Bore Scope Videos, or Never Meet Your Heroes...
Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: Enfield Rifles
Forum Description: Anything that has to do with the great Enfield rifles!
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=14335
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 4:31pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.07 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Bore Scope Videos, or Never Meet Your Heroes...
Posted By: mrbieler
Subject: Bore Scope Videos, or Never Meet Your Heroes...
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 10:35am
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They say you should never meet your heroes... I've had both these rifles since the early 1990's. A 1944 Long Branch No4 and a 1942 Lithgow No1. Shot a metric ton of WWII corrosive blanks and some live WWII ammo through them for the first 10 plus years I had. Put away and not shot much again until the last few years. Against better judgement, I ran a bore scope down them recently. Unattractive comes to mind. Both rifles still shoot decent surplus rifle groups in recent outings using Green HXP ammo, but damn are those bores ugly to look at. The No4 was recently shot and shows the copper jacket stains. The No1 has not been shot since last cleaned. Going to try to link the video links here. Both are shot chamber to muzzle. My first attempts to use one of these widgets. Long Branch https://i.imgur.com/cEp9cdN.mp4" rel="nofollow - https://i.imgur.com/cEp9cdN.mp4 Lithgow https://i.imgur.com/lh8GawE.mp4" rel="nofollow - https://i.imgur.com/lh8GawE.mp4 |
Replies:
Posted By: Irish Blonde
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 10:43am
| Thorroclean two part kit. Whatever happens after the Thorroclean is as good as it's gonna get. |
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 11:29am
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Either that or the M-Pro-7 system, again a copper cleaner & powder solvent. Its water based so good for corrosive cleaning low odor & can safely be left in as long as you want. The chemistry works well without excessive scrubbing. I patch out at night, store muzzle down & use the solvent in the next day Then add more copper cleaner. It will get everything out after a few days of this at just 5 minutes a day. ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: mrbieler
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 11:36am
The Lithgow barrel is clean down to bare metal. Just ugly as all get out with the pitting.  The Long Branch is pretty clean except for the copper streaking which I largely attribute to the rough barrel dragging on the bullet. Mostly just amazed and disgusted by how they look but both still shoot well. Ignorance is bliss. Now that I know how they look, it will nag at me. :)
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Posted By: Zed
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 12:05pm
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After looking at the video of your Lithgow, I actually feel better about the borescope images of my 1907Mk1* barrel. I have yet to test the rifle, because our large calibre range is closed temporarily (for homologation). I also have a no4 with a 2 groove barrel that is heavily copper fouled. (also waiting to test this rifle and find time to clean it). It's good to know they still shoot well! That's encouraging. ------------- It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice! |
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 4:00pm
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Don't forget that you're viewing not just inside the bore but at like 100X magnification. I scoped my brand new, probably unfired Lithgow & it had a dozen or so reproductions of the Grand canyon in the bore! ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 4:38pm
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Some say don’t buy a borescope, you won’t like what you see… I’ve not seen fouling that looks quite like that, might be from shooting blanks? I’m curious what cleaning method you use (solvent and type of jag). That borescope video was taken after cleaning your No. 1 rifle? |
Posted By: mrbieler
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 5:41pm
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Lots of blanks. Would venture 7~8k rounds through each in that period. WWII dated corrosive stuff. We were get cases of 1000 rounds of blanks for under $100 of the New Zealand stuff. Would burn through a 500~800 rounds at some of the events. 6~8 events a year over 10+ years adds up. They would get cleaned the Monday afterwards but... The No1 was recently cleaned and has not been shot since. Shiny but pitted like crazy. The No4 was cleaned at the same time but has about 300 rounds through it since. Cleaned out but I didn't work hard on the copper.
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: December 25 2025 at 6:13pm
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That probably explains why the throat looks quite good. Blanks don’t generate the pressures and temps that ball ammo do which is what erodes the throat and causes the fire cracking. Cordite probably erodes the throat about 5x faster than NC powder. I found it’s quite difficult to keep barrels free of all fouling after routine cleaning. It doesn’t really affect shooting unless the copper starts building up. The real problem is if your rifle is stored in conditions of 50% and higher humidity, then pitting takes hold, that makes the bore rough and strips even more copper off the jackets. But some rifles will still shoot well with very rough bores, up to the point the jackets get damaged enough to cause the bullets to “blow up” on the way to the target. My 1903 Springfield A3 two groove is one such barrel. It won’t shoot thin jacketed bullets (like the Speer TNT), they disintegrate at about 50 yds from the muzzle. I’ve only found three products that really do work. Bore Tech Eliminator, Bore Tech C4 Carbon remover and JB Bore Paste. I’m sure there are others, but that’s what worked for me. |
Posted By: mrbieler
Date Posted: December 26 2025 at 8:19am
| Overall it is interesting to see. No signs of fire cracking. I would probably classify these as heavily frosted. Poor/inadequate maintenance and lots of use with corrosive ammo. |
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 26 2025 at 10:26pm
| im not sure i want to see my bore , my rifles are old and well used - might be better not knowing ? |
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: December 27 2025 at 11:33am
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My suggestion is find a new or almost new barrel & scope that FIRST. This will be your reference image for any future scope images or videos. This (rather shocking) set of images will be the "perfect" standard. Then compare to the "suspect" bore you're viewing now. ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |