Bought a cheap bore scope online, it was basically a toy
Wasted about forty bucks on one of those little USB cameras that looked okay in the pictures. The thing wouldn't even fit down a .22 barrel, and the picture was so fuzzy I couldn't tell a carbon ring from a scratch. What's a decent budget option that actually works?
My buddy had the same problem with a "toy" scope. He got one that claimed to fit a .22. The lens was so bad it made his rifle barrel look like a cave painting. He ended up getting a Teslong off Amazon for around sixty. The rigid cable actually fits, and you can see the rifling clear as day. Night and day difference.
Total waste of money, right? Been there. That fuzzy, swimming picture @xenamoore mentioned is the worst. You end up staring at weird shapes and guessing if it's a problem or just a bad camera. My first one made a clean barrel look like a muddy riverbed. Getting something with a clear image changes everything, you can actually see the lands and grooves.
Yeah, that "cave painting" look is exactly right. It's not just blurry, it's like the whole image is swimming. Makes you wonder if you're looking at fouling or just a bad lens. A clear scope is the only way to actually learn what's going on in there. Spending a little more saves so much guesswork.