Polishing New Rifle Barrel
- Thread starter BFoster
- Start date
Butch Lambert
Active member
How and why do you break in a barrel?
Boyd Allen
Active member
It seems to me the assumption behind this is that the barrels that have not broken in have not because of roughness, when the very opposite is very likely the case. The typical grit chosen to put the final finish on barrels might surprise you. I have a friend who has experimented a lot with lapping barrels for a variety of reasons. When he first started he assumed that smoother was better. Since then he has learned that if barrels are too smooth they may never break in. You may be causing a problem rather than avoiding it. When you described your new rifle as off the shelf, exactly what did you mean? Is its barrel match grade/lapped?
Gene Beggs
Active member
Oh brother,,
If you only knew the truth about so called, barrel polishing and break-in, you could save yourself a lot of wasted effort and possibly from ruining a perfectly good barrel.
If there was ever a subject more clouded in mystery, myth and misinformation than rifle barrel cleaning and break-in, I don't know what it would be. Snake oil, secret blends of herbs and spices and magic potions that you pour in your gas tank or crankcase might come close but surely rifle barrel cleaning and exotic break-in procedures claim the ridiculous nonsense trophy! And yes, that's the voice of experience speaking.
If you want to open up a can of worms just bring up the subject of rifle barrel cleaning and break-in. I'm putting on my flame proof suit as we speak.
Later
Gene Beggs
If you only knew the truth about so called, barrel polishing and break-in, you could save yourself a lot of wasted effort and possibly from ruining a perfectly good barrel.
If there was ever a subject more clouded in mystery, myth and misinformation than rifle barrel cleaning and break-in, I don't know what it would be.
Snake oil, secret blends of herbs and spices and magic potions that you pour in your gas tank or crankcase might come close but surely rifle barrel cleaning and exotic break-in procedures claim the ridiculous nonsense trophy! And yes, that's the voice of experience speaking. If you want to open up a can of worms just bring up the subject of rifle barrel cleaning and break-in. I'm putting on my flame proof suit as we speak.
Later
Gene Beggs
Dusty Stevens
Hollow Point Dispenser
This is true. If your JB was around 320 grit you may help. Any smoother and it may get worse. And no, BR gunsmiths do not polish the inside of a barrel but they do polish the outside! Like my man gene said most "tricks" are just snake oil. If you get a GOOD quality barrel either shoot it or break it in according to the barrel makers recommendations. They would faint if they knew you were trying to polish out the lapped finish they try so hard to achieve.
C
CMaier
Guest
I think there is a big clue in his statement:
"off the shelf long range gun"
Not necessarily a 'br quality" bbl to start with.
So take the bbl off, put in a vice and start polishing.
While you are doing that, have a gunsmith install a "quality" bbl
on your long range rifle.
When you are done polishing, go shoot your rifle.
"off the shelf long range gun"
Not necessarily a 'br quality" bbl to start with.
So take the bbl off, put in a vice and start polishing.
While you are doing that, have a gunsmith install a "quality" bbl
on your long range rifle.
When you are done polishing, go shoot your rifle.
vtmarmot
P Magoon, Livin' Free NH
JB Paste
JB paste does a great job of removing carbon, or at least of making patches black. I don't think it accomplishes much in the way of polishing metal. Precision shooting had some good articles on lapping and polishing barrels. What I remember is that JB is about 900 grit, which, if used to actually polish a barrel to that fine a degree, would definitely result in worse fouling. that highly polished barrels create more fouling was experimentally proven.
A rough leade is the source of most copper fouling, whereby the copper goes into suspension in that area and is deposited further down as it precipitates out of the burning gases. Copper fouling reducing powders act to prevent this precipitation and thus copper fouling. If your bore scope shows perpendicular tool marks in the leade, you may benefit from polishing that area with 220 grit followed by 320 grit. Fire lapping is another option.
A good custom barrel will likely not have such a rough leade. I have hand lapped a couple of new run-of-the mill barrels which then gave good accuracy and fouled very little. I did this only based on bore scope evidence. I did not choose to lap my Savage Long Range Benchrest 6mm BR. While not a real stellar performer, copper fouling is not one of the big issues with that rifle.
An old barrel with pitting and/or alligator skin may benefit from some lapping if it copper fouls readily.
If you have a quality-made barrel, Wipeout Accelerator and Foam will clean it up in a hurry after a match.
JB paste does a great job of removing carbon, or at least of making patches black. I don't think it accomplishes much in the way of polishing metal. Precision shooting had some good articles on lapping and polishing barrels. What I remember is that JB is about 900 grit, which, if used to actually polish a barrel to that fine a degree, would definitely result in worse fouling. that highly polished barrels create more fouling was experimentally proven.
A rough leade is the source of most copper fouling, whereby the copper goes into suspension in that area and is deposited further down as it precipitates out of the burning gases. Copper fouling reducing powders act to prevent this precipitation and thus copper fouling. If your bore scope shows perpendicular tool marks in the leade, you may benefit from polishing that area with 220 grit followed by 320 grit. Fire lapping is another option.
A good custom barrel will likely not have such a rough leade. I have hand lapped a couple of new run-of-the mill barrels which then gave good accuracy and fouled very little. I did this only based on bore scope evidence. I did not choose to lap my Savage Long Range Benchrest 6mm BR. While not a real stellar performer, copper fouling is not one of the big issues with that rifle.
An old barrel with pitting and/or alligator skin may benefit from some lapping if it copper fouls readily.
If you have a quality-made barrel, Wipeout Accelerator and Foam will clean it up in a hurry after a match.
Dick Grosbier
Club Coordinator
I have dealt with several BR gunsmiths and never heard of this. Well some do polish the outside, for looks.
redrockranger
Member
Kelblys barrels are off the shelf ????????
C
CMaier
Guest
No..not that i know of, and neither are their rifles.
All custom work.
They do not MAKE bbls, they convert bbl BLANKS to finished bbls for a specific reciever( head space set)
Not "off the shelf".
All custom work.
They do not MAKE bbls, they convert bbl BLANKS to finished bbls for a specific reciever( head space set)
Not "off the shelf".
C
CMaier
Guest
Some smiths talk of polishing/breaking edges on CHAMBERS.
Maybe he got confused with this and posssibly external polishing,
but he is talking about bores,who knows.
Maybe he got confused with this and posssibly external polishing,
but he is talking about bores,who knows.