Yes. Your working to keep the throat area smooth. That is what Tubbs TMS bullets are all about. Abrasive embedded in the jacket material keeps the throat area smooth.
Breaking in a barrel question.
- Thread starter Pa.Mike
- Start date
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
Understand for a barrel that has a bunch of rounds down it, but are you saying it should be done for a new, lapped barrel?
Yes, unless if your gunsmith is employing the method we do before he sends you bbl/action back to you. Then it is already broken in.
It is the chambering that raises the tool marks in the throat and those need to be smoothed out. The rest of the bbl is usually not a problem.
If you were a smallbore shooter, the shoot and clean method is useless as you are shooting soft lead bullets. Those smallbore smiths must use a tool to smooth the throat area after chambering to make sure the metal is as smooth as it can be. That way the bbl can be used immediately as it is already smoothed (broken-in) when you get it. Those soft lead bullets don't smooth any raised steel tool marks.
Fast14riot
Gold $$ Contributor
Yes, the blank is lapped, when its chambered you get marks and artifacts in the throat from the pilot of the reamer.
jelenko
Gold $$ Contributor
Well, duh.
DaveTooley
Gold $$ Contributor
Al
Ain't this fun?
I would not use Diamond abrasive on the bore. YMMV
Ain't this fun?
I would not use Diamond abrasive on the bore. YMMV
Dave,
Tell us how you skin the cat!
Waiting!
I'll say what I do. I do it similar to Bob3700, but what I use is different. I use the VFG felt "pellets" and their screw holder, and Clover lapping compound. I smooth the leade before I take the barrel out of the lathe. With these felt pellets, you can adjust their diameter by how far you screw it on the holder, so you can go past the case neck area, the feel when you are wedged in the leade without going into the bore. Most barrel makers lap with about 150 grit, and that's what I use, smear it on the pellet, then short stroke it in the leade as I rotate the barrel by hand so the effect is the same all around. It only takes about 3 or 4 hits with the compound and the fuzz is gone and the leade is usually smooth. There may be a couple deeper grooves left, but I'm after getting the fuzzy abrasive surface smoothed out.
Edd
Gold $$ Contributor
"As a barrel manufacturer, our official position is do not fire lap one of our barrels. We have that policy in place because we have no control over what someone might do to their barrel. I fire lap all of my personal barrels to clean up the reamer marks."
That was the reply from the owner of a barrel mfg co, whose name everyone would recognize, when I asked about fire lapping.
That was the reply from the owner of a barrel mfg co, whose name everyone would recognize, when I asked about fire lapping.
rjtfroggy
Gold $$ Contributor
I'm in the McMillan school of thought. When I buy a barrel, I buy quality and taking his advice I just shoot it, clean when done. They normally do not copper up after the first range session.
As for speeding up I don't check anymore. I go for accuracy not speed. I just want the bullet to go where I aim, don't care how fast it gets there.
As for speeding up I don't check anymore. I go for accuracy not speed. I just want the bullet to go where I aim, don't care how fast it gets there.
jimmymac: Respectfully, it's not that at all, sir. I'm always happy to share and learn...that's the whole point of a discussion forum.
This is a bit of a controversial subject (as you can tell). Heck, I have no idea how Dave, Butch or Dusty approach this....I just know how I do it, is all. The fact that 'Humble' and I stumbled on to the same method was just serendipitous. I have a lot of respect for Wayne Shaw and he and I have swapped ideas back and forth. Wayne has nicely outlined a method that works for him. It's different than mine but again, it's not like there's only one way to accomplish things. And Dave, Dusty and Butch are as good as it gets. All these guys are serious thinkers and do-ers so when they say something, that's an opportunity to think about things differently. The result is what I'm after, so long as the process doesn't introduce another variable that can cloud the picture and cover up what a barrel is really trying to tell me.
Good shootin' (and thinkin')
-Albutchlambert
Site $$ Sponsor
Bob, after posting about using bullets with abrasive, I doubt you would understand what Dave uses. He ain't going to waste typewriter ribbon posting his method.
DaveTooley
Gold $$ Contributor
Thanks for the defense Butch.
Here's what I do.
Let's say 30 caliber. I take a subcaliber brush. 7MM or 6.5MM Wrap it with 0000 steel wool until I get snug fit in the bore. That may raise eyebrows but I use 0000 steel wool on furniture and wood stocks. Then I pop the throat about 10 times. Depending on reamer condition I can feel a change during that brief polishing. As well as polishing the trailing edge and the leade, most don't realize there is also an edge rolled up in the groove where the freebore transitions to the leade. This varies from reamer to reamer and is/can be age dependent. The throat area on a reamer is the most important and is the first to wear. Throat wear dictates when I take a reamer out of service.
Here's a hypothetical for you. It's not hypothetical here as I've seen it many times and I'm sure others have as well. The reamer FB diameter is on the min side. Meaning less than .0005" over nominal groove diameter which most reamers are these days. Groove diameter is on the plus side. That sets up a condition where a portion of the land extends back to the neck. Not good. You have an initial 45 degree forcing cone not 1'-30".
Jeff Porter
Gold $$ Contributor
My break in for a new barrel is to hit the throat with JB on a tight jag to smooth that out a bit and a couple of full bore strokes, clean that out with Butches and Kroil (50/50) and go shoot. I have had very little copper in any barrel since I started doing this.
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