Is your barrel polished?

[encore4me]

I think this is the right terminolgy. I hard that you could polish the inside of the brl for easier loading and improved accuracy, is this true and if it is how is it done?





Thanks Matt

 

[Tar-12]

I think this is the right terminolgy. I hard that you could polish the inside of the brl for easier loading and improved accuracy, is this true and if it is how is it done?





Thanks Matt

It is called "lapping". It is done with a fine lapping compound. It is not a good idea in my opinion to do so.Most production guns will not benefit from it.If your barrel is that bad ,out uf the box,send it back! Easier loading? Maybe,but at what costs? Loss of usefull barrel life?Make no mistake about it, it can and will take away barrel material. Personally, I think it is totally unecessary, you actually want a tight fitting sabot -bullet combo, it will be inherently more accurate.

 

[encore4me]

Thanks Tar-12, I had someone tell me something different. I just wanted some other ideas.



Matt

 

[MLKeith]

There is a slightly different method of "polishing" the barrel that is not as drastic as lapping with coarse compound. A product called JB bore paste can be used to smooth out and "polish" the barrel without removing any major amount of metal. Many of the bench rest shooters use this product and it made a difference as to how my Omega loaded. You can do about the same by shooting a large amount of full barrel bullet projectiles or patched round balls but the time it takes varries with the condition of the bore that you started with. Usually the JB can be applied to a patch over a brass brush and several passes (about 200) will make a difference in the smoothness of the bore. I changed the patch and applied new paste after each 50 passes.

 

[Tar-12]

MlKeith, How did your Omega load before the treatment? Tight? Rough?What was the accuracy before and after?I was just curious as to how much improvement in accuracy you achieved?Did you choose this method as a result of tough loading on a fouled barrel?Or was your barrel extremly tight from the get go?In the past, I had this done to a couple Muzzleloaders. I kept detailed records before and after, and realized no gains in performance, accuracy or otherwise. My comments were based on these experiences.I might add, there are different grades of lapping compounds, from extremely mild to the coarse as you mentioned.Both can be used to achieve the same results.

 

[MLKeith]

My Omega is a stainless one and it was very difficult to load any sabot bullet combination I could find with a clean barrel. I finally managed to get .451 diameter bullets in Harvester short sabots that would load with medium to heavy pressure on the loading rod. I could not load any without a handle on the ram rod. Trying to push the sabot down with the ramrod by just holding the rod with both hands was not possible. .452 bullets will not load with any reasonable pressure in any sabot I could find. I have not gone to the MMP site to select the thinnest sabot available but at that time I was not even aware of them. After 200 up and 200 down strokes using the JB bore paste (which is very mild in abrasive grade) I was able to load the sabots much easier (I would estimate that the improvement was about twice as easy as before). I did not see any difference in accuracy and only noticed that cleaning was a little easier after the bore polishing. Stainless tends to machine rougher than carbon steel so the improvement might be more noticable in a stainless barrel. I believe shooting some (maybe 25 to 50) solid bore sized bullets like the Hornady great plains might accomplish the same thing but I did not have the time as I was preparing for a hunt and did not have time to do all that and find a load that would work for hunting. I still have to use a powerbelt for a follow up shot after the first SST sabot bullet and that is using Black Mag'3 which is the least fouling of any powder I have tried yet. I would not recommend using anything more abrasive unless the barrel is really a mess like with rust or pits etc.

 

[lane]

Lapping

I've lapped 2 guns, one a 50 cal CVA MagHunter/MagBolt/Firebolt type. The other is a Brand New Knight Disc Elite-45cal Stainless Steel.

And here's my whys and results

The MagHunter just because it was 3 years old and pitted from rust slightly--an experiment! Lapped it 200 strokes with Fine Valve lapping compound purchased from car parts store.

This resulted in taking off more than 1000th of an inch of barrel steel, and rendered it unreliable with Powerbet bullets!

