fire lapping
- Thread starter shootsteady
- Start date
Firelapping's been around a long, long time. Sometimes it pushes the throat forward a good bit. And not evenly. Happened to me. What's funny is it seems to be the 1200 grit (or fine) that does most of the damage. Did the rifles shoot better? Maybe. The mind's a tricky thing.
In general, the best way to improve the accuracy of a factory barrel is to replace it with a custom barrel. I know it costs about $500 in 2010 dollars, but when I think of all the $$ I spent in the 1980s trying to get a factory barrel to shoot "better," I could have put on a custom.
FWIW
In general, the best way to improve the accuracy of a factory barrel is to replace it with a custom barrel. I know it costs about $500 in 2010 dollars, but when I think of all the $$ I spent in the 1980s trying to get a factory barrel to shoot "better," I could have put on a custom.
FWIW
shootsteady
Member
Your reply is worth alot.... thank you.
Bob Kingsbury
New member
Some years ago, I did the same thing. A 308 that needed to remain factory with the same barrel. Starting with 320 clover and lead bullets I did improve the appearance of
the barrel inside. Progressing to 500 and again lead bullets , My bore scope said nice.
It did shoot better with match bullets, but I got carried away and used some diamond
on jacketed bullets. This changed the seating depth to near a furlong. Recovering some
of the diamond coated bullets a few years later showed lots of rust in the rifling impressions.
It was pretty clear what I accomplished.
X
xs hedspace
Guest
Perhaps it's the jacketed bullet lapping that does the damage. I ran 50 rounds of 22 rf with 220 grit rolled on the bullets, to see if it would correct an ugly bur where a dull reamer smeared the lands at the throat(Baikal 22/20 ga combo). Polished the burs nicely, and reduced them by maybe 50%. Took some photos thru my Hawkeye, but the photos came out somewhat blurry. Rechambered to 22 mag, and it shoots fine for iron sights, and my 70 yr old eyes.
Gents,
Some years back, I used a NECO firelapping kit and jacketed bullets to fire lap a particularly recalcitrant No. 1 in .220 Swift. When done, the bore shined like a mirror, was noticeably smoother, and accuracy improved pretty dramaticaly. The throat was also moved forward about .070. Finding the throat sitch a bit disconcerting, I called Merrill Martin, formerly one of the principles at NECO and the man who came up with the process. Mr. Martin stated the throat being moved forward was caused by the use of jacket bullets, and when firelapping, only lead bullets should be used.
Mr. Martin wrote extensively in PS in the early 90's about his development of the firelapping process.
Justin
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Bob Kingsbury
New member
Thats amazing
brian roberts
New member
Yeah, and,...........................
I kinda liked the delivery, too.
I kinda liked the delivery, too.