Polishing bore with Flitz or similar?

[FergusonTO35]

Hey folks. I was wondering if anybody had ever polished or hand lapped a rifle or pistol barrel with Flitz, Blue Magic, or similar polishing compound? Reason I ask is, I have a Winchester 94 on the way with some surface rust in the bore and I would like to slick up the bores of my aftermarket Glock barrels. I know these polishes often remove surface rust quite easily. I'm also thinking that polishing a pistol bore would give better accuracy and reduce leading potential.

[bobthenailer]

I would look into fire lapping , soft alloy cast bullets roll coated with different grades of lapping compound and shot with enough velocity to make it out of the barrel , low doses of bullseye powder is good for pistol for around 500 fps.

[FergusonTO35]

That has certainly been on my mind. Thing is, I can hand polish while sitting in front of the tube at night!

[UKShootist]

Good enough for Varmint Al.

[TNsailorman]

I always use JB"s Bore paste, it takes a little longer but it leaves and smooth polished bore and you will have less fouling in the future. There are two pastes, one slightly course(grey) and one fine(red). I never shoot a rifle before using them on the bore. Works for me, james

[JSnover]

Firelapping will get you there faster but some folks prefer not to because in their opinion it accelerates wear in the throat. I've used Flitz, Iosso, and both of the JB pastes and all of them worked well. The only reason I haven't tried firelapping is because I'd rather polish first and haven't had a really bad bore.
If your barrels were mine I'd polish the Glocks by hand and attack the rusted 94 by firelapping.

[country gent]

One difference between true lapping compound and the flitz iosso shimochrome and JB bore cleaners is the true lapping compounds are a graded grit of known composition. The polishes arnt and you may find they have several grits and are a softer grit breaking down faster. To "polish" a bore as accurately as possible is not a simple hand and rub operation. using a jag and patch ( eve a tight patch will round corners and can create an egg shaped bore. It can also create a belled muzzle.

A lead lapp should be turned and fitted to a heavy cleaning rod with an index mark running its length.
This lapp is then impregnated with the desired grit compound and the bore lightly oiled.
The lapp is inserted into barrel making note of index mark and 2-3 strokes made not leaving rifling on either end
Lappp is removed and lightly oiled then rotated 1 groove and above is repeated thru 1-2 rotations of the rifling.
With the rotation (Indexing) it keeps lands and grooves the same and the bore round.


If you want to induce a small amount of taper to the barrel then 1 rotation of 2" strikes and increasing 2-3" each rotation . 1st rotation 2" second 4"-5" 4rd 6"-8" to length of barrel. This will induce a small taper tighter to the muzzle.

A loght cleaning with the above polishes shouldn't hurt anything but an aggressive cleaning or Polishing may.

[Chad5005]

ive cleane up a few gun bores with flitz and didn't see a problem with it

[FergusonTO35]

Firelapping will get you there faster but some folks prefer not to because in their opinion it accelerates wear in the throat. I've used Flitz, Iosso, and both of the JB pastes and all of them worked well. The only reason I haven't tried firelapping is because I'd rather polish first and haven't had a really bad bore.
If your barrels were mine I'd polish the Glocks by hand and attack the rusted 94 by firelapping.

Thanks. The Glock barrels have about the same bore finish that most low-mid price pistols come with. Meaning, it will work great for jacketed or plated but cast can be iffy. I don't think there are any huge defects with them but a more smooth and slippery surface will help them shoot their best. Probably not going to do anything to the 94 until I give it a thorough cleaning and maybe try a few shots as is.

[FergusonTO35]

One difference between true lapping compound and the flitz iosso shimochrome and JB bore cleaners is the true lapping compounds are a graded grit of known composition. The polishes arnt and you may find they have several grits and are a softer grit breaking down faster. To "polish" a bore as accurately as possible is not a simple hand and rub operation. using a jag and patch ( eve a tight patch will round corners and can create an egg shaped bore. It can also create a belled muzzle.

A lead lapp should be turned and fitted to a heavy cleaning rod with an index mark running its length.
This lapp is then impregnated with the desired grit compound and the bore lightly oiled.
The lapp is inserted into barrel making note of index mark and 2-3 strokes made not leaving rifling on either end
Lappp is removed and lightly oiled then rotated 1 groove and above is repeated thru 1-2 rotations of the rifling.
With the rotation (Indexing) it keeps lands and grooves the same and the bore round.


