another firelappung ?

[frontloader]

Hi guys..my new to me 45LC Vaquero was leading BAD from the forcing cone to the barrel threads. shooting a Lee 255 rnfp sized at .452 from 800 fps to 1250 fps 14 BHN to 21 BHN and three different lubes. I checked the chamber throats and they were way under size. so I opened them to .4525. did not help any that I could see. it starts leading the FIRST round.soooo now what?? firelapp? If I do firelapp will it open the chamber throats more? ........any suggestions please.

[NSP64]

Firelapping will open up whatever is tight. I used pure lead (over 4gr unique) in the basement with lapping compound to smooth out the frame/barrel tightness. I would use a boolit the same size as the throats. Pound a pure slug all the way through. Then pound one just into the crown. Pull the one in the muzzle. If the muzzle slug is larger , then you have a constriction in the barrel.
The one you pound through gets swagged down by the constriction ( pure lead doesn't rebound like alloys will).
A 2x8 stopped my sluggs. I used some cardboard in front of the board because the sluggs were bouncing around the basement. Lol

I clean barrel between shots. The buildup will stick a boolit in the barrel.
I marked the cylinders so I shot out of each chamber once. Then I cleaned the cylinder. repeat as required.
I used fired brass, just deprime/reprime, load unique, press boolit in as far as you can with finger.

[frontloader]

Hey NSP64.....Yea I just reamed the cylinder throats and I did not want to make them larger than .4525. I will cast some pure lead slugs in the morning and do what you suggested. whats your thoughts on a 11 degree forcing cone? .....thanks...frontloader

[NSP64]

I wouldnt spend the money unless you were going to do alot of guns. What are you using the gun for? Long range shooting games, or cowboy action?

[bhn22]

When you lap a revolver, the barrel gets lapped once per bullet. Therefore, if you have a six-shot revolver, each chamber throat will be lapped only one time for every six that are fired. Put another way, for every six shots fired each chamber is lapped only once, but the barrel will be lapped six times. You're very unlikely to enlarge your throats significantly at that rate.

[44man]

Veral suggests a little harder then pure for lapping.
I did one by making up the lapping rounds but instead of rolling the boolits I smeared a little lapping compound into the rifling just ahead of the cone for each shot. I used a "Q" tip.

[Bass Ackward]

Yep. For small or finishing jobs on handguns, it is much easier to mix the grit with some thinned down LLA and just paint it in with a Q-tip. I thin it so that I can shake the bottle to keep everything mixed.

Just make sure you mark the bottle well or throw it away when you are done.

Can't win fair in life, cheat.

[frontloader]

Thank you guys,I pushed a soft lead boolit down the bore as NSP64 suggested,it seemed tight under the front sight ?? and at the barrel threads. I done it half a dozen times, same thing. between front sight and barrel threads it was loose.it seemed the tightest under the front sight. So I guess I will order some lapping compound from Mr Smith,BTW NSP64 this revolver will be used for hunting these small Alabama deer and paper punching.I was hoping to push this 255 Lee rnfp to about 1250 fps.....so should I just put some compound on a Q-tip and apply to forcing cone and shoot a 14 BHN boolit ?...... Merry Christmas.......frontloader

[475BH]

I firelapped my SBH many years ago, still had some prob's w/ leading w/ the right bullets.
I was told the barrel needed to be set back and have the forcingcone (11 degree-?-) recut, apparently it was large and too deep. That would have fixed it.
Shooting soft bullets did help for 20 +/- shots with the right load, according to old notes.
If you don't have the right pressure w/ the right alloy you will still have to remove a lil lead.
I just ended up running a brush w/ some 4-O on it thru the barrel every once in a while to remove the lead and shoot some more.

[geargnasher]

I had the same issue with my New Vaquero SS in 45 Colt, undersized cylinder throats (some, not all!), a terrible thread choke at the forcing cone, a restriction where the encyclopedia is roll-stamped on the side of the barrel, and again at the front sight. Reamed to .4525" as you did, then firelapped it into submission with air-cooled wheel weights over four grains of Longshot with a half-grain fluffed Dacron filler. After fire lapping the bore I lapped the cone with a lead lap made from a Lee 457-340-RN filed down to the correct taper, drilled and threaded onto a cleaning rod, and embedded in lapping compound. No more leading.

Gear