hand lapping with a new product!!

[nekshot]

Ok, we all can have a good laugh every now and then! I have this inline that I bought for cents on the dollar because the prior owner didn't clean it in a timely manner. It had a rough spot in the barrel and decided to hand lap it till it improves or until it opens up one caliber bigger! I was lapping with a real good fitting cloth around jag and the barrel was almost hot from the lapping and man was it getting smooth. So I take it out of the vise and look thru the barrel and could not believe the smooth barrel with a little rifling still showing(it had strong rifling before I started). Well I decided to give it 100 more strokes and I put some fine valve grinding compound on my swab and something did not look right, so I read the tube; it said "anti-seize lubricant"!!! I had the wrong tube! Was that a mess to get out, I bet I only do that once.

[country gent]

To truly lap a barrel and make it right you need to make a lead slug about 1-2 inches long. drive thru barrel with an index mark to get rifling impregnated. ( some save the cut off from the barrel and pour the lap with it also). A hole is then drilled thru this to bolt onto a cleaning rod securly. You dont want to have the slug come out of the barrel on either end of stroke. Appropriate grit is then applied and 5-10 strokes made, if possible rotate 1 groove and another 5-10 strokes thru the rotation. If finish and consistancy is good your done if not clean and make a new lap ( some cut counter sinks and use a appropriate washer and flat head screw this can be tightened to increase dia.) Lapping a barrel with cloth will "blend" corners as thee rag dosnt have the correct form and dosnt fill in corners or form tight around them. Lapping can be a time consuming process and removes little metal. A light oil helps the media break down and keep cutting. a stop at the muzzle or on the rod helps stop over srtoking.

[Mk42gunner]

When I lapped a ML barrel that had gotten rusty about a third of the way down, I cast my lap using a .30 cal bore brush as the attachment device. Lap was about two inches long and I used an assortment of fine Clover brand grits to do the job.

Robert

[nekshot]

I studied that slug method a couple years ago with this barrel in mind but I was too lazy to do it. I have a 54 cal inline barrel that is in nice shape that I want put on this reciever in the future when I have nothing to do so I did this just to see if I could improve it. In hind sight I should have made the lead slug.

[Col4570]

Take a piece of 1/4" Rod about 6" longer than the barrel,at one end cut into it at various angles with a Hacksaw for about 4",Wrap some cloth around the roughened end for about 1",Have your Lead melting,Slide your Rod into the Barrel for the length of the roughened section,the cloth has now made a seal,Make sure the rod is in line with the bore as near as you can get it,Heat the barrel so that spit sizzles on it (a heat Gun or propane torch will suffice),pour in the Lead to the muzzle,carefully pull the rod out for say 1",Trim off any excess Lead that may have spilled over,allow to cool,apply Grinding Paste and work the Rod back and forwards the whole length of the barrel until you get the required finish.It may be necessary to renew the Lead a couple of times.
P.S,Fit a File Handle at the other end.

[LAGS]

I have made Lapping slugs out of a old bore brush, and JB weld.
Coat the inside of the barrel with paste wax.
Then install a plug made out of patches balled up and coated with the paste wax.
Insert the old bore brush into the barrel at the muzzle end up to the threads on the bore brush sticking out the muzzle, and the bristles coated Liberally with JB Weld.
Let cure, then attach a pistol cleaning rod to the brush when it is cured, and pull out the epoxy plug.
Sometimes you have to warm the barrel to get it to release if the end of the barrel is rough.
Now that plug can be used with JB Bore Bright to lap the barrel on a cleaning rod.

[nekshot]

I sure appreciate all advice but the last couple days been putting a few rounds thru each day and it is loading smoothly the whole way to powder and is keeping the shots in a decent(not one hole!) but shooting very nice for what it is. I swapped the 2-7 scope for a shotgun 2 1\2 power and all is better. I will use this rig if I need to hunt at mzl season. Not bad for less than 50 bucks, gave me alot of entertainment!

[tomme boy]

I have used lots of T/C maxi-balls to lap barrels. Drill a hole in the center then screw the ram rod into the bullet. Add a few drops of oil to the bullet and some valve lapping compound to it. Works perfect.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Take a piece of 1/4" Rod about 6" longer than the barrel,at one end cut into it at various angles with a Hacksaw for about 4",Wrap some cloth around the roughened end for about 1",Have your Lead melting,Slide your Rod into the Barrel for the length of the roughened section,the cloth has now made a seal,Make sure the rod is in line with the bore as near as you can get it,Heat the barrel so that spit sizzles on it (a heat Gun or propane torch will suffice),pour in the Lead to the muzzle,carefully pull the rod out for say 1",Trim off any excess Lead that may have spilled over,allow to cool,apply Grinding Paste and work the Rod back and forwards the whole length of the barrel until you get the required finish.It may be necessary to renew the Lead a couple of times.
P.S,Fit a File Handle at the other end.

This sounds fine, but with a cleaning rod and jag you can put a perforated thick card wad on the end of the threads, and a ball-bearing handle will follow the rifling better, doing your useful metal removal with less wear on the lands. The lap only has to be softer than the barrel metal, so Cerrosafe or type metal will last longer than pure lead. for a shotgun one turned from aluminium rod and rotated by an electric drill or lathe is excellent.

Bore rusting has tendency to happen only close to the muzzle, and you can easily find yourself concentrating the lapping on that area, which is very harmful to accuracy. It is important to keep lapping all the way back to the rear of the barrel. A rod guide made from a cartride case and inserted in the chamber is a big help in keeping it straight, and a lap much longer than two inches is a good idea.

[William Yanda]

As a playground installer, supervising volunteers, I once observed someone using red loc-tite where the instructions said use WD-40 or other lubricant. It was a situation where we were squeezing PVC rods, about 7/8 inch diameter into the corners of a square receiver, with a smaller square stud inserted so the corners centered on the sides of the receiver, to allow a limited rocking motion. I had to work hard to convince them that loc-tite was not appropriate. But since it was not thread tolerance, metal to metal contact no harm was done-I think.