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Lead lapping a barrel?????

msinc

Any of you guys ever lead lap a factory barrel that was rough and had a lot of tool marks???? How did it work out??? Did the accuracy improve??? Thanks in advance for any info!!!
 
Never a factory barrel, but have lapped custom barrels. It takes a little feel. Pour a lead lap on you cleaning jag and stroke the barrel with some grease. You will get a good feeling of the barrels uniformity. If you decide to lap it dont let the lap come out of the bore until your done or you may need to recrown. I mix 120 grit aluminum oxide with grease. Work the tight spots until the barrel feels uniform, I like to leave a little choke on the muzzle end.
 
Thank you sir for the reply and the tips...I got interested in lead lapping because it seems like it should be a faster way to get the tool marks smoothed out as opposed to "fire lapping." Not that there is anything wrong with that, although I have never tried it. I understand also that tool marks are one thing, it's probably more important to get the lap to "drag" the same in the bore over the full length of the barrel.
 
I would only lap a barrel that refuses to shoot . Books have been written about dif methods , all basically the same .
Just because you can" see " reamer marks , don't assume they can be measured . A button barrel will iron in the marks and rifling , giving the appearance of deep marks . I would let the target or 2nd the fouling tell me if its worth it .
By the way fire lapping came into being because it is MUCH easier , cleaner than properly lead lapping a barrel .
But go for it and try it , document as much as you can it's easy to go too far .
 
Thanks for the reply and the tips...Yep, this barrel wont shoot to save it's tail. It's a 223 on a Ruger American and it will shoot real consistent 3" groups all day long. About 90% of the bore looks great, but the other 10%...is not just ironed in tool marks. I understand exactly what you mean, I see them in Douglas and Shilen barrels a lot. What looks like tooling marks from the reamer just as you say, "ironed" flat but still the mark is there. If that was what I had I wouldn't be worried...but at this point I feel like there is nothing to loose.
I actually did get to do some lapping this afternoon and it really looks good. I haven't shot the gun yet, but if it shoots as good as it looks I will be happy. I am surprised that it really didn't take much at all to get it to this point. Thanks again!!! I will update how this thing shoots as soon as I can. Wish I had the monitor attachment for my borescope so I could post some before and after...I guess maybe the targets will have to do.
 
I believe Gordy Gritters did a article on this in fairly good detail. He uses lead slugs from NECO and brass rods. I did it to a barrel that had a very tight spot. I can't remember if it was on this forum or Varmint Hunter magazine. He was going to make a video covering lapping but I'm not sure if he ever did. RW
 
Haven't seen that one, but I did watch several on youtube. No one was using slugs, they all cast the lap right in the barrel. Not a lot of in depth info though. I will google this and see if I can find it...thanks for the info!!!
 
I have a friend who casts laps and has successfully relapped a number of barrels. He is a very talented fellow, and based on being familiar with what he has done, I would suggest that you practice on a couple of worn out barrels before tackling your pride and joy rifle. There is a learning curve.
 
I believe the lead slugs are for finding and measuring a tight spot. I also believe to do a good lap you have to cast your lap in the barrel. This is what the barrel makers do.
 
The rifle is glass bedded in a new Boyd's stock and the barrel is done and ready for testing tomorrow. Which means that it will now rain for three days, but I'll post the results. I did find the article by Gordy Gritters...very nice and informative. He does use the slugs for finding and marking tight spots and he pours the lap in the barrel like everyone else. He has a website too and apparently he sells DVD's of his work, but it seems the web page is down because none of it would load.
 
Alex Wheeler said:
Pour a lead lap on you cleaning jag and stroke the barrel with some grease. You will get a good feeling of the barrels uniformity
Click to expand...

ButchLambert, Alex Weaver covered that but took a short cut and left out the part about casting the plug in the muzzle with the cleaning rod in place, and then, there is that part about bumping the rod to get it moving. As always, there is another way but this thread is rolling so smooth I want to avoid polarizing members into two groups, that never works.

The other way: As the lapping plug wares it gets loose; that creates the need to cast another plug. And then there is slugging the barrel.

F. Guffey
 
I finally got a chance to test fire the rifle...it went from 3" groups all the way down to about 1/2" or so!!! Needless to say, I am happy. I am glad I was able to get the thing to shoot as good as it does and this will certainly serve its purpose. I didn't get to shoot too much though and intend to get back on the range this evening.
The lead lapping went well...it actually is easier than I thought it would be. It does take some doing, but for the most part it is really simple once you know what is going on. I was not able to get all the tool marks out of the barrel, but I did get just about all of them. I got the lap to move from one end to the other with a real consistent tension, it even tightens a little toward the muzzle. I had the Wheeler lapping compound with 220, 320 and 600 grit. I did most of the work with the 220 and only had to lap once with the other two.
I had no trouble at all getting the lap to move once it solidified in the barrel. From what I saw on the internet videos they only made their laps no longer than maybe 2 inches at the most...I found that it went much quicker, that is to say I got more working time out of casting the lap longer.
i cant really contribute my lapping directly to the accuracy improvements seen in this rifle as I also stocked it and glass bedded it...I believe a combination of the two did it.
 
ireload2 said:
A guy that worked for Bill Wiseman once told me that shop used 280 grit to lap new barrels.
Click to expand...

Yep, that is probably right...I honestly didn't really see any difference, in appearance at least, from the 220 to the 600 in my borescope. Maybe if I had a really good barrel that didn't need it anyway I might be able to see, but then, if it don't need lapped anyway I wouldn't be messing with it. Yesterday evening I shot a .527" group with this little rifle....I like to think it isn't all the glass bedding. Not hardly fouling copper at all.
Now I have to do the magazine mod so I can seat the bullet closer to the lands.
 
I am glad to hear of your success in pulling a dead barrel back from the abyss. Keep us posted as time goes by.

msinc said:
Yep, that is probably right...I honestly didn't really see any difference, in appearance at least, from the 220 to the 600 in my borescope. Maybe if I had a really good barrel that didn't need it anyway I might be able to see, but then, if it don't need lapped anyway I wouldn't be messing with it. Yesterday evening I shot a .527" group with this little rifle....I like to think it isn't all the glass bedding. Not hardly fouling copper at all.
Now I have to do the magazine mod so I can seat the bullet closer to the lands.
Click to expand...
 
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