Should i lap my SRH??

[justinhip]

I have a 9.5 super redawk 44 mag. It shoots ok with jacketed and have been un impressed with lead. So far the best boolit is a lyman devistator and suppose its beacause it fits the cylinder best. I have slugged the bore and found the standard thread restriction and also at the muzzle. I dont really get any leading except on occaision a streak appeared near the muzzle. Should i firelap? Im on the fence

[rintinglen]

No leading? No lapping.

I think that the whole fire lapping thing is a little over sold. I have seen some guns benefit from it, but now wheres near as many as some folks would have you believe. What I might do is take some stainless steel polishing compound, a tight fitting patch, and give the barrel 10-15 passes, just to knock off the rough edges, but given what you describe I doubt I'd even bother with that.

Muzzle end leading is usually a function of the lube you are using being insufficient to last the whole length of the bore. More common in rifles, long barreled pistols and revolvers also can have issues.
Better attention to detail while loading, especially getting boolits that fit and stayed that way, made my cast boolit shooting better. The loading techniques that you can get away with when using jacketed stuff won't often work well with cast. Two things I strongly recommend: Seat the boolits to the correct OAL, then apply your crimp, and use an M die or equivalent when loading cast.

[btroj]

Ow snug are your bulletin the throat? Mine has .432 throats and it sure helped a bunch when I quit trying to shoot .429 or .430 bullets in it.

I would keep experimenting to see of you can find a load that works well enough before lapping. I do lap mine a bit, can't tell if it made a big difference or not. I did that before slugging the throats and realizing I was shooting bullets that allowed so much gas blow by that it was the cause of the leading.

[justinhip]

My bore measures at just about .4295 and my cylinders just about .4315. I bump sized some Lyman devistators to .431 and the cylinder fit is pretty good. I'm hoping to give them a try this weekend.

[Lefty SRH]

To me lapping the barrel is the ultimate last resort. I have the same gun with the same problems! It took a while to find what she liked but now its my go to gun for handgun hunting.
Try and get ahold of my 260gr keith boolits. If you can't find any let me know and I'll cast a few for you and send them to you.
Need to know your current Devastator load recipe.

[Larry Gibson]

With the 9.5" barrel and PB'd cast bullet with magnum lds you are pushing them too hard for accuracy, especially if using BB'd commercial cast. Even the 429421 Kieth with magnum loads is pushed to fast for best accuracy in the longer 9.5" barrel. The devastator does well because it probably runs 270 +/- gr and is driven slower. It is also GC'd so it stands up the higher performance of the longer barrel. With PB'd cast drop the loads back so they are in the 1300 - 1400 fps range out of your revolver and they hould do well.

The Devastator is an awesome bullet and is my choice for hunting with the 44 Magnum.I push it at 1350 fps out of my 6 1/2" BH and 1600+ fps out of my Contender. I cast them out of 16-1 alloy BTW.

I lso have not found firelapping to be necessary with revolvers. I generay shoot 300 or so magnum jacketed loads to break in a revolver and have not found the dreaded "restriction" after that.

Larry Gibson

[justinhip]

I was thinking about getting a few boxes of commercial and practice with them. I really don't want to lap it as the bore looks beautiful, sharp and shiney

[justinhip]

Btw, what is your load for the devastator?

[btroj]

Try sizing to .432 and see what you get. That made a huge difference for me.

[paul h]

If the barrel is contricted where it threads into the frame. i.e. breach choke, the gun will not shoot cast accurately.

Personally I'd recomend sending it to a good gunsmith and have the barrel taylor throated. I've taylor throated a few choked barrels and it works wonders.

[big dale]

I had a Redhawk with a 5.5 inch barrel in 44 back in the late 80's. That barrel was HARD and took a lot to break in. I wound up getting a box of 500 jacketed bullets and loading them about as hot as I could stand them. After that I sized my boolits to 432 and shot it another 15K rounds and then I had it shooting like it should have all along. The trigger was smoother once it had about 25thousand rounds thru the gun.

