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Thread: pre-treated fire lapping pistol bullets

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    pre-treated fire lapping pistol bullets

    hey guy`s,
    do you know of any company out there that makes pre-treated pistol boolits for lapping
    like David Tubbs products? i have used his with good success for rifles but he has no pistol
    boolit products.

  2. #2
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    I'd never seen 'em offered.
    But it's no big deal to make your own.
    Amazon has a bunch of compounds for doing it. From gunsmithing kits to diamond paste ones.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master murf205's Avatar
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    I have read about the procedure to make your own where by you take 2 flat pieces of metal and roll the boolit in the paste with a bit of pressure. I would want to take a clean boolit and roll it on the clean plates to see if it effectively reduced the diameter and if so, by how much to check for the proper amount of pressure on the top plate.
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  4. #4
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    I've rolled a bunch over the years, following Marshall Stantons ideas on fire lapping. You don't bear down on the boolit hard enough to change the diameter. Every firearm I've done it to shot better

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    link to marshall stantons ideas? thnx!

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Be careful - it's easy to lengthen a rifle throat and essentially create the same amount of wear that a few thousand normal bullets would generate.

  7. #7
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    i`m going to call NECO for some instructions on their kit. but i was wondering if anyone who has done this for 44 mag pistol
    can tell me what the the max pressure of the loads should be? from what i have been reading so far reduced loads should be used.
    just not sure what max pressure should be. to do this i`ll be using 240 jacketed boolit.

  8. #8
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    You do NOT want max pressure. What you want is a very slow bullet that will NOT lead the bore. I used 44 special loads to fire-lap my SBH (7.0 Herco, 200 gr bullet).
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  9. #9
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    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    I’m surprised they are available in rife calibers. As others have said, they aren’t that hard to make yourself.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by lx2008 View Post
    i`m going to call NECO for some instructions on their kit. but i was wondering if anyone who has done this for 44 mag pistol
    can tell me what the the max pressure of the loads should be? from what i have been reading so far reduced loads should be used.
    just not sure what max pressure should be. to do this i`ll be using 240 jacketed boolit.
    Pressure is no concern. Velocity is the concern. Definitely read the instructions, but basically you want to shoot that bullet as slow as you possibly can, which turns out to be in the 400-500 fps range. You start with a load that sticks the bullet in the barrel, and work up from there until they clear the barrel. They should have suggestions for loads for you to start with .You obviously need to be very careful, and you will need a rod to knock a few bullets out of the barrel. I like to shoot a target when doing this so I can see that bullet hit and know for sure it came out.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    thanks for the input guys.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy rusty marlin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by murf205 View Post
    I have read about the procedure to make your own where by you take 2 flat pieces of metal and roll the boolit in the paste with a bit of pressure. I would want to take a clean boolit and roll it on the clean plates to see if it effectively reduced the diameter and if so, by how much to check for the proper amount of pressure on the top plate.
    You're over thinking it. Just roll with enough force to embed the grit and wipe off the excess.
    Casting for .38 spec, .44 spec/mag, .45 Colt, 38-55, 45-70 and .50ML.... and the boy's slingshot.
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  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy rusty marlin's Avatar
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    Use lead, not jacketed. The lead conforms to the rifling better and can be shot with much less pressure.
    Casting for .38 spec, .44 spec/mag, .45 Colt, 38-55, 45-70 and .50ML.... and the boy's slingshot.
    Shake'n'bake powder coating is amazing. Thank you to the guys that developed and shared the process.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    Has anyone tried the Puff-Lon fire lapping ballistic filler?

    http://www.pufflon.com/FireLappingFiller.html

  15. #15
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    If you have cast bullets and some lapping compound then just go with it. I've only helped do two guns (both were pistols). Both had pretty bad chatter marks in the barrel. We did two different grits, IIRC 10 rounds each (don't remember the grit sizes). It cleaned them up enough that they stopped collecting lead from cast bullets. They were not collector guns.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master murf205's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rusty marlin View Post
    You're over thinking it. Just roll with enough force to embed the grit and wipe off the excess.
    Soft boolits, as in almost pure lead?
    IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Pistol or revolver? A lot of other things to consider IMHO before you start feeding grinder boolits. Throats, cones, groove diameters, thread choke, etc. should all be investigated before first step. Depends on what you are trying to "fix" and remember you can't put that metal back!

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy
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    i`m planing on doing a model sw 69. they are EDM rifled. my shooting buddy bought one...impulse ( which is why i bought one) and his didnt
    shoot very good groups @ 25yds (2.25 to 3.0in ) using 240gr jhp factory. he decided to lap the bbl. and now with the same factory loads he`s getting 1.25 to 2.0 groups. whether is true or not i & he read that edm rifled bbls. can be really good from the factory or just so so.

    i was using the same factory loads as his and from 25yds my 69 was shooting about the same as his before lapping. i`m not going to do this yet, i`m still going to get some more information beforehand but as long as i do this right...and yes when i decide to do or not, i`ll be using lead 240 gr "keith style" from Missouri Bullets.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by murf205 View Post
    Soft boolits, as in almost pure lead?
    We used wheel weight lead.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    FWIW, the best way to accomplish all this is with lapping. It takes a bit more effort and is best done with a jig to hold the lap rod and barrel in alignment, but, it treats the entire barrel 'equally' and does not erode the throat/chamber.

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