Thread: Heads-up on Volquartsen THM 10/22 barrels

Originally Posted by ChrisW

I don't have a real opinion on this, but I do know that bore scopes can be the devil and create problems where there arnt any.
@55six has it right imo - but how does it shoot / function?

Have dealt with people in the past who have bought a brand new rifle, then returned it saying they put a bore scope down it and found tooling marks, scratches or whatever in the barrel...
OK...so how does it shoot? Does it meet its accuracy and function requirements to be fit for purpose? You mention the projectile does not contact the lands...if it did you'd run the risk of yanking projectiles out of their case every time you unload.

Im not saying these are fit for purpose. Could not comment on what if any effect the detected imperfections would have on real functioning and accuracy of a given barrel and firearm. Impossible to really say without testing.

If you own a bore scope your chances of ever being happy with a barrel goes down drastically regardless of how well it shoots. Sometimes its better not to know that that 1/4" barrel has a big pit in it, because afterall its accuracy and function that matters, and a bore scope cannot tell you that.

@ChrisW
Good points, and well put. As you note on your follow up post, unfortunately testing these barrels is a little more involved when you don't even have a 10/22 to put them on. I'm happy to admit I'm not working with all the information here, and I couldn't guarantee that these barrels won't shoot well. But it's an educated guess on my part. I do think I'm on pretty safe ground saying that this is not how these barrels are supposed to be.

I'm sure not all VQ barrels are like this. If anyone else here gets one with the same defects it'll be their call whether they're willing to roll the dice. In this instance, I wasn't.

Regarding the projectile contacting (or at least being near) the lands, I understand that would be normal for a 'Bentz' spec chamber which is what I understood VQ to use. Happy to be corrected on that point. A degree of rifling engraving on the bullet is common for match-spec .22 chambers and I haven't heard of even deep engraving causing bullets to be pulled from cases - we are talking soft, lubricated lead after all rather than jacketed bullets. It's the amount of projectile jump that took me by surprise: 1.6mm seems a lot. I measured the chamber length as best I could to be 0.760" from rim seating face to leade. If you look at .22 reamer specs that doesn't look like a chamber I would expect.

The reasons I sent the barrels back though were the terrible finish at the front end of the chamber for the first barrel, and the chamber being eccentric to the bore on the second barrel. Everything else is just observations on my part.