If you want to induce a small amount of taper to the barrel then 1 rotation of 2" strikes and increasing 2-3" each rotation . 1st rotation 2" second 4"-5" 4rd 6"-8" to length of barrel. This will induce a small taper tighter to the muzzle.

A loght cleaning with the above polishes shouldn't hurt anything but an aggressive cleaning or Polishing may.

Thanks. I'm really not trying to change the shape of the bore or anything like that. Just trying to make it more slick for better performance with boolits.

[FergusonTO35]

Picked up a can of Blue Magic today. This is a very mildly abrasive cleaner/polish with a fair amount of ammonia in it, some guys use it for removing carbon fouling. I have also read that it is really good for surface rust. Anyhow, I just ran a few patches saturated in it through the Glock 19 barrel and then cleaned it with hot water and dry patches. Sure made it nice and shiny, if there was any fouling in there it is long gone now. I may try it after the next few shooting sessions, see if maybe it is getting out fouling that I am missing in my normal cleaning procedure.

I am planning to ask the fun store to order JB paste for me the next time I am in there.

[Oily]

A poster on cast bullet association used turtle wax chrome restorer and rust remover. Used with a bore snake and about 100 pulls through the bore. The new sight for cast bullet association is not user friendly and I can't find his post but sounds like a mild way to (polish) your bore. but it is a 2 man job

[M-Tecs]

Products like Simichrome use 8 to 10 microns sized particles. https://www.gesswein.com/p-5092-simichrome-polish.aspx

That puts it at about 1,800 grit https://www.gessweincanada.com/category-s/11328.htm

Most custom hand lapped barrels do not use a finer grit than 320. It is believed too fine of a finish increase copper fouling.

Fire lap kits vary is grit size. NECO goes up to 1,200 but they recommend stopping a 800. Not sure what grits Tubb uses. Midway uses 220, 320 and 600 grit. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1006412014/wheeler-engineering-bore-lapping-kit

http://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/gunsmithing_st_lappingbarrel_200805/100288

[Gregorious]

https://castbulletassoc.org/forum/thread/8364-my-bore-polish-method-to-shoot-better/

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?104205-New-miracle-bore-break-in-method

What Oily was talking about.

[EMC45]

I have "patch lapped" my mil-surp rifles. I took a worn out bore brush and wrapped it in 0000 steel wool and then slathered that with J-B Bore Lap. I then made many passes through the bores of the rifles. I followed up with a patch with J-B and then solvent. Light oil and a peek down the bore and they were markedly improved.

[FergusonTO35]

Good idea, thanks. Will remember that when I go to working on the 94.

[JMtoolman]

I once had a double rifle that had a ring in the left barrel about half way down the tube. This was a muzzle loading double, and as the bores were rusted a bit I decided to refresh out the rifleing to clean out the ring. Made a rifleing machine to recut the tubes. Came out real well except for the ring area, it was much harder then the rest of the barrels. Tried to lap it out a half dozen times, and it would stick the lead lap in the ring area and it would take me a couple hours to retrieve the lap. Finely gave up on lapping until I thought of fire lapping. I made up about fifty paper patch bullets and started with 360 grit. Would shoot ten bullets, then clean. Go up to a finer grit and repeat. When I got to 800 grit, cleaned up again I shot both barrels for a group. Would keep all in a group the size of a small coffee cup at fifty yards. The ring was gone! It fixed the problem. It was kind of a neat problem to make a rifleing machine to cut both barrels at the same time. Its been a long time ago, but I think I made a base for moving the barrels side to side the same distance as the centerline of the bores. Would cut one side move the barrels sideways, and reclamp and cut the other side the same. Then the index plate would be rotated one grove and repeat. It took a long time but they came out great! Even shot a couple of mule deer with it! Man that was about forty years ago! The toolman.

[Oily]

Thanks Gregorious Onandaga is the poster on this topic. Mild way to (polish) your bore. I have done this procedure on 2 milsurps and the result looked amazing with the cheap endoscope I bought on an auction site. No increase in accuracy but no leading whatsoever. IMHO if you know you have a rough bore try one of the solutions mentioned, but try the mild solution first. You can always go more aggressive later