Input on damaged rifling

[millerkiller77]

I've got a Ruger American gen2 in .223 that shoots every load under 1.5'' and it's favorite load of 73ELDM/H322 consistently shoots 1 hole groups, the best 4 shots measured .18".
The last few years, I've been fascinated with borescoping rifles mainly to see how effective different cleaning products actually are and the relationship of fouling on accuracy. This particular Ruger barrel has chunks missing from the lands and in two sections the chunks are impregnated into the grooves. It looks like tooling gouged the land and smeared the still attached chip into the groove. I've always been under the impression that Ruger barrels were hammer forged, so how is this even possible? If one of those chips came loose and out the barrel @3000fps I'm pretty sure it would ruin the barrel and whatever muzzle device was on it at the time, so I sent the rifle back to Ruger. Anyone on here with knowledge on how barrels are made have any theories?
I ruined my borescope lens so the pics aren't the clearest, but hopefully these will give you an idea of what I'm trying to describe.

 

[Potsie]

It shoots that well with the chunks missing?

 

[millerkiller77]

It shoots that well with the chunks missing?

The worst I could get was 1.5" with RMR 69gr jhp. Vmax, Fusions, ELDM, TBBC, SMK's, all had multiple nodes that grouped under 1". Besides the the chunks missing, it's one rough, ugly bore. Absolutely amazing how good it shoots. This two pics are the same barrel.

 

[morgaj1]

What did Ruger say?

 

[BAKPAKR]

The worst I could get was 1.5" with RMR 69gr jhp. Vmax, Fusions, ELDM, TBBC, SMK's, all had multiple nodes that grouped under 1". Besides the the chunks missing, it's one rough, ugly bore. Absolutely amazing how good it shoots. This two pics are the same barrel. View attachment 362334View attachment 362335

It looks like they tried threading the inside of the barrel.

 

[Mallardsx2]

That looks like a deep tear that happened while gun drilling the bore.

 

[Fire_9]

What difference does it make if it shoots as well as you say it does? Borescopes have got to be the biggest pain in the ass for barrel and rifle makers

 

[winmag]

That’s crazy that it shoots that well with that large of a flaw. Stuff like that would bother me too, but I’d try to convince myself to leave alone and just shoot it.

What’s the plan when it comes back with a new barrel without visible flaws but shoots 1.5” at best instead of 1.5” at worst?

 

[mevertsen]

If it shoots, it shoots. Leave it be.

Many things in life are imperfect and work just fine.

You may see the imperfections.

But it may well be within spec.

It's a mass produced rifle.

 

[Richard22]

People who throw stones at bore scopes remind me of people who never look under the hood to check the fluids or underneath their vehicle to check for leaks. While it's not something you do every day or even every week, it offers peach of mind that things are working and holding up as they should.

 

[antelopedundee]

Look through it and see something out of whack you could be pyschologically convinced the barrel is junk even tho it performs well. If it aint broke don't fix it.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Yup, that's one UGLY bore!

I've seen similar tooling marks in various barrels over the years but the CHUNKS are a real head scratchier. I'm guessing that Ruger will make it right.

I'm also amazed at the accuracy that the gun provided? Wow!

 

[Fire_9]

People who throw stones at bore scopes remind me of people who never look under the hood to check the fluids or underneath their vehicle to check for leaks. While it's not something you do every day or even every week, it offers peach of mind that things are working and holding up as they should.

But it doesn’t tell you that things are good and this barrel is a perfect example. If it shoots it shoots. If it doesn’t, it gets replaced. There’s no way I would let a one hole barrel go no matter what it looked like.

 

[millerkiller77]

What did Ruger say?

haven't heard anything yet, I just shipped it last week

 

[millerkiller77]

What difference does it make if it shoots as well as you say it does? Borescopes have got to be the biggest pain in the ass for barrel and rifle makers

The gouges don't seem to degrade accuracy in this particular barrel, it's the possibility of one of those chips coming loose and hitting a baffle at 3000fps that I have a big problem with.

 

[Jbotto]

I feel like most people would look at some deep imperfections on the exterior finish and not buy the gun based on that. I don’t disagree with sending that one back.

 

[millerkiller77]

That’s crazy that it shoots that well with that large of a flaw. Stuff like that would bother me too, but I’d try to convince myself to leave alone and just shoot it.

What’s the plan when it comes back with a new barrel without visible flaws but shoots 1.5” at best instead of 1.5” at worst?

It is what it is. I didn't buy it for a match rifle. It's a cheap, fun to shoot plinking rifle that happens to be unbelievably accurate. Larry's Pistol & Pawn had these rifles on sale for $400 because they supposedly had a cosmetic blem on the stock somewhere. I bought three, kept one and gave the other two to my nephews. Both of their rifles shoot factory ammo a tit hair over 1", so I'm confident whatever I get back from Ruger will be just fine.

 

[millerkiller77]

I feel like most people would look at some deep imperfections on the exterior finish and not buy the gun based on that. I don’t disagree with sending that one back.

Ironically, I bought it as a factory blem. There was supposed to be something wrong with the stock paint that I couldn't see.

 

[millerkiller77]

People who throw stones at bore scopes remind me of people who never look under the hood to check the fluids or underneath their vehicle to check for leaks. While it's not something you do every day or even every week, it offers peach of mind that things are working and holding up as they should.

They are the same crowd that buy one item at CVS and break out the check book.

 

[cahunter805]

Looks like a rolled chip. That’s not to bad really especially if it shoots. It is a factory barrel on a gun that costs $600.