I would love one of those fine Hawkeye borescopes, but the budget and wife don't care for the idea.

I received a coupon add from Harbor Freight Tools (HFT) the other evening and this CEN-TECH (I think that is HFT's house brand) inspection camera was on sale for $69.95.

The light and camera are on the end of a 36", flexible cable. The camera is 8.5 mm in diameter. 0.36 inch caliber is 9.14 mm. 0.45 cal is 11.4 mm. So, the camera can fit down any muzzleloader bore I have.

The LCD view screen is 2.4" and there is an output port to take the image to a large monitor.

The first unit was a dud. There was no image on the LCD screen. The second unit is working fine.

I have one of those $20, direct-from-China bore scopes that has to be plugged into a computer. The image is terrible and useless. The Centec, by contrast, it quite good. Looks like there is a little rust in a rifling groove in one of my flintlocks.

It comes with a 45 degree angled mirror, a pull hook and a retrieving magnet.

Without the coupon, it was listed at $89.95 or 99.95.

Thought it might be useful for some of you. And I don't work for Harbor Freight Tools.
Ron

Thanks for sharing!

Happy to do it!

The unit also is made in China, and I know that some folks have had problems with Harbor Freight quality, but this "borescope" seems to be up to the job.

Ron

looks like it could be a handy item, although it might be hard to get the handle control unit steady on the end of a 42" or longer barrel... I have a small (like 3/4" long and maybe 5/16" diameter small) brass LED light that had a small hole at the end through which I tied a bit of string to just drop down the barrel. I use it all the time to check my cleaning but it's been several years and I haven't the slightest idea where I got it. Maybe Midway or Bud's Gun Shop (online store) or maybe even eBay. I also don't think I gave much more than $20 for it.

MoountainRanger, there was no problem with steadiness putting it down a longrifle. The harder part was trying to get it to rotate while down the barrel.
Another problem is seeing what I didn't want to see: a little rust in some barrels. Not much, but enough to get my attention.
Ron

Glad that outfit is working out for you Ron. I looked online and found what matches what I have... a Traditions brass bore light ($19.99). I've used it on both of my flintlocks and it works well too.

Mine works fine, though the camera unit is a bit large, so I can only look at musket barrels, but since muskets normally get trashed by reenactors, that's pretty good...and I can inspect the interior of musket bores for pitting and such.

LD

Loyalist Dave,
My understanding is that there was an earlier version with a larger diameter camera. This one has an 8.5 mm diameter and fits my 45 cal and should fit a .36 cal which is 9.14 mm.
Ron

That's my typical karma....

LD

Reenactors don't take care of their firearms?Someone needs to tell them that's not PC,or HC....

By far...reenactors are not necessarily dedicated "living history" people...and I've seen some really crappy muskets!

LD