Chrome lining flaking off.

[One More Time]

This is an unfired 14.7" FN barrel, PSA upper.
Not just a couple of spots but all throughout the barrel.
I was checking the gas port alignment, which was fine but it looks like the plating process didn't go right with this one.
Got an RMA and it's going back, if the replacement looks like this one I'll just get a refund and be done with it.
Sure don't look like my CL .308 barrel that has around 1,000 rounds through it.
https://i.imgur.com/uIBJFHil.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jg1MrNpl.jpg

[markm]

I agree that doesn't look so good. That's for sure not copper streaking from test fire?

[1168]

Maybe copper. Maybe not.

Borescopes don’t mean shit. I use mine for funsies, but a barrel that looks like ass can shoot great, and one that looks good can shoot poorly. My favorite thing to do with mine is to look at erosion in worn out barrels.

[One More Time]

Doesn't look like copper fouling.
Looks thin and flaking, but bore scopes can be misleading.
It doesn't look like my other one either that's been shot a few times.
The patches I pulled through it came out pretty clean too.

Short video.

https://youtu.be/b4ozijwyA00

[markm]

I've read here that chrome lining does not flake off like bumper chrome. I tend to agree with 1168. If a barrel shoots, I don't really sweat what it looks like inside within reason.

[tomme boy]

That is not flaking. It is copper fouling. Use a cleaner that dissolves copper and let it sit with it in the bore. I use the foaming bore cleaner and let sit over night.

[HKGuns]

Doesn't look like copper fouling.

Then you have zero clue what Cu fouling looks like. That looks EXACTLY like Cu fouling becuase that is EXACTLY what it is.

[One More Time]

You're right, it's nothing to be concerned about.
I should have known better.
When it gets a few rounds through the barrel it will most likely look like my other one.

Sometimes I need to just keep the spaz in a box.
I am glad I asked though, would have felt like an ass for sending it back for no reason.
And this is the place to ask those sort of questions as the members here are are pretty knowledgeable on these things.

[1168]

That looks EXACTLY like Cu fouling.
Yeah, I think so, even though the color looks slightly off. But that could be a difference in our scopes/camera/screen. I’ve only ever had one borescope and no professional training with it, so I’m no expert. The pattern certainly looks like copper, though, and its close enough to what I’m used to in color.

I wouldn’t bother trying very hard to clean that, unless it shoots poorly. Thats not a lot of copper, IMO. Getting it cleaner than that is in the realm of diminishing returns.

[sinister]

It's a rifle barrel. They start to wear with the first round you fire. It contains a huge amount of heat and pressure.

Why are you worried about it? It's not a match barrel.

[MegademiC]

Steel isnt brown. If that was rust from bare spots, you should be able to remove it easily and retake the pics and both areas would be silver/gray.

As Mark alluded to, decorative chrome can flake due to the copper plating underneath (this is why ammoia-based cleaners destroy chrome faucets and such).

Industrial hard-chrome is bonded directly to the steel. Flaking would be from oils or oxides being on the steel as it entered the plating phase of the process. Its ussually big areas and you can see the cause of the failed adhesion... ussually.

[Hulkstr8]

I also thought it was copper fouling -but could I ask which bore scope you use?

[One More Time]

I also thought it was copper fouling -but could I ask which bore scope you use?
I picked up a $50 Teslong for .22 cal barrels, the ones I have at work are too big but fit a .30 cal.
The image quality is much better than my others that cost quite a bit more, though I haven't downloaded images from the one to a laptop, just use the screen it has.
It's main use is finding bolts dropped down the back of an engines gear train and using the magnet on the end to get them back.

Never really looked through a barrel much and getting every spot of copper out has never been a big concern of mine.
Sometimes I pull a bore snake through but that's about the extent of it.
I may do it different with the Wilson 18" barrel though. Gotta shoot the thing first.

After watching another video with the same barrel and scope it looks exactly the same and the guy never mentioned any irregularities, just noted how well the lands looked.

But I know more today than I did yesterday so it's all good.

[lysander]

I've read here that chrome lining does not flake off like bumper chrome. I tend to agree with 1168. If a barrel shoots, I don't really sweat what it looks like inside within reason.

Hard chromium plating will flake off under the right circumstances.

The usual reason id poor cleaning prior to plating.

In the early days of chrome plating bores (1960s) flaking was a common quality defect.

[mbjku]

Want headache? Get this scope for the bore :) Seriously "flaking" doesn't look like this.