel takes abuse well at all.

 

[troy fairweather]

How does it shoot.

 

[Warpiece]

How does it shoot.

Roughly 3 moa by eyeball guesstimate. The crown looks about as well cut as bore, but it's square enough i think i can get it cleaned up with a brass lapp.

The exterior machining looks perfectly acceptable. I just don't understand how it could have some of the damage in it, I don't think i could do this on purpose if I wanted to. Some of those deep irregular gouges are half way down the length of it.

 

[LoonWulf]

wicked button chatter........ slightly over sized bore or undersized button, stainless filings getting caught between them and pulled along galling and gouging........that's my uneducated guess.
Id contact the seller and complain that accuracy isn't what I would expect and see about getting a refund or replacement. they say no just toss it out and start over.

 

[troy fairweather]

Roughly 3 moa by eyeball guesstimate. The crown looks about as well cut as bore, but it's square enough i think i can get it cleaned up with a brass lapp.

The exterior machining looks perfectly acceptable. I just don't understand how it could have some of the damage in it, I don't think i could do this on purpose if I wanted to. Some of those deep irregular gouges are half way down the length of it.

I'd see if they will replace it, but if your using standard military mfg 3 moa is still ok.

 

[Warpiece]

It had a 1 year warranty, life interrupted the build while it sat, and i didn't have the neat little borescope.
The ammo was indeed cheap mil reject.

Guess I could work up some loads for it, after that, see what cleaning up the crown will do. Worse case, I'm left with a junk barrel to experiment on without worry, relatively speaking.

 

[Kp321]

Looks like a good candidate for fire lapping. All the damage I see is from the manufacturing process, as already noted. With good ammo it could shoot well but would foul quickly.
Maybe you shouldn’t have looked. Ignorance is bliss?

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

When I was manufacturing, were I to know this was out there, I would have tracked you down and BEGGED you to let me buy it back outa the market.

That is ASTOUNDINGLY shameful and you should give them a chance to save their reputations by returning it.

Also: Might be your barrel's *maker* received that from someone else in blank form and would like to know the crap someone foisted on them.

"How bad is it?" Disgustingly bad for today's; steels, tooling and manufacturing capabilities.

Todd.

 

[PRD1]

The condition of the bore is not due to any number of rounds fired. It is due to exceptionally poor manufacture and absolute lack of quality control. The manufacturer should replace it, or refund your money, if that's the best they can do.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke

 

[Riomouse911]

AR Stoner is the house brand at Midway, correct? The AR Stoner stuff is usually priced much less than "brand name" stuff, it very well may be the original barrel maker's QC caught these flaws and they sold it to Midway to sell under the house brand name. Kina like "Safeway Select" or "Albertsons" brand peaches that sell for less...same cannery as Del Monte but not as high quality fruit inside as Del Monte's name brand, etc.

Try the fire lapping process, see if you can get some of that smoothed out.

Stay safe.

 

[carbine85]

I have (2) Wilson SS barrels with Wylde Chambers. They don't look anything like that. They both shoot better than I can. I get 1/2" - 1" groups with 69 grain SMK. I think I paid over $250.00 for each. One of them is a Heavy barrel.

 

[BreechFace]

I would be asking for a replacement. Share with them your accuracy, which led you in scoping the bore and share the pictures.

I would say @LoonWulf's assessment is likely correct, looks like tailings were pulled through with the button.

I've seen many a barrel with that type of chatter but the gouges are icing.

 

[Armorer 101]

Definitely screwed up machining, note the very even groves across the lands, those are from drilling the original hole. cThe drill bit caught chips and drug them across the lands digging in. Looks like they did not run coolant or the flow stopped and they continued drilling. Basically you have trash for a barrel and it was like that from day one.
You could possibly make something out of it, if it were a cast bullet barrel by lapping it, and you could adjust your bullet diameter by sizing to fit, but as a jacketed bullet shooter, it is done. Call and tell them it shot badly and you put a bore scope to it and it is very bad, can send pictures.
In the mean time you might go buy a tomato plant and get ready to use it as a tomato stake.

 

[PRD1]

The circumferential tool marks do closely resemble those left by the deep-hole drill (the first step in making a rifle barrel by conventional means). In good practice, this is followed by reaming, normally in at least 2 stages, to final bore diameter. Properly made, sharpened, maintained and operated reamers, particularly in the finish stage, leave a bore almost completely free of such marks. Some makers electro-polish the bore before rifling, by whatever method they employ, and some lap the rifled barrel as a final step to insure best possible finish to both lands and grooves. The barrel pictured above shows no evidence of any care in manufacture to produce a quality barrel, and the finish on the tops of the lands may show that it was not reamed after drilling at all. It is not possible to drill a barrel without continuous coolant flood - the drill will pack with chips and break before any depth is achieved, and, when properly operated, will seldom leave so rough a surface as illustrated. And no proper reaming operation (which is done to assure good bore finish and dimension) would ever leave so rough a surface. Whoever made that barrel would be better employed as a plumber - unless he took as little care with his work in that trade, as well.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke