Who has actually fire lapped a barrel here?

[Canuck Bob]

Looking to find out real world fire lapping results both good and bad, please?

If possible include your method. I know of the lead bullet rolled in grit and have heard of a company that sells jacketed kits. Any other methods known to work?

I've never done it but folks that know a thing or two like it. Folks who know a thing or two hate it as well.

I'm leaning to giving it a try for education sake at least. My 444 shoots jacketed well but does leave some copper fouling. I have yet to get serious about shooting cast but it will most likely become an exclusive cast shooter. There are some tight spots at the lettering, and dovetails when the barrel is slugged.

[harry]

Looking to find out real world fire lapping results both good and bad, please?

If possible include your method. I know of the lead bullet rolled in grit and have heard of a company that sells jacketed kits. Any other methods known to work?

I've never done it but folks that know a thing or two like it. Folks who know a thing or two hate it as well.

I'm leaning to giving it a try for education sake at least. My 444 shoots jacketed well but does leave some copper fouling. I have yet to get serious about shooting cast but it will most likely become an exclusive cast shooter. There are some tight spots at the lettering, and dovetails when the barrel is slugged.

I have used it quite a bit, don't even try it if you haven't cleaned your barrel down to bare metal. Any copper or lead and you not only wasted your time but can ruin your barrel.

[Canuck Bob]

Thanks Harry, I'll make sure they are properly cleaned. Did you use the cast bullet method?

[BrentD]

I used it on a rebored .38-55 Marlin 93 (was .32 special). It helped with accuracy and really really helped with cleaning/leading.

I used the kit of grits sold by Wilson(?). I used the finer grits only and more of them than they recommended. I stopped and cleaned after every 5 shots and tested on the range after each set of 5 of the finer grits.

I used my normal 250 gr cast lead bullets for carrying the grit and about 7 grs of Reddot to send them down them down the bore. Less velocity is more better in my opinion. Buying pre-gritted bullets is very expensive and you may wish for more than they give you. The kit I used has enough grit for many many rifles.

I will be doing this again soon with a .32-40 Marlin that has its original bore (somewhat frosty in the grooves).

Brent

[TedH]

I have done several with the kit that Midway sold. I haven't noticed any appreciable increase in accuracy with any of them, but what I have noticed is the barrels that used to foul and take a some doing to get clean, now they foul much less, and clean up a lot easier. If you have a gun that isn't real bad about fouling and getting clean, I wouldn't mess with it anymore.

[Malamute]

I've looked into it a bit. I have a couple rifles that have rough bores and foul quickly and badly.

This was an interesting read. Several different guys commenting, with slightly different takes on it, but all were informative to me.

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_Fire_lapping.htm

I've found that this site/group has some very good info on different subjects.

Many seem to believe its guaranteed to ruin your barrel and no good could possibly come of it. I think its possible to do it wrong and cause problems or ruin a barrel, but there are proper ways to do it to achieve a particular result, and not ruin a barrel in the process. I don't believe its universally a good idea, nor universally a bad idea. when dome correctly and for the right reasons, has a place. Rough bores that foul badly are a good reason. It can be done in such a way that the throat isn't opened much. The Tubbs system seems oriented towards that. Having the bullet sized slightly small, and at very low vel and pressure also seems to help.

[AJMD429]

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_Fire_lapping.htm

I've found that this site/group has some very good info on different subjects.

Yep. LASC is a very good site, especially on ballistics and casting, etc...

[Chuck 100 yd]

I fire lapped my Uberti 73 .45 Colt rifle to try to improve accuracy. I used the Midway kit like
TedH did.
It did little to improve accuracy but made the bore nice and slick and I have had zero leading since.
I used cast bullets and cowboy loads and fired about 30 of each grit that came in the kit.

I would do it again in a minute to a rifle that shot as poor groups as my 73 did. It shoots better than needed for CAS but not half as well as any of my other .45 Colt chambered rifles.

[Sixgun]

I think it's a lot easier, and more fun to just shoot a thousand cast bullets or several hundred jacketed down the bore.

I've got a mess of late 1800 Leverguns that have eaten up thousands of rounds and those barrels shine.-------6

[jcw]

Fire laped a Savage 3006. New rifle. Ran five rounds through the chronograph for a base line. Completed fire lap process. Fired five more rounds. Accuracy improved from 1.75"@100yds. to just outside of an inch. This was from the bench with me trying to be as accurate as I could. We waited for calm weather to do this job. The chronograph read a 200 fps. increase in velocity. I'm sold on it.

[Tycer]

I've used it on several. Different purposes. I had a couple tight spots where the dovetails were on a couple of guns. Fixed those. One Winchester 1886 extralight where the muzzle was a larger diameter than the breach. Fixed that. And a new browning BLR with chatter marks. Fixed that. Also fixed a 358 Winchester savage barrel that fouled horribly. You can slug your barrel at the breach and at the muzzle and all the way through to measure exactly how much metal you're taking off. You can measure groove depth too. I use valve grinding compound both coarse and fine, and some finer grit to finish. I final polish with bore paste. I cast my own bullets out of soft lead, and fire them with just enough juice to get them out of the barrel into a box of rags.

[jd45]

Jim Martin described his method on the Colt Forum in the Single Action Army Revolver section recently. Of course, start with a clean barrel. Jim uses a Wheeler kit from MidwayUSA with 220; 340; & 600 grit. Use 10 lead bullets with lube removed & replaced, ( he uses the phrase, "It's just like hand packing a wheel bearing with grease") with 220 grit in 3; 340 grit in 3; & 600 grit in the last 4. Start with coarse, finish with fine. Use just enough powder to get the bullet out the muzzle, cleaning the barrel between EVERY shot. And make darn SURE the bullet comes out before you fire the next! More powder for a rifle than a pistol, naturally. When done clean the barrel & my choice will be to run 50 or so jacketed rounds thru it to burnish the inner surface. Oh, and he says it's darn sure worth the trouble, too! jd45

[Chuck 100 yd]

In the .45 Colt , I cleaned after each shot for the first few (maybe 10) shots with the 220 grit and could not see much if any difference in bore condition. I ended up shooting about 30 shots of each grit through my rifle. The final finish is much improved and a bunch easier than casting a lap and doing it by hand.
I would have hand lapped if this was a target gun. You can feel it work and have much better control over fire lapping.

[Grizz]

I have not. yet.

The best info I know of is from Marshall Stanton's site, beartoothbullets.com.

He has 3 articles on accurizing the 444 and developing loads. His rifles consistently print dime-size groups.

Marshall or one of the other guys did a study on firelapping pistols and showed, step by step, the increase in accuracy and consistency.

I have his lapping kit and book for when I get around2it, my redhawk is in need.

Grizz

[EdinCT]

I bought three boxes of beartooth lapping slugs 2 for the 44 and one for the 45/70. I promptly chickened out! This last year I fired 5 through the 1895 cowboy and cleaned it. I haven't shot anymore. I still have 100 for the 44 Mag. My concern is the bores on my rifles are already large and I don't want to cut them bigger. Its a form of wear that I wonder if like Six says we should just shoot them. ALOT!

[Chuck 100 yd]

EdinCT , Shooting them a lot does work. With lead bullets a rough bore should be nice and slick in only 150 years or so at the rate most people shoot.

[BrentD]

For those that don't want to wait until their grandchildren finally get good performance from that rifle, this is the kit I used. I did it with lead bullets and did not use the most coarse grit. anyone that can seat a primer and clean a gun can do this.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/646612 ... apping-kit

[Grizz]

it turns out that the benefits of fire lapping go beyond burnishing the tool marks from the barrel.

it normalizes the barrel to get rid of the bulges caused by the roll marking and dovetail cutting and fitting operations.

and it produces a slightly tapered toward the muzzle effect that has benefits in accuracy and consistency.

[Gregor]

http://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/ross-se ... revolvers/

I was inspired to try fire lapping after reading Ross' fine article. I used the G David Tubb fire lapping kit instead on my Ruger Bisley .44 S&W Special.

It dramatically smoothed out the barrel and stopped leading and made the groups "rounder".

I would try the method Ross uses in the above article.

[Grizz]

I bought three boxes of beartooth lapping slugs 2 for the 44 and one for the 45/70. I promptly chickened out! This last year I fired 5 through the 1895 cowboy and cleaned it. I haven't shot anymore. I still have 100 for the 44 Mag. My concern is the bores on my rifles are already large and I don't want to cut them bigger. Its a form of wear that I wonder if like Six says we should just shoot them. ALOT!

Here is Marshall's article and test on four pistols.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_no ... tes.htm/63

it seems to be worthwhile. here is Bill McConnell's piece on firelapping his stainless rugers:

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_no ... tes.htm/47

[Canuck Bob]

Thanks guys.

Research suggests the results suit cast shooters well. The expansion of the barrel dimensions is not an issue it seems. Overdo it and the throat can suffer according to some who have used a borescope.

Another similar idea is the polishing created by paper patched cast bullets.

[Paladin]

Looking to find out real world fire lapping results both good and bad, please?

If possible include your method. I know of the lead bullet rolled in grit and have heard of a company that sells jacketed kits. Any other methods known to work?

I've never done it but folks that know a thing or two like it. Folks who know a thing or two hate it as well.

I'm leaning to giving it a try for education sake at least. My 444 shoots jacketed well but does leave some copper fouling. I have yet to get serious about shooting cast but it will most likely become an exclusive cast shooter. There are some tight spots at the lettering, and dovetails when the barrel is slugged.

I have used it quite a bit, don't even try it if you haven't cleaned your barrel down to bare metal. Any copper or lead and you not only wasted your time but can ruin your barrel.

+1, used a kit from Midway on some LE Sniper systems GREAT results.

[3leggedturtle]

I used an automotive polishing compound on a NEF Versa-pac 22 barrel that would always get dirty after a few rounds. Did 21 rounds, cleaning the barrel after every 3 shots. It is nice and shiny. Doesnt collect near the amount of fouling it used to. Also used it on a 22 revolver did a total of 60 rounds. There again helped with keeping keeping the barrel from leading and fouling up.