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Help with Barrel Borroscope DTA Desert Tech

Thor2j

Kriger
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 21, 2012
357
16
CO
Can you guys please tell me what your thoughts on this barrel is. It was sold to me as new and Im a little concerned. Looks like some copper fouling and the throat has some strange marks. Maybe Im making a big deal out of it (isnt that what everybody does with a borroscope), but when I buy a barrel that is expensive and sold as new I want it to be new. It's a Desert Tech barrel .260.

Thanks
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It's definitely been fired and then cleaned, but it's hard to say how much it's been fired. Maybe just factory test shots?

Was it purchased from an individual, or factory, or some third party retailer?
 
It's definitely been fired and then cleaned, but it's hard to say how much it's been fired. Maybe just factory test shots?

Was it purchased from an individual, or factory, or some third party retailer?
From a guy on here who I think is a gun dealer. He said he took it on trade. I don't think dta test fires but not 100% sure. Maybe somebody will chime in.
 
Agreed that it’s been fired, I’d probably clean it down to bare metal then see how she looks. No fire cracking so it’s not like it’s actually been really shot up, and the lands look pretty freshly cut unless I’m reading that photo wrong.
 
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The brownish/golden/orange coloration is copper fouling. The reason why the copper fouling isn't bright is because it is oxidized. Think of it like a shiny brand new penny versus one that is old and brown.

The black in the grooves is remaining carbon residue (can also show up as dark grey depending on lighting). Doesn't even look like there's a carbon ring groove.

That barrel looks test fired and basically still new (I'd estimate under 20rds fired). The throat and leade picture doesn't show any erosion (edges of lands/grooves look well defined), pitting, or cracking (think cobblestone wall texture) that you would see on a moderate round count, let alone high round count barrel.
 
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Let me put this issue to bed.
I bought this 260 barrel direct from Desert Tech about a year and a half ago. I did not fire the barrel at all. I did not run a patch through it or clean it. I did take measurements of the CBTO with my Hornady tool and Berger 140’s. It went in and out of my chassis a couple of times, but never left the house. I sold one of my chassis with this barrel a couple of months ago, and it didn’t fit the guy ergonomically so he turned around and sold the chassis and barrel separately. He just IM’d me a few minutes ago and said there was an issue with the barrel, and there was a claim that it was fired and there was copper fouling in it. Any copper fouling would have come from Desert Tech, as, like I said, I bought this new in box direct from Desert Tech.
Hope that helps.
 
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Here is a new barrel from desert tech, test fired. If you compare it to the original not in same ball park in terms of copper fouling.
Maybe Desert tech sold you a used barrel but that one has defiantly had a few rounds down it.
 
Let your new barrel from Desert Tech sit for a year and a half and see if it looks the same. Or fire a few rounds down the 260 barrel and run a patch through it, then compare.
 
Let your new barrel from Desert Tech sit for a year and a half and see if it looks the same. Or fire a few rounds down the 260 barrel and run a patch through it, then compare.
So you're saying copper will grow in the barrel from sitting???
 
What I was getting at was maybe it’s surface rust that gets blown out after a couple of rounds. But I bought it new from Desert Tech and didn’t fire it. I don’t know what else to tell you.
 
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