But, it turned it into the best Fast Twist round ball-in sabot shooter I've EVER fired!!! I was shooting 120 grains by Volume (111.5grains by actual powder scales weight) APP/Pinnacle powder and .440 round balls in a .430 OLD Harvester sabot at about 2700 feet per second, with just over 1 inch groups at 80 yards!

See this link for details: http://www.goexpowder.com/phpBB2/viewto ... c&start=15


Now, on with the Disc Elite SS 45cal....

These guns(I Purchased 3 of them from BassPro) came with extra TIGHT BORES :shock: Compared to my CVA 45cal. At the range I could barely fit a PRBullet 38cal-195grain DeadCenter down the barrel using a 16once ballpeen hammer and dowl :shock: :x . And you could forget any second shot on a dirty barrel! Same goes for Shockwaves, XTPs, etc.

The ONLY Easier too load round was the PRBullet-QT 195grn .40 cal. It went down very firmly, but no second shot possible.

So after that lesson in futility, with only 225 powerbelts working--like laser beams out to 80 yards. I took ONE rifle and lapped EXACTLY 100 strokes with a 20gauge cotton shotgun mop, and used Allot of oil and lapping compound 8) Mounted in my vice dead level, between 2 thick leather gloves as to not mar the finish. The barrel was hot to the touch when I finished it and if shined like a mirror on the inside. ALL machining marks were gone! Cleaned out all the residuals and took it to the range.

WOW, what a glassy smooth loader this one is :shock: It seems these SS barrels are very hard, cause I just barely took any metal off according to the tightness of the SAME loads being fired. The target groups shrunk by HALF, and the point of impact was 3 inches HIGHER at 80 yards 8) STILL Cannot Load a second round for ANY sabot above EXCEPT for the PRBULLET-QT 195 .40cal. And it shoots the 225 powerbelts better as well.

Now I am considering lapping that one rifle another 50-75 strokes more too see what happens :?: :shock:


So far so good!

 

[alphaburnt]

Questions

Can you use a polish such as Flitz in a gun barrel and would it do the same thing as JB's or valve lapping compound? Would you use it on a cleaning jag w/ patch?

 

[lane]

Yes you can, but those products are ultra fine polish and super gentle-not near the polishing potential as Fine Valve lapping compound (silica grit)


I first tried 200 strokes of JB Bore paste on the Disc Elite with ZERO results. It is non-embedding.

You should use it with a bronze brush and patch over the brush. The intent is to get this combination to fit tightly enough for it to freely rotate in the lands and grooves as you (push it through and pull it back-this is One stroke) I have a REALLY hard time keeping the patches on the brush, so I've given in to using the cotton mop.

What ever you use it MUST rotate with the rifling!!

 

[Tar-12]

Hey Guys! I have the answer to all your tight loading barrels. Throw them away and buy a Savage! :lol:

 

[dwhunter]

Hey Guys! I have the answer to all your tight loading barrels. Throw them away and buy a Savage! :lol:

:yeah:

 

[lane]

The Savage will gain 100-150 feet per second if ya lap them also, but what would the smokeless boys do with all that extra speed :shock:

 

[Anonymous]

The Savage will gain 100-150 feet per second if ya lap them also

Mine didn't. Backyard lapping is just not a good idea at all, and normally does more harm than good.

Too hard to sand metal back on.

 

[Dean Walther]

Polish ?

Matt: For a Savage centerfire barrel I used JB's Micro Brite ( which is
slightly more agressive than regular JB's I think) with good results.
The method I used was like MLKeith, except I used a snug fitting
patch with jag. Using regular JB's occasionally will not harm your
barrel. Just one more opinion for you. If its very hard to load and
second shots with sabot are impossible I would send it back to T.C.
Hope this helps. Dean.

 

[Tar-12]

The Savage will gain 100-150 feet per second if ya lap them also, but what would the smokeless boys do with all that extra speed :shock:

Shame you pyro boys even further! :shock: oke: