Teach me to lap barrels (PLEASE)!

[Suicycle]

I have read somewhere that a cratex bullet could be turned to fit the bore and pushed through. Cratex is a rubber abrasive, use fine grits btw. I read this was a last resort that one of the bench shooters did instead of setting back a barrel at the end of its life.

 

[shortgrass]

As long as the untrained keep shoving stuff besides bullets, brushes and patches through barrels there'll be a supply of 'used' rifles on the dealer & pawn shops racks and at the gun shows. You won't be able to tell by looking whats been "fooled with", unlike a Mauser or Springfield that has a bolt handle "welded" on in a sloppy fashion or is "Swiss cheese" because of all the 'extra' holes drilled so you have your choice of which to use to mount your scope bases. Every thinking human being should understand that 100 times more is learned after 'graduation' than during 'school', regardless of your profession. Bore lapping, like many other gunsmithing tasks, won't be learned by an explaination or by watching a U-Tube video. I'd seriously bet the guy/guys that do the hand lapping at Lilja/Broughton/Krieger/Brux/Hart , and the other quality custom barrel makers I didn't mention, have more than a 'handfull' of the little things (in knowlege & experience) that make the difference in a "good job" or a "bad job". In this case of "hand lapping at home", what you 'heard' on the interdnet probably won't fill a thimble compared to what the folks who do it professionally "know"!

 

[J E Custom]

I have read somewhere that a cratex bullet could be turned to fit the bore and pushed through. Cratex is a rubber abrasive, use fine grits btw. I read this was a last resort that one of the bench shooters did instead of setting back a barrel at the end of its life.

The problem with using a cratex pill is that it does not have to follow the rifling and would probably
take the sharp edges off the rifling. When casting a broach/lap it fits the rifling and the lands,
making it in 100 % contact and lapping all surfaces.

This is the reason we caution everyone about lapping, It is a good way to ruin a good barrel
if not done correctly.

Lapping should be done only to improve a poor barrel, It will never be a substitute for a quality
barrel. The saying "You cant make a silk purse out of a pigs ear" applies hear.

I know others that use a coarser grit lapping and are successful but I don't because if it is bad enough
to need a course compound I simply replace it. All I want to do is smooth it out a little and make it
clean up better/faster.

As in an earlier post I recomended experimenting on a Take off barrel to get the process down and
see the results before starting down this road.

It,s like Gun Smithing, If you don,t know how you probably shouldn't.

Just my opinion

J E CUSTOM