Fire lapping appeared to work

[Buckshot]

...............I haven't shot anything through it yet since lapping, but what a difference in feel! I had Jon K try a patch through the barrel last Sunday at the club's BPC Buffalo shoot. He counted 3-4 'snaggy' spots.

I got a firelapping kit from Midway and last week I prepped 25 cast and lube-sized boolits from our group buy. They were about 16 BHN and 254 grs with GC. I did 5 with the 220 grit, 10 with 320 and 10 with 600. I had them loaded over 8.0grs of Unique. Per the instructions I cleaned very well between grit changes.

After firing the 5 with the 220 grit the difference was VERY noticeable. There were maybe 2 very faint 'sticky' places. After firing them all a patch simply glides through the barrel. Of course, the proof will come with the shooting. Oh, I'd also loaded up 5 rounds with unlubricated paper patched 321gr slugs over 17.0 grs of SR4759. While previously untried, they all went through the target point first (50 yards) but made about a 3" group.

I'm going to load up some more of the group buy boolits to shoot this coming Tuesday, using some of the loads I'd tried before to see what difference there may be.

..................Buckshot

[Boz330]

Fire lapping can sometimes make a big difference. I gave a #4 sporter to my godson that would shoot minute of deer but not much else. A buddy suggested fire lapping and it shoots right at MOA now. Had a tight spot in a relined 86 in 40-82 and it helped that as well. Another gun I had it didn't help at all and I ended up selling it. Good Luck.

Bob

[SwedeNelson]

Picked up a bore lapping kit about 10 yrs. ago.
Never used it.

Could be the answer for the sewer pipe barrel
on a very good looking Vetterli mod. 78.
From the throat to about 8" of the muzzle
is as ruff as a cob. The last 8" looks new.

I guess I couldn't hurt anything.

Swede Nelson

[Don McDowell]

I was having trouble with a green mtn barrel we'ld used to make a 40-65 roller. I took it to Ron Long to have him check it out and he explained his firelapping procedure. I took the rifle home and did it, and what a difference it made with the leading. Then went to a 16-1 bullet and goex 3f express and that rifle really shoots great now.

[Boz330]

Picked up a bore lapping kit about 10 yrs. ago.
Never used it.

Could be the answer for the sewer pipe barrel
on a very good looking Vetterli mod. 78.
From the throat to about 8" of the muzzle
is as ruff as a cob. The last 8" looks new.

I guess I couldn't heart anything.

Swede Nelson

As you point out it sure won't hurt anything to try, but it isn't going to cure all of that problem. There is a limit to what it will cure.

Bob

[JSnover]

Funny, I also have a 10 year old, new-in-the-box firelapping kit. My copper-fouling probelm cured itself before I got araound to using it.
Buckshot, what was the age and condition of your rifle, aside from feeling rough? I have a couple of closet queens that might be worth lapping.

[scrapcan]

Don,

Can you relay the methodology that ron Long had you use?

[725]

I did a friend's troublesome brand new Remington .308 with a homemade kit, of sorts. Took some 800 grit, rolled factory ammo between two flat steel plates (bullets only) with the grit spread out and fired them. Went from pie plate patterns to MOA. Spent an extrodinary amount of time cleaning the barrel afterwards. The change after 15 or 20 rounds was stunning. Now it's mirror bright and cleans up with a patch or two.

[Don McDowell]

Don,

Can you relay the methodology that ron Long had you use?

He said to take a soft lead bullet unsized or lubed, loaded in a case with just enough powder to get it out the barrel. Take the bullet and roll it in the palm of your hand, with just a drop of Napa valve grinding compound , until that slug was good a saturated, then fire the round clean and oil the bore and then repeat up to 1/2 dozen times.

[Boz330]

He said to take a soft lead bullet unsized or lubed, loaded in a case with just enough powder to get it out the barrel. Take the bullet and roll it in the palm of your hand, with just a drop of Napa valve grinding compound , until that slug was good a saturated, then fire the round clean and oil the bore and then repeat up to 1/2 dozen times.

Don, there are several grits of valve lapping compounds, what did you use? Some of that stuff is the consistancy of gravel.


Bob

[Don McDowell]

Bob the stuff I ended up with is Permatex, watermixed, and its says 34A near the bottom of the tube.

[scrapcan]

Don,

Thanks for the info.

[Don McDowell]

Ubecha.:drinks:

[SwedeNelson]

Boz330

I think you are right.
Spent the afternoon scrubbing.
After I got all the rust out things look better.

Have to put the fire lap kit back in the cupboard
Will have it for the next one.

Swede Nelson

[TCLouis]

several years ago, a fellow club member bought a new Ruger SS 338 Mag rifle with a rough spot several inches long. It had a patch of jacket material from just the test firing.

