Found my little drop-in bore light the other day and dropped it down the barrel of my Pennsylvania Hunter after I had cleaned it. When I peered down the muzzle I was flabberghasted - the grooves looked like railroad tracks! I guess that is the "chatter" I read about on some bores. It was clean and shiny, just looked extremely rough. I don't have one of those bore scope thingies so couldn't take a picture but it sure was ugly!
I also dropped it down the bore of the Hodge-Podge rifle with the Colerain barrel and that looked a whole lot better. Not sure what to do at this point. I may pour a lead plug in it and try to smooth it out with valve grinding compound or such, but I don't have much hope for it. Maybe send it off and get it bored out to .54? She's a pretty enough rifle, just not as accurate as I would like.
For what it's worth, this is the second PA Hunter I have owned. The first one I bought from Ol' Shiney in Oregon back in 1991, and it was a great rifle. I could get 4" groups out at 100 yards, spot on, with both PRB and R.E.A.L. bullets. Then I foolishly traded it off.... (we need a crying "smiley" here.) So I had the chance to get this one and it's been a problem child since. It is a 5000 range serial number (where my first one was in the 12,000 range) and the lock was terrible. It now has a L&R lock (much better) but the fit and finish isn't nearly as good as my first one (sniff, wipe the tear away).
Enough rambling, I'm going to bed. It's been a bad evening when I found a charge on my Visa bill for something neither my Sweetie nor I had bought. The account has been closed and a new credit card is on its way, but it stinks to be ripped off that way. We aren't being charged for the item but still!
~WH~