Sometimes the best answer for me is to just shoot it more.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[tek4260]

Has firelapping like Fermin Garza covered here and on www.gunblast.com ever hurt a revolver? I don't believe it would and I have shot a few firelapping boolits thru all my shooters. It made such a difference on one of my 45's that I consider it must do.

I am not talking about 1000's of rounds. Just a few dozen for good measure.

[TCLouis]

cylinder throats measure consistently so no problem there. Pin gage set is the way to go if one has several cylinders to measure and friends that are curious about their cylinders

I firelap everything (well almost everything) I own, but with very mild abrasive.

AND Not the Cylinder

Barrel Only

I have a method and lapping compound that works for me and I let others argues about whether to do it and how to do it.


44 Caliber boolits get sized to 0.431 one and all and are cast of my alloy that runs 14.5 bhn. Down to less than a hundred pounds so I guess it is time to cook up a batch of lead alloy

My SRH LOVES the Lee 310 grain RNFP GC boolit and likes most everything else to exceed my shooting ability.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

AS PaulH indicates, you could have thread choke and that could cause you problems.

Thread choke can be taken out with proper firelapping.

If you get some "push through" slugs such as Veral Smith from LBT offers - guess he still does - you can check for thread choke and the amount by following his directions.

You might also check the cylindar throats and make sure they are not undersize.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Larry Gibson]

Btw, what is your load for the devastator?

My 44 Devestaors run 270 gr fully dressed cast of 16-1 alloy or COWWs + 2% tin + 50% lead. I use Hornady GCs, size at .430 and use Javelina 50/50 lube. WW cases with CCI 350 primers. 23 gr H110 is the listed max load and it is a good one. The psi runs 30,000 in my Contender measured with the M43 Oehler. That load runs 1350 fps out of my 6 1\2" barrled Ruger BH and just under 1500 fps in the 8.4" Contender. I use 24 gr H110 which pushethe SAAMI MAP of 35,000 psi for the 44 Magnum. It runs 1425 fps out of the Ruger and 1575 fps out of the Contender.

As always work up to those and stop if pressure problems arise in your handguns.

Larry Gibson

[**oneshot**]

I had to firelap my Super Blackhawk, but that was due to a severe leading problem. Once I got done all was good.

[canyon-ghost]

Comparing jacketed to cast may be a mistake, the copper can interfere with cast in a really big way. I had to clean ALL the copper fouling out of my 41 mag before it would shoot cast decently (even with a gas check).

I used Hoppe's #9 and a bronze brush a couple of times, then followed with mineral spirits and a nylon brush. I think I cleaned it four times before I got it slick enough to slow down the leading. Using Carnuba Red, I had to remove all the copper fouling before it shot cast at all. When it did shoot cast, I had changed bullets to a gas check. It shoots great after that. My next Blackhawk never shot a jacketed round at all, not from day one.

[btroj]

Copper isn't really that hard to remove. I actually find the shooting a high Sb, low Sn bullet works quite well. Get a light lead/Sb wash on the bore and when removed the copper goes with it.

[clintsfolly]

My RH 44mag was so bad that it leaded in 6 rounds but after I reworked the cylinder throats,and fire lapped the the thread choke out it shoots great know!! Clint

[big dale]

Sorry guys...I did not mean to offend anyone. I bought that gun to shoot and I enjoy shooting so I shot it a lot. It was even more fun to shoot once it had more rounds thru it.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[justinhip]

I loaded some devistators over 296, gonna give em a whirl tomorrow, I bump sized them to 431 to fit my cyl. One of my throats is a hair larger than the rest

[Iron Mike Golf]

I spent a year trying to find a cast load that wouldn't lead for my RH 7.5 inch. Throats were over .432 and I had constrictions at the frame and under the front sight. I could also see (naked eyeball) tool marks on lands at the muzzle. I firelapped it.

