My new bore scope that is. My friend recommended a $67.00 delivered bore scope.  I almost wish I had not purchased it. The first pic shows the bore of one of my favorite rifles. It is an accurate 1903A3 Springfield that I thought had an excellent bore. My new toy showed different. Pitting, and copper fouling. It's funny that a flashlight shown from one end shows none of this. Some of our members say that a pitted bore can still shoot quite well. I just joined that club! I will have to work on that copper fouling. The second pic is a reminder to check the flash holes on brass! The scope should be good for checking head separation on brass.  I am happy with the new borescope even though it created more work for me.

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kc- I bought (invested in!) a nice Hawkeye Bore scope many years ago and it is definitely one of the best shooting investments I've ever made. I use that thing to check every bore of every gun I have before, during and after cleaning. I love cleaning my firearms because I can see exactly what I am doing and have learned real well, with the scope, how not to clean a bore. It goes along with my obsessive compulsive behavior for cleaning. (You can also over clean a bore, so, be careful!)

I don't have a camera on mine, like you have. It would be nice to document before and after conditions and for selling firearms and teaching purposes.

But you never know what a bore really looks like unless you use a bore scope! Looking down a barrel with a light is deceiving.

One issue with a pitted bore is if the rifling is still intact and has some depth to it, the bullet will be captured and spin to help with accuracy. It's more a function of rifling, not pitting, that begets accuracy.

Of course, a non-pitted bore with good rifling also is ideal.

Pitting can be significant enough to shred the casing or lead of a bullet and affect accuracy as well as make cleaning a real chore.

So, here's to your new acquisition! Enjoy and learn the art of gun cleaning from a different perspective!

Thanks Whig: This scope plugs into my phone or lap top. It comes with 3 different angle mirrors for side viewing.  It should be handy for checking bores at gun shows and stores. It was the price that sold me. The Hawkeye is a beautiful piece of optic engineering. A friend has one. This scope is not up to that quality but does a good job at around 70 dollars.

Heck, you'll learn more from your $70 than without it. You're going to really love this bore scope.

Enjoy!

One of the old Gun Digests had quite an article on cupro-nickel fouling with the first 06 ammo. It want till the later gilding metal was developed that the fouling problem went away. If that is what is there it is about 100 years old. Krag ammo was loaded using the same bullet jacket alloy but the lower velocity caused no problems.

If that is the old fouling still there it will be exceptionally hard to remove.

Kroil is the secret to removing copper, or any barrel fouling for that matter. It is a very fine oil - the oil that kreeps!  Some have even complained it kreeps so well the metal can won't contain it after a while.  I have a good Kroil stain on my shelf from this. The can has a "for industrial use only " comment on it but it has been available through automotive stores and larger outlets selling gun cleaning supplies for some time now.

Serious benchrest shooters were the first to use it to as barrel cleaner to remove fouling. Swab some down the bore and let it sit overnight and it kreeps under the fouling  which just brushes out.  Nasty fouling may take a couple applications.   
 

I am guessing that the deposits are copper.  I have only shot jacketed rounds in it. Although it's possible that there is cupro nickle fouling in the bore. I thought I was doing a good job cleaning it. As ugly as that bore is it usually groups around 3" at 100 yards with iron sights and my eyes. For me that's pretty good. I use hoppes no. 9 for cleaning. I will try to locate some kroil. It sounds like the ticket for copper fouling.

Borescope? ... Probably like a Colonoscopy .... you have to 'prep' before the procedure ... like we're not anal enough about guns, already!

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Bench rest shooters use Kroil in combination with JB's bore cleaning compound. I use it before shooting any used rifle I buy. Clean the bore with Kroil and let it sit for at least an hour, then use the JB's, I use a bore mop, 10-20 passes through the bore. It takes some time and patches to remove the dirt, copper, and JB's, but you will have a clean bore. Bench rest shooters use this technique to re-juvinate a gun which seems to be losing accuracy.

Just in case the usual copper fouling remedies do not work the Gun Digest with the article on Mobil Lubricant in the 2010 edition would be a good read. Those original cupra-nickel bullets left a fouling that had a particular affinity to the steel in the barrel. In that day the only solution was using the Mobil lubricant applied to the bullets at the time of shooting or using a very corrosive ammonia solution to clean the bores. Applying the lubricant just before shooting was trouble some and too much caused a few blown up rifles. Interesting read if you can find it pages 118 to 125.
King Carp if you happen to have one of the few rifles that had the fouling and did not get cleaned up, drastic measures may be required as the usually successful methods of removing copper fouling today may not work on nickel.

I have some of the jb bore paste. I had to order a can of kroil online. Could not find any locally. Years ago I used an ammonia based product on a badly fouled bore. It did clean up the bore but after that it seemed like it got dirty a lot quicker than before. This was while using cast bullets. I think the ammonia might have etched the bore and it would lead up rapidly. I will give Capt. Frank's method a try. There is no telling how this rifle was treated before I acquired it. It does shoot nice. I want to start shooting cast bullets in it so I do not want to use any ammonia based product.

I would be leery about using lubed bullets. I think i read Hatcher's book about some 03's blowing up from  shooting rounds that were lubricated. I guess it ran the pressures way up.

Does not bother me to use lead bullets with lube in the grooves. Most of them I think are back in the case neck where the lube can not get on the sides of the case.

Maybe I will read the article again but I understood grease if sloppily  applied to the spitzer would migrate to the case eventually and keep the sides of the case from gripping the chamber. Too much thrust on the bolts was the source of the failures. They have a couple of photos in the article. All this happened in the first few years of the 1903 especially in completion. Gilding metal, Luballoy and other formulated copper jackets ended the era of applying Mobil Lube to the bullets before firing. Cleaning the chamber of any lube is always a good idea for a gun that may have been stored form a long time with an oiled bore.

I will have to check the hatchers book also. I  think the lube was being put on the outside of loaded rounds and causing the problems. It's been awhile since I read this. I shoot mostly cast bullets and always lube them when sizing. But like you said they are inside the case and cause no problems.

I think it must have been copper fouling in the bore. I filled the barrel with "kroil" and let it sit overnight. I them cleaned it with some G.I. bore cleaner. It still has the pits but the copper is gone!  I hope it likes cast bullets now. Thanks for the help. KC

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Thanks! That was a great article. It answered a lot of questions I had.