42 shots later with Lee 220 RN cast boolit sans GC lubed with Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound and it never stripped jacket material again. Why 42 shots you ask . . . . based on sound scientific principle, that was all of the boolits that I had cast up.

Last 10 shots went into an inch or less at 50 with that combo and as I remember it 7 grains of Unique.

Same thing smoothed a rough spot in the barrel of my SRH also. It leaded in that little area until the firelapping.


I have since run into a bit of a bargain and have Clover lapping compound from 200 to 1200 grit. The guy at the surplus store asked if I was willing to pay 2 bucks a can for it. Why didn't I buy it all even at those high prices?

[TCLouis]

CONTENTS DELETED BY AUTHOR

Not worth reading the same post twice.
Not sure how I was even able to post same info twice

[Buckshot]

Funny, I also have a 10 year old, new-in-the-box firelapping kit. My copper-fouling probelm cured itself before I got araound to using it.
Buckshot, what was the age and condition of your rifle, aside from feeling rough? I have a couple of closet queens that might be worth lapping.

..............Sadly enough it's a practicly new Uberti Hi-Wall, double triggers, in 38-55. Beautifull looking rifle. When I got it home and began going over it, the first patch through the barrel showed thos spots that slightly caught the patch. Looking downbore it gleamed. Looking in the muzzle with a very bright pinpoint LED light I could see the reamer marks across the tops of the lands.

I was sorry to see that on a rifle that cost what this one did, but I wasn't discouraged yet. The barrel I bought from GPC chambered in 7.62x39 for a small ring Mauser looked worse but shoots like a match rifle. From the git-go the Uberti has produced the accuracy you'd be looking for. Best group to date has been 18.0grs of SR4759 and the GB fat 255gr FPGC done awile back. It put 10 rounds into a bit over 1.5" at 50 yards. I'd dearly love to do that at 100 yards.

Other loads that have been accurate in my 1893 Marlin in 38-55 haven't been happy in the Uberti. It did fine at our clubs informal "Buffalo Match" where you shoot at a dog sized buffalo silhuette at 200 meters. I was using some BP loads Jon K had built using the Saeco 300gr tapered slug.

The other thing is that this rifle has never leaded, ever. That is until the last buffalo match, and using the same ammo. I fired 2 sighters and 4 for score and it was fine. The last 2 rounds produced just a trace of leading. Might have just been those 2.

I fire lapped it after that. I have ammo loaded up for it to shoot this coming Tuesday. I also have 15 rounds set up with 600 grit lapping paste. I found that if I concentrated and pushed a dry patch through a clean bore you can 'just' feel a difference in 2 small places over the rest of the barrel which is now as smooth as glass.

From what I've read, it appears to me that these Uberti repro's are spotty in how they'll shoot. Some are fantastic and others have issues.

..................Buckshot

[xtimberman]

I've also used one of the Midway fire-lapping kits with excellent results. When I first bought it, I was afraid to use the two coarser grits, and would use the finest stuff only. For me, the best results have been with improving good but dark bores on old military rifles. Using only the finest grit, I put a nice shine on the bore in my Krag sporter.

I finally got the courage to use all three grits on some rougher bores and noticed a visible improvement after the treatment. I think they suggest 5 shots with each grit, but I've been using 5, 5, and then 10 on the finest grit.

Two warnings:
You have to clean thoroughly between grits for obvious reasons. This may be hard to do with certain action-types at some ranges where they won't let you stand the rifle up and clean from the muzzle. Then you have to perform the task over 3 sessions.

They tell you about potential pressure increases and this is a fact. Buildup of the grit after 5 shots or so can cause problems if you aren't shooting reduced loads. I nearly had a head separation on the Krag while fire-lapping with my standard hunting loads - thinking that it wouldn't make a difference.

One more point - remember that you are abrading steel and too much is not necessarily a good thing. I have a 1895 Winchester in .30-40 that had a particularly dark bore. It is a family firearm and shot jacketed bullets well enough for me to want to shoot it fairly often with bullets cast from my #311284 mould. After a batch of lead bullets, accuracy would start to go south and major de-leading would be called for. I doubled the recommended fire-lapping treatment to 10 rounds of each grit and smoothed things up considerably. However the bore mic'd out at .3085" before the fire-lapping and .3095 after. I took off .001" with the process.

xtm

[wonderwolf]

I have a .303 No 4 Mk1 that stripped jackets and fouls something bad. I might try this with a few rounds and finner grits.

Does this do anything to the throat? I have a NEF 45-70 I would like to see a little more throat in for paper patched bullets.

[725]

It's abrasive, so it's going to grind metal away wherever it goes. Go slow and spend lots of time cleaning afterwards. Stop before you get to where you thiink it's finished. Better to have to do it over again than to have gone too far. I think it's the best method of improving performance in almost any poor producer. If it's a barrel problem, of course.