Ruger stainless is hard! It took about 110 rounds of 320 grit compound. I followed that with a couple of cylinders of 600 grit.

I honed my .431 sizing die to .432. It shoots Mihec's #503 clone over 19.5 to 20.0 gr 2400 real fine with no leading.

[Char-Gar]

I have a 9.5 super redawk 44 mag. It shoots ok with jacketed and have been un impressed with lead. So far the best boolit is a lyman devistator and suppose its beacause it fits the cylinder best. I have slugged the bore and found the standard thread restriction and also at the muzzle. I dont really get any leading except on occaision a streak appeared near the muzzle. Should i firelap? Im on the fence

I would not do that were I you. If the only lead is near the muzzle, you have a lube problem. That is a long barrel and your lube is starting to roll snake eyes near the end.

I don't want to start a heated firelap or not fire lap thread, but I can say I have never done it, not felt the need to do so. The notion of fireing bullets coated with abrasive down a good barrel, just give me the willies.

[.5mv^2]

I got a new SRH in 44 mag. It would lead up at the cone and then lead more an inch or two after the breach. I ran a soft lead ball down the barrel and could feel a restriction at the throat. I thought, run some jacketed bullets through it and shot 100 through it. No change. I figured I could shoot 500 more and still have little change except to my wallet.

I fire lapped it 5 rounds at a time. I rolled some soft Keith bullets between two steel plates with valve grind compound on them. After 30-40 the restriction at the throat lessened so I stopped. It shoots 100% better than before, what little leading I get just brushes out instead of being soldered to the barrel walls.

[44man]

I owned a SRH and have shot many, many more. I have never seen a need to lap as every one shot super. 1/2" at 50 was common with cast and bullets. Mine was good for a coke can at 200 yards with a scope from the bench.
I do not think there is a thread constriction like the SBH because they use some kind of glue. I feel it is moot.
I have checked many SBH and SBH Hunters that had no problems.
It does happen but not as much as is thought.
I would tend to relax with the gun and work on what shoots. It seems the loading bench is the start as I always say.
It seems the number of bad guns and bad boolits is so low that to get excited has to be damped down.
I CAN list some bad stuff but I get in trouble! :groner:

[1bluehorse]

Go to Beartooth Bullets, order Marshall's lapping kit, follow directions in the book that comes with it. In the end you'll have a tapered barrel without constrictions that is just right for shooting cast. The gun will be easier to clean, (less or no leading) will be more accurate (with cast) and will probably pick up 25 to 50 fps shooting the same loads you now use. Thats MY experience, and I've done a bunch of Rugers. Although none were SRH's. BH's, RH's, and Vaqueros are what I've done, and there was improvment in all of them, some to a lesser degree than others but all showed improvement.

[knifemaker]

I recently had to firelap a Ruger Blackhawk 44 spec. in order to improve the accuracy. I was getting 3 inch,at best, groups at 25 yards with my cast 250 gr.
The first thing I did was to slug the cylinder throats to determine if they were undersize. They were not, all 6 a consistant .4315.
I then slugged the barrel and found the grove dia. was .430. When doing that I hit a tight spot at the junction where the barrel screws into the frame. slugging this showed the constriction was sizing my bullets down to .429.
I used the NECO kit to firelap the barrel. It took 42 rounds using the 220 grit to remove the constriction and get a .430 reading. I finished up with 12 rounds of 440 grit and 12 rounds of 800 grit to polish the barrel. Cleaned the gun very well and shot for group. Group size dropped down to 1 1/2 inch for 6 shots at 25 yards. Boolits were sized to .431.
I have no leading problem and the gun is very accurate now. My other Ruger Blackhawk in 41 mag was very accurate out of the box and no leading problems. It also does not have any constriction at the junction where the barrel screws into the frame.

[softpoint]

Using a slower powder can do wonders for leading problems. If you are using Unique, Herco, or even Blue dot, often a change to 2400, 4227, 296, will eliminate leading