Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

Anything shooting related including law and procedure questions.

Moderator: dromia

Forum rules
Should your post be in Grumpy Old Men? This area is for general shooting related posts only please.
Message
Author
Racalman
Posts: 709
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:21 am
Home club or Range: LPSC and NRA
Location: Berkshire

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#21 Post by Racalman »

I bought one of these a few years ago. It cost me £80 from an RFD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsxwHjADVy8

I think you have a better deal in terms of image quality. Also the sensor detached itself from the end of the cable and it's now a bit intermittent.
1066
Site Supporter Since 2015
Posts: 2158
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:05 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#22 Post by 1066 »

Racalman wrote:I bought one of these a few years ago. It cost me £80 from an RFD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsxwHjADVy8

I think you have a better deal in terms of image quality. Also the sensor detached itself from the end of the cable and it's now a bit intermittent.
I have a similar cheap endoscope - I have to say it's not in the same street for image quality as these new borescopes. it's really essential that you have a right angle mirror too to get the best use out of one.
TARGETMASTER
an altogether better trickler
www.targetmasteruk.com
User avatar
WelshShooter
Site Supporter Since 2016
Posts: 1804
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:45 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#23 Post by WelshShooter »

Just tried mine out down a couple of rifles, whilst I'm impressed, I'm also disappointed!

Setup was a doddle on my Samsung S8, followed the instructions and installed the app. The USB-C adapter is a little finicky as the camera will cut out if its too loose. Since there's a lot of length in the cable, it's easy to find a good position without causing the adapter to wiggle.

I have to say, the image quality is far better than I expected. Using the endoscope on a 223 rifle the camera was good to go straight out of the box, you can see the rifling clearly in the mirror and peripheral vision as you move down the rifle. For larger calibres such as 8mm or 357mag you will need to adjust the focus. This can be performed by unscrewing the mirror to adjust the distance from camera then snug up with the locking ring.

Why am I disappointed? Because looking down my Marlin's barrel shows chattered teeth marks throughout the first half of the barrel lengths rifling! However, I did know that my Marlin was a remlin plus its fairly accurate for me, so it just goes to show that barrel condition isn't everything. I did see that the chamber looked fairly filthy so I know I need to give it a good clean now!

Sorry for lack of pictures. I'll be sure to take some before and after cleaning and include what cleaning products I use.
James84
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:46 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#24 Post by James84 »

My eBay cheapy fits down a .223 without the mirror so you get a 'wide angle' shot of the bore, but the right angle mirror it came with won't fit. It does a 308/7.62 quite nicely though. Video quality isn't as crystal as that video on page 1 but for £5, it works for me.
The Gun Pimp
Posts: 1154
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 3:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#25 Post by The Gun Pimp »

If anyone is looking to get one of these borescopes, we're taking a few to the Target Shooting Show next Saturday - they'll be on the UKBRA stand. You can watch a demo before you buy.
User avatar
WelshShooter
Site Supporter Since 2016
Posts: 1804
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:45 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#26 Post by WelshShooter »

On Sunday I set up the borescope and went about inspecting the chamber and bore of my Marlin 1894 followed by a clean. I had at hand some Riflecraft cleaner (i.e. Bore Tech) and Wipeout tactical. I do have other cleaners but these are my go to cleaners for general cleaning.

Setting up the Borescope
Setting up the bore scope with my Android Samsung S8 was straight forward, but I wanted to give some tips which I found useful.

The package includes a QR code in the instructions to download “Endoscope camera” from the Play Store. This app was buggy and would often crash after taking a picture and would never save a recorded video. I would recommend downloading “Teslong HD Camera” as this app worked very well. This app only works when the borescope is plugged into your phone using the provided USB cable and you have given the necessary permissions to run On the Go (OTG). The USB cable provided also comprises a USB-C, so you can open the adapter and connect to your Android smartphone which has USB-C connection. From there, you can use the app to take pictures or record videos. I found this adapter to be a little sloppy, and the camera would disconnect from my phone if the cable was pulled on causing misalignment with the adapter. The cable has more than enough length so make sure the adapter isn’t pulled when moving the borescope through your bore. Within the app you can set the image and video quality. Taking a picture or recording a video is a simple one touch operation.

The camera works at a fixed focal range and it was pretty much set up to work for a .223 bore. Since I was using it with my .357, the distance between the chamber/bore and the camera was longer than the focal length. You can adjust the focal length on the camera by screwing the mirror towards the camera and then tightening the locking ring between the mirror and the camera. There’s a bit of trial and error here.

