Is my barrel f-ed?

bowhunter307

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Scoped my barrel this morning, Browning 280 AI with exactly 110 rounds through it. Are these scratches in the barrel something to worry about? It's been cleaned twice and I (thought) I was careful as always with the cleaning rod.WIN_20240310_11_08_43_Pro.jpgWIN_20240310_11_08_55_Pro.jpgWIN_20240310_11_09_01_Pro.jpgWIN_20240310_11_11_03_Pro.jpgWIN_20240310_11_11_33_Pro.jpg

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Where are those marks located in the barrel? As in, just by the throat, muzzle, etc? On first glance, they look both parallel to each other, and perpendicular to the bore - that's a bit too precise to be something you could do cleaning your gun.
 
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bowhunter307

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How does it shoot?
Don't really know, tbh. The 100 rounds through it were just cheap Speer bullets behind a mild charge of H4350 to fire form cases. Was about 1.5-2" at 100 yds but I wasn't shooting for precision or anything, again just wanted to fire form cases and break in the barrel before I start load development.

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bowhunter307

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Where are those marks located in the barrel? As in, just by the throat, muzzle, etc? On first glance, they look both parallel to each other, and perpendicular to the bore - that's a bit too precise to be something you could do cleaning your gun.
About 6-8" down the barrel.

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bowhunter307

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It's an issue with the barrel steel and was there prior to drilling. A good barrel maker would have tossed it after they drilled it.
I guess we'll see how good Browning's customer service is, thanks.

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4cMuley

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the easiest thing to do is shoot it. If a random fire forming load shot 1.5 MOA I’d say you’ll be fine. I’d be more concerned if that was near the muzzle. But again I’d shoot it first before I got too bothered
 

mt100gr.

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Definitely shoot it and see. Unless you chucked something ridiculous into a drill and ran it down the bore to clean it, I doubt you made those marks in there.
 

Article 4

WKR
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Mar 4, 2019
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Horizontal Tool marks are deep. It has the look of an unlapped button bbl. Looking at a lot of button bbls, you usually see linear tool marks. Hence lapping.

After 100 rounds, most of that should have been “shot out”

Agree with others. Shoot it. If it is anywhere around 1 to 1.5 moa, that could be all to expect out of a factory rifle. Personally I would do as you said, sent it back and see if they warranty it.
 

B23

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If you scope very many new, factory, barrels you'll initially be horrified by what you see sending you into cardiac arrest murmuring to yourself wtf wtf wtf and after you've popped a couple Xanax and dissolved a few nitro pills under your tongue you'll be in a rush to box it up and get it shipped back to the manufacture. Trust me, I get it most of us with a borescope have been there.

You have a couple options.

#1 Call the manufacture explain to them what you saw in their barrel. The first thing they'll likely ask you is "how does it shoot". They'll probably suggest you shoot it first to see how it does then get back to them, or, they may just ask you to return it and hopefully they'll email you a prepaid postage label so it doesn't cost anything.

#2 You shoot it and attempt to work up a load for it and see how it goes.

It's actually quite surprising how bad some of these factory barrels can look and still shoot very well. The biggest bitch I've found with them is they tend to be a much bigger PITA to get clean because those imperfections in the barrel just gives copper and carbon a place to grab onto but I think just about any factory barrel is a bigger PITA to clean when compared to a good custom barrel.

The only real risk of shooting it as is and see how it does is if it doesn't pan out and you end up having to send it back you've used up some of your components and wasted a bit of your time but we take that risk with just any new rifle we get.
 

Vern400

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Aug 22, 2021
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You can't make those kind of marks with a cleaning rod I don't think.
Get Browning to fix it, or just shoot it.

They ought to be a little bit embarrassed.
 

Sled

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If you scope very many new, factory, barrels you'll initially be horrified by what you see sending you into cardiac arrest murmuring to yourself wtf wtf wtf and after you've popped a couple Xanax and dissolved a few nitro pills under your tongue you'll be in a rush to box it up and get it shipped back to the manufacture. Trust me, I get it most of us with a borescope have been there.

You have a couple options.

#1 Call the manufacture explain to them what you saw in their barrel. The first thing they'll likely ask you is "how does it shoot". They'll probably suggest you shoot it first to see how it does then get back to them, or, they may just ask you to return it and hopefully they'll email you a prepaid postage label so it doesn't cost anything.

#2 You shoot it and attempt to work up a load for it and see how it goes.

It's actually quite surprising how bad some of these factory barrels can look and still shoot very well. The biggest bitch I've found with them is they tend to be a much bigger PITA to get clean because those imperfections in the barrel just gives copper and carbon a place to grab onto but I think just about any factory barrel is a bigger PITA to clean when compared to a good custom barrel.

The only real risk of shooting it as is and see how it does is if it doesn't pan out and you end up having to send it back you've used up some of your components and wasted a bit of your time but we take that risk with just any new rifle we get.
Agreed.

Button pulled barrels are cheap to manufacturer. They can shoot well but often have these marks.
 

Caseknife

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Joined
Feb 22, 2020
Messages
313
If you scope very many new, factory, barrels you'll initially be horrified by what you see sending you into cardiac arrest murmuring to yourself wtf wtf wtf and after you've popped a couple Xanax and dissolved a few nitro pills under your tongue you'll be in a rush to box it up and get it shipped back to the manufacture. Trust me, I get it most of us with a borescope have been there.

You have a couple options.

#1 Call the manufacture explain to them what you saw in their barrel. The first thing they'll likely ask you is "how does it shoot". They'll probably suggest you shoot it first to see how it does then get back to them, or, they may just ask you to return it and hopefully they'll email you a prepaid postage label so it doesn't cost anything.

#2 You shoot it and attempt to work up a load for it and see how it goes.

It's actually quite surprising how bad some of these factory barrels can look and still shoot very well. The biggest bitch I've found with them is they tend to be a much bigger PITA to get clean because those imperfections in the barrel just gives copper and carbon a place to grab onto but I think just about any factory barrel is a bigger PITA to clean when compared to a good custom barrel.

The only real risk of shooting it as is and see how it does is if it doesn't pan out and you end up having to send it back you've used up some of your components and wasted a bit of your time but we take that risk with just any new rifle we get.
This right here, don't look down a Savage barrel if that concerns you.
 
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