lapping a revolver

[boarder14]

Hey i need to get my revolver lapped to get rid of the choke point where the barrel is in the frame. I've seen when they put lead in the barrel and lap it that way and i've seen the fire lapping process. i was wondering if anyone has experience with either method. if you have i would like to know how it turned out

[Tatume]

How do you know you have a constriction?

[boarder14]

As i slugged the barrel it went in fairly easy up to the point where my barrel goes into the frame. At this point is where it leads when i shoot my bullets.

I talked to Gear about it and he said Rugers did this often and suggested lapping

[detox]

My Blackhawk shot verywell using 20/1 lead tin mix, but I was just not happy with that little ristriction. So I hand lapped the restriction. Slug will now slide easily thru forcing cone area. I have not shot gun since lapping, but i believe it will shoot atleast as good as before.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?188852-Lapping-Out-Barrel-Restriction-(hand-lap-only)




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[uscra112]

A lot of us do what is called fire-lapping to deal with that problem. Do some searching on the forum and you'll find a number of threads on the process. It did a great deal of good for a S&W I acquired.

[GaryN]

I would fire-lap it if it were me. If the gun is stainless steel and a Ruger be prepared. That is some tough steel and will take some work.

[detox]

A lot of us do what is called fire-lapping to deal with that problem. Do some searching on the forum and you'll find a number of threads on the process. It did a great deal of good for a S&W I acquired.

Fire lapping may be best route for the do it yourselfer.

[Gohon]

Wouldn't fire lapping also open up the cylinder throats a little also?

[DougGuy]

Are we talking about a Ruger here? I can only assume yes because they are notorious for tight cylinder throats and thread constricted barrels.

You don't say what caliber it is, but I am assuming it is a .45 because they have the thinnest barrel walls and therefore the greatest amount of "thread constriction" plus they are well known for that area in the barrel being anywhere from .003" to .006" constricted. If yours is stainless, firelapping won't be the best approach. By the time you firelap 400 series stainless enough to remove or even relax that much constriction, it would pretty much lap the rest of the barrel in uneven areas and that would be just about as bad as leaving it like it is. Ruger 45 cylinders can be as tight as .4485" but most run closer to .450" or .4505" it works very well to ream them to a uniform .4525" size.

If this ain't a Ruger 45, excuse me for assuming it might be. If it is, and your barrel is choked down over .003" you may want to look into having it Taylor throated. Blued steel and not stainless, with constriction less than .003" firelapping would probably work very well. I firelapped a blued Vaquero and a blued Blackhawk both .45 Colt and also a .44 magnum Super Blackhawk and shrunk groups by half, but the stainless Vaquero I have, I reamed the cylinder to .4525" and Taylor throated it, currently waiting on some gas check boolits to arrive before range testing.

Before I did this work, a .451" jacketed hollowpoint wouldn't go in the cylinder from the front. In slugging the barrel, driving a dead soft lead ball down the barrel, when it got to the threaded part, it stopped. I couldn't believe the additional effort required to drive the ball the rest of the way. That, was what made me decide it was too much for firelapping to fix, and I decided on the Taylor reamer. Now, I can drive a new lead ball down the bore, and it will slide snugly into the front of the cylinder with about half a thou to spare. I have good expectations for this next range trip..

[zomby woof]

Mine was not stainless
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?176849-GP100-adventures-in-leading-and-thread-choke

[MtGun44]

If you have decent pistolsmith available have him unscrew the barrel, remove a hair from the shoulder
on the barrel and reset with red Loctite. Much easier and no damage to anything else.

Bill

[boarder14]

its a blued .357 ruger blackhawk

[DougGuy]

its a blued .357 ruger blackhawk

Ahh. It sure sounded like you were talking about a 45 it might not be so bad then..