Abrasive Bullets

[shawn68]

I think that this fits this catagory.
Any thoughts on the abrasive bullets out there? How do they condition a berral for better accuracey? I would like to hear some success storys and nightmares before I launch one out. How hot do you load these things?

 

[steve smith]

They do work, but only to a certain extent. The one barrel I've used them on is on an 1903-A3 with the original 2-groove barrel, a very rough barrel. The biggest concern I had was with fouling, after 4-5 shots the accuray goes south. After having run the 50 final finish bullets through the barrel, the accuracy has slightly improved (by going from a 1.5" group to about 1" group) Ya Ya I know thats 33 percent (not exactly slightly) but I have a feeling It has more to do with the fouling than anything else. So far I have put through about 20 rounds without cleaning and no noticable amount of fouling, accuracy hasn't fallen off yet.

One thing you might be concerned with is, how far it might push the throat forward, in my case it didn't at all, but then again my barrels rifling takes up about 60 percent of the surface area of the bore. If laid out flat the lands would probably be about .25-.3" wide, and the groves about .1875" wide. Hell it's a battle rifle, meant to be fired continuously for extended periods of time, I have personaly fired 60 rounds through it in less than an hour, there's not much that's gonna hurt this barrel. It was made for abuse.

As for how hot to load them. Not very! The instructions tell you to pick the fastest powder you have for the cartridge and load the lightest load listed in your reloading manual for it.

Over all, I think that they only allowed the full accuracy potential of the barrel to show through a little longer. When it finaly does start fouling accuracy will go south again.

 

[shawn68]

So are they for trying to bring back accuracy or would you use them for lets just say, A BRAND NEW HART BREAK IN?

 

[James Jones]

If put an abrasive anything bullets or cleaning material in a Hart barrel your stuck with it if it doesen't shoot.

the Tubb Final finish kit works weel for what it was desgined for which was improving factory barrels. By shooting a series of progressivly finer coated bullets the barrels internal dimentions get tighter and it gets smoothed out some so it fouls less..

I woulden;t recomend it for much other than a factory barrel that fouls bad.

 

[screech]

i personally wouldn't use them in a brand new hart. thats just my opinion though.

 

[shawn68]

COOL GUYS, JUST WASNT SURE WHAT IT WAS INTENDED FOR. SO I STARTED THIS POST AND THINK ITS OK TO AMEND MY QUESTION WITH OUT ANY GRIEF FOR POOR MANNERS.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR BREAK IN METHODS.

 

[uncleB]

The tubbs kits work great for a factory barrel , the Nicco is a disaster and a custom Hart need's neither.just depends on your needs.

 

[EddieHarren]

JD, how does firelapping a barrel make the internal dimensions tighter?

 

[BountyHunter]

Under no circumstances should you firelap a custom barrel such as Hart, Lilja, Broughton etc.

firelapping only "laps" the high rough tooling marks to some extent out of a factory barrel. It will normally move the throat forward a little. I normally only use half the bullets in the larger grits and then try it. You can repeat with the other half the bullets IF necessary. Caution is the word.

Firelapping takes material out of the bore so no way it could tighten the bore up. Just the opposite.

Go to Dan Liljas website and look at his video of borescoping a factory barrel and a custom barrel. You will see why someone would firelap.

BH

 

[keithcatfish]

I have a Yugo Mauser with a 308 Adams and Bennet barrel with 120 rounds through it. I have a similar problem with fouling. The first 5 shots with any factory ammo will shoot .25 to .5 MOA (darn good for a 80 buck barrel) but groups quickly open upto 1.5 MOA unless I clean the barrel meticulously. A quick scrub at the range with some Shooters Choice, Barns 10 or Wipeout does not do it, I mean I have to go home and get down to some serious scrubbing to restore accuracy. After 5 shots, the inside of the barrel looks like a brand new penny. The fouling comes off the lands and the center of the grooves easily but its VERY hard to get the fouling out of the little corner where the lands meet the grooves. I'm quite sure, the fouling causes the accuracy to fall off so badly. I'd love to be able to shoot those tiny groups all day. Would you guys give this barrel Tubbs treatment?

 

[shawn68]

I have an A&B in 220 swift. Now this thing was great up to 1500 rounds. The barrel is on its way out.
so the way I understand it, if the barrel is shot out, how does removing more of the grooves and lands bring back some usable life?
It a guy was woried about throught wear, you just turn it back and re-ream the chamber.

 

[goodgrouper]

This one's easy. To put rifling in a bore, there are going to be rough edges and burrs. To get optimal accuracy, the burrs must be removed. This is done by lapping. Lapping by hand like what is done on a custom barrel is removing the burrs. Firelapping by using Tubbs is also removing burrs. It is two different methods used to achieve the same thing.

A custom barrel therefore, needs not be firelapped. A factory barrel that is firelapped needs not be hand lapped.

The two above sentences of course apply to fresh barrels. When either get worn to the point they quit shooting and take forever to clean, both can benefit greatly from firelapping with Tubb's.

I have (to date) run Tubb's down two custom barrels that were showing bad throat wear and accuracy and ease of cleaning came back tenfold.

 

[shawn68]

I think you nailed it. "GOODGROUPER"
thanks for the info