Cleaning
As mentioned above I had Riflecraft bore cleaner and Wipeout Tactical. I used the Pro Shot Chamber cleaning kit along with a jag and 2” round patch (suitable for .35-.38 cal). The Wipeout is not pictured. For the bore, I used a standard parker hale .30 cal rod with a jag and 2” round patch.

Image

I started off with a complete stripping of the firearm followed by taking pictures of the chamber and bore in a “pre clean” state. I then proceeded to clean the chamber using Riflecraft bore cleaner followed by a bore inspection and taking a video. Finally, I cleaned the chamber using Wipeout followed by another bore inspection and taking a second video. I took screenshots from the videos. See the first load of pictures below, showing (left to right):
  • Pre clean
    Post Riflecraft / Bore Tech
    Post Wipeout

Chamber (click HERE for full resolution of the collage)

Cleaning was performed by using one wet patch followed by two dry patches . Here are the patches after each respective clean (left to right).

Image

Image

  • Top row is the carbon ring at the throat
    Middle row is centre of the chamber
    Bottom row is towards the edge of the chamber
Image


Bore (click HERE for full resolution of the collage)

After cleaning the chamber I went ahead and repeated the cleaning regime for the bore. Here are the patches after each respective clean (left to right).

Image

Image


Top row is towards the muzzle of the firearm
Bottom row is towards the throat

Image


Summary

From the pictures it looks like the Riflecraft / Bore Tech did a good job of cleaning the chamber to the point where the Wipeout didn't pick up anything, but the chamber was not fully clean. The carbon ring has mostly disappeared but I reckon the chamber could be cleaner. Reading online it sounds like JB bore paste plus a good fitting felt pellet will do the trick so I’ll go ahead and make an order.

In terms of the bore, I’m now 100% certain that my rifle is a Remlin lol If the tool marks on the inside of the receiver weren’t bad enough just look at those tool marks half way down the bore! It’s funny because it’s actually a pretty accurate rifle at 25m when standing. During load development I was easily getting cloverleaf groups which is good enough for me as 99% of the time I shoot this as a gallery rifle. The bore does look shinier but not a great deal cleaner. The patches didn't feel overly tight so I had to overlap two patches, I reckon this is because I was using a .30cal jag rather than a slightly larger one so I will be order an appropriately sized jag.

In terms of the Teslong bore scope, I’m very impressed! Inexpensive and produces good quality images/video with an easy to use app. There’s not much difference in image quality between taking pictures or taking a screenshot from a video, but you need to make sure you capture a frame where the camera remained still and in focus!

Now, I can only image the state on the bore of the 1920's Mosin that I have... :o
User avatar
Dark Skies
Posts: 2824
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:02 am
Home club or Range: NRA
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#27 Post by Dark Skies »

I've been using one of these cheap borescopes for a few years now. Price may be as much as a pound more than I paid in 2017 !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Endoscop ... 2749.l2649

I've mainly used it for having a peep around the inside of cylinders and inside engines. I've hooked it up to a spare mini laptop dedicated to garage use. The scope will fit down a 5.56 bore no bother. Pictures are decent.
"I don't like my job and I don't think I'm gonna go anymore."
1066
Site Supporter Since 2015
Posts: 2158
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:05 pm
Contact:

Re: Cheap Chinese bore scope - I'm impressed

#28 Post by 1066 »

WelshShooter wrote: In terms of the bore, I’m now 100% certain that my rifle is a Remlin lol If the tool marks on the inside of the receiver weren’t bad enough just look at those tool marks half way down the bore! It’s funny because it’s actually a pretty accurate rifle at 25m when standing.... :o
I think that now many more people are able to have a peep down their barrels we will see some real horror stories. All the time the rifle is shooting well we generally don't need to bother too much but it's handy to see if there are problems when it's obviously not up to scratch.

A few years ago I bought a new target rifle and, although it was accurate it was a devil of a job to clean and what looked like copper filings was visible on the patches after every few shots. Looking through the bore it looked dull not shiny like my other rifles. Not having access to a borescope I cobbled one together out of bits and sure enough there were those chatter marks all the way up the barrel. I contacted the UK importer who said "that's usual it'll get better after 2-300 rounds" Not being happy about that I posted the video on youtube and sent a link to their customer relation department. - A new barrel was soon forthcoming.
TARGETMASTER
an altogether better trickler
www.targetmasteruk.com
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot] and 12 guests